Paschal lambs, marzipan fruit and dead man's bones

Lambs have been appearing in the window of T Cavarello and Sons in Hopkins Street in Footscray.  They are a prevalent at Easter time in Sicily.  I'm not sure if they are in other regions of Italy.

I first read about Paschal lambs in "Bitter Almonds" by Mary Taylor Simeti.  The first half of the book is the story of Maria Grammatico and her life in an orphanage, working in the convent kitchen, baking bread, biscuits and making the marzipan lambs and marzipan fruit. The food was sold to enable the convent to survive financially.   The second half of the book contains recipes for marzipan, biscotti and other Sicilian specialities.   I also found an interesting interview and article about Mary.

The only other place I have seen the Paschal lambs in Melbourne is at Smith Cakes Aquilana Pasticceria  in Smith Street in Collingwood.   

Aquilana is a very old school Sicilian bakery.  I have never really felt too tempted to enter.  But I have to say, I should have.  The business has been in existence for about 40 years, not quite so long as T Cavarello and Sons.  Mum, Dad and a daughter work in the business.  The daughter, in her twenties or thirties, was so very helpful.  She answered my questions very graciously.   I was just going to look, so I bought a hot chocolate and sat near the display so I could take some photos (and delicious chocolate it was too!).  

Marzipan chillies and corn

Marzipan fish and slice of marzipan watermelon

Marzipan peaches

Marzipan apple, pear and loquat

Inside the marzipan fruit

I bought some marzipan fruit, they are sold by weight and four pieces cost me $16.60.  They are beautiful hand-painted sweets.  Traditionally available for All Souls Day but now all year round and for special celebration days.  They were a bit sweet but not too much and the marzipan was reasonably soft.  I will be slicing of pieces of marzipan for a few more days!

Ossa dei morti (dead man's bones) biscotti

Ossa dei morti (dead man's bones) biscotti are new to me too.  I have never heard of them and they looked intriguing so I bought three of them ($3.00).  The girl I spoke to said they are firm and you dunk them in your coffee.  They are kind of firm and bread-like with a crisp white shell of icing over part of the biscotti (looked a lot like bones).  I made my coffee at home and started dunking.  Surprisingly tasty, so much so I managed to dunk all three! (not at once though)

I also sampled a lamb from T Cavarello.  The small lambs are made of marzipan and are slightly hollow. They are $10, $12 and $20.   The larger ones both  here and at Aquilano are filled with fruit and chocolate and covered with butter cream icing and they seem be around the $20-$30 for the smaller filled ones and can be quite expensive the bigger they are.

The lamb had a lovely almond taste and was not as sweet as the marzipan fruit.  I will be nibbling away at that too for the rest of the week!

Inside Smith Cakes Aquilana Pasticceria

The window at the front of Aquilana

T  Cavallaro and Sons

98 Hopkins Street

Footscray (opp Footscray Market)

Ph 9687 4638

Open 7 days a week, close 3pm Saturday and 12.30 Sunday

Smith Cakes Aquilana Pasticceria

297 Smith Street

Collingwood

Ph 9419 4351

Open 7 days a week, from 8am