Granisi Cookies With Manna Orange

Two uniquely Sicilian ingredients come together to make these delicious cookies with orange and manna from Tumminello. From the family-run bakery’s GraniSi line, which celebrates ancient grains native to the volcanic island south of the Italian mainland, these cookies are made with stone-ground timilia, a drought-resistant variety of durum wheat. They’re flavored with manna, an ancient natural sweetener, and vibrant local orange zest. Crisp and satisfying, with a pleasingly rustic texture, these unique biscuits will perk up your next coffee break.

A natural source of sugar that has been used for millennia, manna is produced only on Sicily. To produce this unique ingredient, long used as a medicinal tonic, tiny incisions are made in the bark of the Manna Ash tree. From them, a creamy white resin slowly forms through the summer and is carefully collected at the beginning of autumn. It’s a labor-intensive process only undertaken by a few Sicilian farmers today. The flavor manna gives is honeyed and gently herbal.

A proudly Sicilian company, Tumminello uses ingredients sourced from their island home, from chocolate to dairy, olive oil, nuts, and citrus, to ensure the highest quality. It all started in 1977 in the medieval town of Castelbuono in the heart of Madonie regional park, a mountain haven for birds, rare butterflies, and wild orchids. There, sisters Arcangela and Rosa began baking biscuits and bread with the help of their husbands, and over the decades, they have been driven by their passion for baked goods to make “the best biscuits in the world.” Today, the family-run company employs modern tools and techniques in their artisan factory, carefully calibrated to respect and preserve their Sicilian home's traditional flavors and recipes.