Italian dessert for Easter: the pastiera, what is it?

Pastiera is a beloved dessert that is eaten during Easter. Have you ever tasted it? Let’s find out together what it is.

The classic recipe calls for a shortcrust pastry base with: 

• eggs
• flour
• butter
• sugar

Once the short pastry has been prepared, it’s time for the filling. to be placed on the “ruoto” or round aluminum cake pan. The filling is prepared with: milk, sugar, sheep’s ricotta cheese, wheat kernels, butter, candied fruit, eggs and orange blossom.

Here is how to proceed with the filling:

• Cook the wheat with milk and butter.
• In a bowl sieve the ricotta cheese and add the sugar.
• In the cooked wheat add the citron and if you prefer you can also lightly whisk the mixture.
• Add the wheat to the ricotta and sugar mixture.
• Separately, break the eggs, add the orange blossom aroma and milk.
• Once the egg and milk mixture is combined with the wheat and ricotta mixture.
• The filling is ready, use it to top the shortcrust pastry and decorate with shortcrust pastry strips.

Once assembled, it is then baked in the oven and covered with powdered sugar.

Some curiosities about the origin

There are various legends connected with the consumption of the pastiera.

It would seem that, to celebrate the return of spring, the priestesses of Ceres carried an egg in procession, a symbol of nascent life that later became “rebirth” and Resurrection with Christianity. The wheat or spelt, mixed with the soft ricotta cream, might derive instead from the spelt bread, the primavedelle Roman wedding, called for this reason “confarreatio.”

According to another legend, the pastiera was much liked by the mermaid Parthenope, who had chosen the Gulf of Naples as her home, from where her melodious and sweet voice spread. To thank her, people brought the mermaid seven gifts: flour, a symbol of wealth; ricotta cheese, a symbol of abundance; eggs, recalling fertility; wheat cooked in milk, symbolizing the fusion of animal and vegetable kingdoms; orange blossoms, the scent of the Campanian land; spices, a tribute from all peoples; and sugar, to celebrate the sweetness of the mermaid’s song. Parthenope liked the gifts and mixed them, created this unique dessert.

If you want to prepare pastiera by yourself and you are not in Italy, order all the ingredients on Vico Food Box.