Fruits & Desserts

Appears in

Recipes from Paradise: Life and Food on the Italian Riviera

Published 1997

About

Liguria, lush garden that it is, is favored with a bounty of extraordinary fruits and nuts. Because these are of such high quality, the most classic Ligurian dessert remains a perfect piece of fruit at the peak of its ripeness. There is seldom the need to adorn this fruit with toppings such as syrup, ice cream, or whipped cream, although all of these elements combine in pacciugo, an extravagant dessert from Portofino.

The region has most of the major fruits found in Italy. Unlike most other northern Italian regions, in Liguria there is a profusion of citrus, whose juice gives flavor to sauces and cooking juices and whose peel, when dried, forms a subtle backdrop when grated or a more forceful one when served candied. Lemon and orange waters often give subtext to certain dishes, and are popular as perfumes and liquids to cleanse the skin.