In short. In Galatina, in the Salento, alongside the famous pasticciotto there is another sweet that nobody outside the region has heard of: the africano. A sort of meringue made with the yolks instead of the whites, baked in rectangular moulds — the result looks like a row of gold ingots. Here is what it is, where the name comes from, and the other Salento sweets worth the journey.
🍰 African? But we are in the Salento
Let us put this in order. On holiday in the Salento you will have heard of the pasticciotto leccese — or rather the galatinese, since this small filled pastry appears to have been born in Galatina. Either way, the pasticciotto is the king of the Salento breakfast. Served with a good iced coffee sweetened with a drop of almond milk, it is a small triumph.
But it does not end there. If you find yourself in Galatina, or anywhere near it, there is a second local speciality you really should not leave untasted — old, very old indeed, and still loved by everybody, children above all: the africano.
What it is, and why you should taste it
Start from the end: taste it because you will not find it in any other region of Italy. Miss it in the Salento and you have missed it altogether. As for what it actually is — it is a sweet based on zabaione, poured while still liquid into rectangular moulds and then baked. The result looks vaguely like ingots of gold.
A meringue the other way round
To give you a better idea: imagine a kind of meringue made with egg yolks instead of egg whites. The texture is crumbly and delicate, the colour is golden, and the taste is the taste of zabaione.
Where the name comes from
The africano is named for its colour. That is the whole answer to the question everyone asks. It owes the name to that particularly warm, tanned tone, a deep and handsome yellow — and if this little cake of Galatina is left in the oven a little longer, it comes out browner still.
🧁 The Salento sweets you can take home
Besides the pasticciotto and the africano, the Salento is a land of sweets that are simple and very good. There are the pitteddhe, small shortcrust baskets filled with home-made jam; the fragrant, irresistible mustaccioli; the glazed taralli, and a good deal more. The recipes, one by one, are in our collection of Apulian desserts.
Travellers can take them home. Mustaccioli with chocolate and glazed taralli keep well and travel well, and we ship them from Puglia. The africano does not — that one has to be eaten in Galatina, and it is quite right that it should be.
Galatina is worth a day for more than its pastry shops: it is the town of tarantismo and the chapel of Saint Paul. And the pasticciotto has a story of its own.
