Mostaccioli Calabresi — Spiced Wine Biscuits

Calabria — the mostacciolo tradition in southern Italy is documented from at least the 14th century, but the preparation almost certainly derives from the Roman mustaceum (grape must cakes) described by Cato the Elder. The Calabrian version uses the local Greco Nero grape must.

Mostaccioli are the ancient spiced wine biscuits of Calabria (and southern Italy generally) — a preparation that dates to Roman times: cooked grape must (mosto cotto) or red wine mixed with flour, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and honey (or sugar), shaped into diamond or elongated forms, and baked until firm. They are not sweet biscuits in the modern sense — they are dense, hard, spiced, and wine-dark. They keep for months, which was their original virtue, and they improve with time. The mostacciolo tradition extends from Calabria through Campania and Lazio, but the Calabrian version uses the local greco nero grape must, which gives it a darker colour and more robust flavour.

• The same grape-must spiced biscuit tradition extends from Calabria through Lazio — the Roman mostacciolo uses white grape must and is lighter; the Calabrian uses dark grape must and is darker and spicier; both derive from the same ancient Roman preparation → Mostaccioli Romani Roman/Lazio
• Dense, spiced wine biscuits baked hard for long preservation — the Catalan carquinyolis (almond-and-spice biscuits) and the Calabrian mostaccioli share the principle of a dense, hard biscuit made with wine or grape product and spices, historically intended for long preservation → Panellets / Carquinyolis Catalan

A mostacciolo has the density of a compressed autumn — the cooked must is dark and faintly bitter; the cinnamon, cloves, and black pepper warm everything; the honey gives just enough sweetness to make the spice palateable. Hard at first bite, yielding after. With a glass of passito wine (sweet dried-grape wine), it is one of the most ancient food pairings in Italy.