Reggio Calabria, Calabria
Thin, spiced honey biscuits from the Reggio Calabria area, traditionally made for Christmas and New Year: a dough of flour, honey, lard, orange zest, cinnamon, cloves, and anise seeds, formed into flat rectangles and baked until firm, then dipped in a honey-sugar glaze while still warm. Susumelle derive from the same Arab-Norman honey biscuit tradition as many southern Italian Christmas pastries. They keep for weeks and improve with time.
Dense, spiced, honey-sweet biscuit with orange and anise — the Christmas scent of Calabrian kitchens in December, improved by three weeks in a tin
{"Honey warmed (not hot) before incorporating into flour — warm honey hydrates flour differently than cold","Lard (not butter) for the fat component — creates a more compact, longer-lasting biscuit","Shape flat (1cm thickness) — thicker biscuits bake unevenly and don't absorb the glaze correctly","Bake at 175°C until firm but not dark — 15–18 minutes","Dip in hot honey-sugar glaze immediately out of the oven while still warm"}
{"Dipping in chocolate (dark, minimum 70%) is a modern variant widely adopted in Reggio","The anise seed is non-negotiable for the characteristic Calabrian Christmas aroma","Store in a tin — they soften slightly in the tin over days, improving from hard to perfect"}
{"Butter instead of lard — the biscuit becomes too tender and breaks when glazed","Over-baking — the honey caramelises and the biscuit becomes brittle rather than firm-chewy","Cold glaze — it sets on contact before penetrating the surface"}
Cucina Calabrese — Ottavio Cavalcanti