Manna from Heaven.” It’s mentioned 17 times in the Bible, but did you know it’s more than an “olden days” expression, but an actual harvested product used today for baking and medicinal purposes?
For those of you like me not in the manna-know, the white sap-like resin — for that’s what it is — is a natural sweetener harvested by cutting the bark of an ash tree, the Fraxinus ornus tree to be exact, found in the Mediterranean.
Farmers in Sicily call it a superfood —also white gold — and they’ve been cultivating it in small quantities for more than a millennium. Now, an effort is underway to increase production and save an almost lost industry and art.
Leading the manna charge is Giulio Gelardia, a farmer from Pollina, Sicily. Gelardia has been working for decades to spark a revival in production and he seems to be making modest headway.
While here in the US, we remain content to sprinkle white sugar (and Splenda) on our caloric delights, innovative Italian chefs are increasingly turning to manna for their Heavenly concoctions.
As for the taste, manna mavens say it tastes like cane sugar with almond undertones which admittedly sounds pretty delish!
Farming of the sap in Sicily dates to at least the ninth century when the island was under Arab rule. During the Renaissance, Sicilian farmers sold it to merchants around the Mediterranean and up until WW II manna farming was a way of life for many Sicilian families.
Manna is mostly composed of mannitol, a naturally sweet crystal compound, as well as minerals like potassium, magnesium and calcium. So it also was sold to pharmaceutical companies which ex- tracted the mannitol, a sugar alcohol, to use as a sweetener and a diuretic.
In the 1950s, scientists found a way to synthesize mannitol, and in the decades that followed, manna harvesting virtually disappeared.
But today, manna mania is back.
Cooks in Europe are using it and pharmaceutical and beauty companies are too.
Crushed manna is part of one restaurant’s signature entrée served with almonds, pistachio and manna crust, while pastry chefs are particularly manna mad.
Nicola Fiasconaro, one of Italy’s famous pâtissiers, now produces a special edition of panettone made with chocolate and frosted manna, while Michelin-starred chef Davide Oldani featured chocolate-covered manna sticks as part of the menu of his Milan-area restaurant D’O.
I, of course, can barely bake even with a Betty Crocker boxed mix and a prayer! Imagine me throwing manna into the mix! That’s a sure-fired formula for a mega-manna mess, but I guess I can dream. Oh, well.
On the medicinal front, manna’s mineral base, particularly potassium, has been used to treat constipation, cough, sore-throats and skin wounds due to its decongestant and soothing properties, according to Vivienne Spadaro, a professor of botany at the University of Palermo.
French skincare companies Biotherm and Yves Roche have used manna to make skin moisturizers.
For those of you in the US eager to jump on the manna bandwagon, I fear amid tariff madness times, challenges might exist. The price of manna may rise sky-high.
Who knows? We might just need to pray once again to the Alm-ghty to make it rain manna from Heaven for a chance to sample that special sappy treat, or, at a minimum, we’ll have to set aside our Amazon-boycotting scruples and try ordering some online!