Just thought of this...Bet youll get them at the end of the month at the Feast of St Gennaro down in little Italy

Maryanne: I'm originally from West Philly. I was in Glenolden for 26 years..
I moved up to the Pocono's in 1992 but started building in th 80's.
I get down to Delco every so often to my Daughter's in Folsom.
She also has a small condo in Ventnor , 1 mile from the Hilton.

Waiting for my wife to get a little better to get down to AC.
I'll probably go to Di Bruno's for the Torrone or make some myself.
LOU

Hugs to Lou....

((((((((LOU))))))))

Hope the tests find the problem, so all can be fixed.

Nancy

Spoke with my sister in law who is 60 last night she grew up in Brooklyn she says she remembers the stung nuts but she said they were made with CHICHI beans salted and roasted (Garbonza's) She doesnt remember what it was actually called shes gonna check with her mother. She says they were always available at Feast time.

Eileen- I have dispatched my scouts to the San Gennaro festival & they will report back. If nuts on a string are to be found there I know that one friend in particular will be able to find them.

Maryanne- the hazelnuts were roasted in their shell? Interesting. Were they roasted over a fire? Of course we do the chestnuts but those get roated in the oven. I love that your dad had a special "nut" towel! What a sweet memory. No, these were already shelled I think, and strung like beads. It's been about 20 years since I last found them so my memory's a bit dim.

I was hoping you'd respond...preferably along the lines of these being available in the market in Philly! Oh well.

Hmmm, roasted ceci (chick peas/garbanzos), salted and strung? I don't think I've ever seen those. I would think thay'd be smaller than what I'm thinking of but maybe I should spoil the surprise & ask my mom? Since it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to surprise her with these things (but I won't give up!)

Nina

Wow Ellen, I completely had forgotten about the roasted strung chichi beans, boy it's been ages since I've had them. Last time I had the strung hazelnuts, was in Italy @ a feast some years back.

There's been talk of Torrone, I have finally had found a source for the wafer paper that's typically used, so very soon I hope to give making torrone a try, it'll be a first for me. I have several recipes to choose from, and hoping for the best results. Plan on making the norm & the dark chocolate covered, maybe towards the holiday's so I won't eat it all up :-)

Lucy

Lucy,

You know that you need to start practicing the torrone now, just to make sure you know what you're doing, right? This is an important part of the torrone making process ;-).

Seriously, where did you find the wafers? I'd really like to make torrone this year but just know that it won't be around very long. I'll be sneaking off in the middle of the night to make sure it's still good...

Nina

Nina,
Your funny! You got a point there! ;-)

My daughter has a small baking & chocolate candy business (hoping one day to have a shop of her own, hope that happens soon, 3 large sheet cakes just last night in my kitchen!) once or twice a year she goes to a supplier in NJ, where she found the wafer paper for me. I believe they have mail ordering as well. I'll find out for you.

nina, no, they were shelled first. i would imagine they would explode in the oven or something if they weren't. they were roasted in the oven on a cookie sheet.

i started making torrone many years ago when my sister first moved to the mid-west as she couldn't get all the things she was accustomed to. it took a few years to really perfect it.

nina, if you want, i can send you some of that wafer paper. just let me know.

maryanne

Maryanne,
I haven't tried my hand torrone yet, but plan on giving it a try soon. I would welcome any hints you can share with the making of it.

Lucy

Lucy: I found this on the internet.
LOU

Until recent years Torrone was available from October through January and associated with Christmas. Today it can be found throughout the year and is a good substitution for the industrial candy bars. That is not to say that this treat does not have a lot of calories, simply that it is an antique recipe and most likely will not rot your teeth, it may break them if you are fortunate to find an original version, but it will not rot them.

The best thing about Torrone is that it is not difficult to make and can be easily adapted to just about any taste.

Ingredients:

8 oz. (250 g) Hazelnuts
10 oz. (320 g) Almonds
8 oz. (250 g) Honey
11 oz. (320 g) Sugar
3 egg whites
Grated peel of one orange
1 3/4 oz. (50 g) candied orange peel
2 tbsp Brandy
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
10 Communion wafers (or other thin wafer)

Preparation:

If the almonds still have the skin. Blanch the almonds in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and dry.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the almonds on a baking pan with parchment paper. Toast for 5 minutes. Rub the almonds in a towel, the skins will come off in the towel.

In a double boiler, over medium heat, pour the honey. Let the honey cook for about 1 hour. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.

Place the candied orange peel in a small cup. Add the Brandy and let sit while the honey cooks.

When the honey is blond in color, whip the egg whites to firm peaks. Slowly, add the egg whites to the honey, mixing from bottom to top, never side to side. The honey will swell up and foam.

In a separate pan heat the sugar. When the sugar starts to brown, add the sugar to the honey-egg white mixture, stirring continuously. The mixture will begin to lose volume and become thicker.

To see if the mixture is ready, drop a teaspoon of the mixture into cold water. The cold water will immediately bring it to its consistency. You can verify if it is at the hardness you desire. If you want it harder just continue cooking a bit longer.

Drain the candied orange peel. Add the remaining ingredients, except the wafers, to the mixture. Stir quickly and try to distribute the hard ingredients evenly in the paste.

Place the 1/2 of the wafers on a hard surface, preferably marble or granite. Pour the mixture onto the wafers. Mold the now hardening mixture into a rectangle about 2 inches high. Smooth the top of the mixture and place the remaining wafers. Press gently and allow to cool completely. The Torrone can now be cut into pieces of any size.


Lou,
Thank you! Have you made the torrone before? Last weekend we were at the Oyster Festival in Norwalk CT & at one of the booths there was homemade torrone that I couldn't pass up, it was wonderful. Break you teeth wonderful ! ;-) So with the wafer sheets on hand, I think it's time I just jump in & give it a try.

OK, OK, NINA, it's time!!!

Lucy

I found something else. This is what I was talking about in the earlier thread.

STRUFFOLI"
(Honey Balls)
2 cups water
1 cup margarine
4 cups sifted flour
¼ tsp. salt
10 large eggs
16 oz. honey
½ cup pine nuts, toasted
1/3 cup candied orange peels
½ cup (multicolored) cake-decorating sprinkles
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease two baking sheets lightly. Have eggs at room temperature.
Place water, margarine, and salt in a saucepan and bring to broil. Remove from range and cool for 3 minutes. Stir in flour and mix well. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture forms a ball and leaves sides of pan--about 1 minute. Remove from range and cool for 5 minutes. Add eggs to mixture, one at a time, beating hard for approximately 1 minute after each addition. Fill pastry bag with batter and pipe small rounds (the size of marbles) 1 inch apart onto baking sheets. (Or you can drop by half teaspoons onto baking sheets.) Bake until lightly browned--about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.
In a saucepan, heat honey until it comes to rolling boil. Boil for 5 minutes, being careful not to let it boil over. Dip puffs, approximately 12 at a time, into honey and roll around to coat evenly. Remove with slotted spoon onto a plate. Continue until all puffs are dipped. Wet hands with cold water and stick puffs together forming wreath rings, pyramids, or dome shapes. Decorate with toasted pine nuts, candied orange peel, and cake-decorating sprinkles.

LOU

I don't have the Wafer sheets so I think I'll pass on making the Torrone
and just buy a box. Also, I don't have the time.
Good luck !!!!!

Lou,
"STRUFFOLI" (Honey Balls) I have been making them exactly as the recipe you posted for years.

These absolutely light as a feather, a plus for me, is that there not fried.
Lucy

Hmmmm...baked struffoli? I'm going to have to try that. My mother always did them in ribbons. Would roll the dough through the pasta machine to get it nice & thin, cut into strips, ties them into bows & fry. A LOT of work but feather light. I'm definitely going to try a batch of baked this year (along with the fried...I need a place to hide this stuff!)

Maryanne, you're a sweetheart. Let me see if I can find the wafer on my own or I might just take you up on that.

Lou- communion wafers?! I always thought that the torrone wafer "felt" like that (and of course you gotta eat the wafer first). I can just imagine trying to get my hands on unconsecrated wafers...in bulk.

Lucy- I missed the Norwalk Oyster fest? rats. Have you ever gone to the one in Oyster Bay? The oysters are superb and the fest takes over the town. No nuts on a string there, either.

Nina

Nina,
The baked struffoli, are the best, literally light as a feather; basically they're ultra mini cream puffs balls.

The bow ties drizzled w/honey or dusted w/confectioners sugar, yummie

Will keep a lookout for those hazelnuts 4 U.
Lucy

struffoli, i love it. i love piling them high on a fluted platter - once i even got daring and molded them into a pan thati had drizzled with spun sugar. made an excellent presentation. i love fried dough, bow ties, easter cookies. now i want to bake (just hate the clean up).

lucy/nina
here's a generic torrone recipe that you can use as a base and then when comfortable with it, experiment with flavors and what not. to change it up, i add a few drops lemon or orange oil as well as some grated peel, without really adjusting anything else. i've used hazelnuts, almonds and pistachio.

the first few times i made it, i didn't use wafer paper. then i found it in a speciality store. when that store closed up, i mail ordered for it, but what they sent was much thicker, but still used it. i couldn't imagine asking church for communion wafers - wouldn't that be a little sacriligeous?

Italian Torrone

1/2 cup honey
3 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup hot water
2 egg whites - room temp
2/3 cups chopped nuts, crisped
2/3 cup chopped cherries (optional)

Before you begin the cooking process:
~Crisp the nuts ~~ preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spread the nuts on a cookie sheet, place in oven and turn off the heat. Remove pan in 10 minutes.
~Line a square pan with foil and lightly butter the foil if you are NOT using rice paper.
~If you using rice paper, fit this into your pan, no butter needed
~If you are using fruit, chop it and set aside.
~Place the egg whites in a large mixing bowl. Keep a metal measuring cup with a handle handy.

Combine the honey, sugar and water in a 4 quart heavy saucepan. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until all the sugar crystals are dissolved. Then clip on a thermometer.

Meanwhile, beat the egg whites at high speed until stiff peaks form.

When the cooking mixture reaches 230F, take out 2/3 cup using the metal measuring cup. Pour this in a thin stream into the whipped egg whites and again beat this mixture at the highest speed.

Continue cooking the honey mixture and wash down the sides of pan twice more as the mixture cooks. Cook to 265F and then remove from the heat. Entire cooking time is about 20 minutes.

Pour hot cooked mixture in a thin stream into the egg white mixture and beat at highest speed. Do not scrape the cooking pan. When the egg mixture begins to thicken, stop mixer and fold in the nuts and fruit. Remove from bowl with a rubber spatula and press into the prepared pan.

Refrigerate overnight.

Cut into desired sized pieces - wrap in plastic if desired
(keeps for about 3 weeks in the frig, but has never lasted that long)

(For what it's worth: pistachio is excellent chocolate covered!)

enjoy
maryanne

Nina: I saw my Italian friend at the PO and asked about the nuts on a string.
He was no help at all.

So I guess you will have to find them at a Feast or at your Italian Shopping Center.
Sorry I couldn't help.
LOU

maryanne, thanks for the recipe, now there's 2 recipes to try, thanks to yourself & Lou. It'll be experimenting.

The wafer paper I have is a little thicker than the one's in the imported torrone.

Lucy

Lucy: One of the girls in the PO is going to the St.Gennaro Feast, with her mother.
She said she would bring me back a string of Hazelnuts, if she can find them.
LOU

You guys are the best :-). I've emailed some friends that live in Dyker Heights (very Italian section of Brooklyn) and am waiting to hear back. As a last resort I do have a friend that lives in Rome but that might be really extreme. Now I'm just determined to find the things so that I can show you all what they look like (and that they exist).

And I know...I just know...that if I do manage to find them & bring them to my mom she's going to say "what did you buy these for? I'm not going to eat them."

I'm on a mission...

Nina

Nina: If we could use a rope and tie around some necks ,
we could get you a lot of nuts on a rope.
Would that be OK ?????

Success!!!

I received a call from my friend Marty last night while he was at the San Gennaro fest:

"Now that I found the nuts on a string what do I do with them?"

I knew it! I knew that if they were to be found at San Gennaro Marty would find them. He had to ask, they were behind the counter & out of sight...fresh off the plane from Italy (or fresh out of a dusty, forgotten corner of the stockroom...who can tell?)

He got me two strands, I'll be going to meet him at the Great Neck Auto Show on Sunday for the exchange and if they're anything more than just empty strings by then I'll be posting photos.

Thank you, thank you all! This thread spawned some great laughs & equally great recipes. The least I could do is produce the actual nuts.

Lou- I don't think that nuts on a rope would be quite the same...but in some cases it might not be a bad idea :-).

Nina

Halelujah !!!!!

Nina: If your mom doesn't make a fuss over them, I'll get you.

LOU

I second Lou's, Hallelujah!! ;-)

Lucy

nina,

glad to hear you found them. please post a picture when you finally get them in your hands.

maryanne

Nina & Lou,
This morning my daughter handed me a white bag, and said "here's a surprise for ya"! It was heavy, feeling the bag I felt a block of something, could not image what could be in there. Low & behold, it was a huge chunk of "TORRONE".

She had gone to the San Gennaro feast last night. Wish I known she was going, I would have had her get me some of those "nuts on a string" :-)

Lucy

Thanks a lot Lucy !!!
Now how am I going to find some up here in the Pocono's.
LOU

Lou, guess I have to send ya some torrone :^ ) Boy oh boy is it good! not to sweet & plenty of nuts! Have a lot going on this weekend, no time to give those recipes a try, but soon...let you know how it turns out.

Lucy

Nina can you post a pic!

Will post a pic tonight. I have two strands.

Now I must admit, I was a little bit let down when I opened the ubiquitous white bag & saw them. Somehow I remembered them differently. But they're each 16 dried hazelnuts, strung on what looks like dental floss. My son wanted no part of them (well he's only half Italian..and he's 3) and my mother has no idea that I have them. Next time I may just string my own.

Lucy- mmmmm, torrone! I could really go for some as well.

Nina

lou, what section/area of the pocono's are you in?

maryanne

Hi Maryanne: I guess I'm on the western end of the Pocono's.
North of Jim Thorpe , 8 miles south of Blakeslee in close proximnity to Split Rock Lodge and Big Boulder Ski Slopes.
In fact I look at the back end of Big Boulder Mtn.
I'm close to the intersection of Rt.903 and Rt.534, about 5 miles from Hickory Run State Park.
That should tell you where I'm located.
If you come out, I'll have dinner ready.

LOU

hey lou, i'm quite familiar. when i'm up there, it's at IMLC, right off 534, above 115 and down the road from 903. so i'm totally aware of your location, neighbor

i'll let you know when i'll be up that way. i had hoped for this weekend, but we had a loss in our family and services are in the midst of being arranged and i'm making the assumption they will be over this weekend.

maryanne

Maryanne: IMLC ? Is that Indian Mountian Lakes ?
That's about 5 minutes away.
I won't be here friday. We will be at our clubhouse ,
at the entrance gate.
They are throwing a Birthday Party for my wife.

The leaves are turnig colors 2 to 3 weeks early.
Probably because the Cold Snap we had, triggered it.
LOU

yes lou, indian mountain lakes. like i said, i won't be up this weekend, but i'll email you when i know that i will be.

happy birthday mrs. hawk! glad to hear you are felling better.

maryanne

Maryanne: Thank You !!!!! Looking forward to seeing you.

Lou

Happy belated birthday Mrs. Lou! (Lou my Nana was born in Mauck Chunk ....the world is sure small, isn't it?)

Just to let you know I DID make it to Arthur Avenue...tho it was 4pm on Friday and I got my sausage and beat it out...well right to the traffic going cross the GW. I totally forgot smoked pancetta....grrrrrr..but got Dick some sausage.

So...can we have a pic of the nuts? (shut up Jessica!! and stop your snickering) Maureen

Maureen : Thanks for the Birthday greeting. You're not late because we are still celebrating.

Sometimes things happen, that I don't understand.
Yesterday morning my wife was out of it.

I had to help her to stand and she could hardly walk.
She was disoriented, confused and wasn't talking.

Her Bible friends and regular friends were having a Birthday Party for her at the Clubhouse at 1.30 PM.

I told one woman , I think we should cancel the Party and just let them come to the house and visit.

At 12.30 PM she started to respond and we got her dressed.
It was like someone gave her a shot of Adrenaline.

When we got to the Clubhouse and got her seated she recognized everyone and started talking , laughing and never stopped until 8PM. ?????????
Unbelievable !!!!!

She is still OK today.
Someone said that is what's called "Divine Intervention"
I had to tell you that little story.

Maryanne: I'll have to start baking some Bread, Cheesecake and Cinnamon Buns
Hope you can make it.

LOU

Nina : Don't forget to let us know what mom say's.
Lou

This weekend Jimmy Kimmel and his family are sponsoring the first Feast of San Gennaro right here in Hollywood. I heard his cousin advertising it on the radio and she said Jimmy missed being back home for it so he planned one here. They've made it a big 3 day event with proceeds going to a charity. It sounded good, wish I had the time or the tummy to visit and eat!

Lou- I'm glad the Mrs. is feeling better, I spent most of the afternoon with my dad, it's hard on the caretaker too.
Please give her my best birthday wishes, I know you already did the singing for me!
E

Lou! I'm so glad that your wife is doing better but oh how awful & scary. I hope that the celebration is continuing.

My mother...I love her, I do, but ever since she stopped working she's not her usual self. Mind you, she's 85 & stopped working only 3 years ago. She lives minutes from all of her children, grandchildren & great grandchildren. We do our best to run her ragged but lately it seems like nothing is enough.

My mother has always been gracious and had raised us to be the same. I couldn't wait to get these nuts to her because they were something that was truly for her. So I had my son run up to her with the bag. She opened them & said "oh! Nuts on a string! These are your brother's favorite."

Look, I love my brother too but I didn't go crazy looking for these stupid nuts for HIM. He could get his own nuts on a string!

My mother insists that she doesn't eat them, it was my brother that loves them & she'll save them for him. OK. They're hers to do with as she wants. But...they were for her.

No power this weekend (not uncommon where we live) so no pictures uploaded at home but I've got them & will post them. At least we got a fun thread out of the nut hunt & can now figure out how to make my own nuts on a string if I ever need to.

Nina

lou, glad to hear the mrs. is feeling better. i'll be sure to pop you an email and let you know when i'm venturing up your way. don't go to too much trouble, just make a little of everything LOLOLOL

nina, isn't that something. i've had a similar experience where i went out of my way, searched high and low and then the person completely blew it off as if i made it up and asked me to take it back. scratch went that name from my list. so sorry to hear your power went out and sorry to hear you will be missing the swap.

maryanne

Maryanne, Thanks for the sympathy :-). My mom has been doing this a lot more lately. I think that she resents having to be dependant on us since she can't really get out on her own anymore so this is her way of unintentionally "getting back" at us. It's not malicious (I don't think) but she certainly was never like this when she was working,d riving & doing everything on her own.

My father died when I was very young, my mother was always very independant, went back to work & pretty much raised me singlehandedly (my brother & sister are both much older than I am). Now her arthritis is very bad & though she lives on her own I do the shopping for her, my sister comes over to help with the cleaning, my brother drives her to dr appts etc. Since she always was the one doing for herself (and usually doing for someone else as well) it makes her crazy to have to be dependant on us.

Oh I'm so disappointed about the swap! I was very excited about it and had quite the brainstorm. But at least now I know what to do for the next one.

The power loss is no big deal. Almost a treat since the laundry & vacuuming would have to wait. It happens so frequently that we're pretty used to it & since we have propane for cooking & hot water it's only a minor inconvenience. It was such a gorgeous weekend that it was nice to be forced outside.

Now I just have to get around to posting the nut pics!

Nina

Maryanne: When you email me,I'll give you my phone number.

Nina: In Italian I think they say " Avere Pazienza "

LOU

I just found this thread when searching for "hazelnuts on a string", which was mentioned in a book I am reading. Then after reading here, I found this article in the NY News with a source for torrone and hazelnuts on a string:
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/eats/daily-news-samples-san-gennaro-delicacies-article-1.1445749
Hope that helps someone -- even 7 years later than the original post!

Here is a link that might be useful: NY News article about Italian food festival

I for one, am glad this brought up a funny thread. And if it helps anyone find (or who wondered what it looked like) hazelnuts on a string, even better. Look at jessy behaving, just made me smile!

I thought it was an Italian woman looking for a husband.

I thought it was an Italian woman looking for a husband.

You can make them by boiling the hazelnuts. When they are soft you take a needle and thread and "sew" them together. That's how I do it anyway. You can roast and salt them before if you like.