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Panettone
Panettone are sold all over Italy, especially in Milan, where this tall
Christmas bread filled with dried raisins and candied oranges was
invented. Like fruitcake, which panettone resembles, the sweet treat is
served during Christmas celebrations — especially on Christmas Day
and Santo Stefano (the feast day of St. Stephen and a national holiday
in Italy, celebrated on December 26). It is also customarily eaten on
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Our panettone was personally
tasted and selected on a recent buying trip to Italy.
Local Satsumas
Satsumas — a type
of mandarin citrus — are
grown all over the Gulf Coast.
They’re sweet, seedless and
easy to peel. We buy Louisiana
satsumas from father-and-
son farming team Ben Becnel,
Sr. and Ben Becnel, Jr., in
Plaquemines Parish, and their
neighbor, Matt Ranatza. Both
farms also grow Louisiana
sweets, navel oranges,
grapefruits and Meyer lemons.
Alabama satsumas come in a
bit later in the season. Ours are
from third-generation farmer
Jeremy Sessions of Sessions
Produce in Grand Bay.
IN OUR STORES
Christmas on
the Bayou
Pelican Publishing celebrates
the 25th anniversary of
The Cajun Night Before
Christmas
, the Louisiana
version of Clement Clarke
Moore’s classic poem,
A Visit
From St. Nicholas
, which is
more commonly known as
The Night Before Christmas
.
Written in Cajun dialect and
set in a bayou, it features Ole
St. Nick “wit’ snow-white chin
whisker an’ quiverin’ belly,”
dressed “head to his toes” in
muskrat instead of a red suit.
In place of a sleigh, he drives
a skiff piled high with toys,
pulled not by reindeer, but by
eight flying alligators: Gaston,
T’Boy, Pierre, Alcee, Ninette,
Suzette, Celeste and Renee.
Copies of
The Cajun Night Before
Christmas
are available for sale at
all Rouses Markets in Louisiana.