Castagnaccio

Typical Autumn Chestnut Cake.
This not-too sweet cake made from chestnut flour developed long ago among poor farmers and peasants, where the chestnut once formed the base of the peasant diet due to their low cost and many uses. Originally it was prepared with only chestnut flour, water and when possible rosemary and a drop of new olive oil.
It was once believed that the addition of rosemary, with its pervasive aromas, created a powerful love potion and that a boy given a slice of the cake would fall in love with the girl who offered it to him and marry her.
Today Castagnaccio is enriched with other ingredients including pine nuts, eggs, sugar, and sometimes even liquor or chocolate.

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