And even the pastry shop is no exception, with a dessert designed specifically to enhance the taste and aroma of the large lemons, pride of the island.
The origin of the dessert that you cannot leave Procida without tasting dates back to the 1950s, when Pasquale Mazziotti, Neapolitan by adoption, although Sicilian by birth, landed on the island. And it was from Sicily, a land famous for its sweet delights, that he borrowed the right idea to launch the pastry bar he had taken over in Procida, "'O cafè re Barone": the revisitation of a puff pastry dessert covered in custard. The new version, entirely "made in Procida", included two layers of puff pastry enclosing one of lemon cream, a tribute to the famous island citrus fruit. With a delicious sprinkling of granulated sugar. The shape of the pastry was oval, elongated like that of an ox tongue. Mazziotti's novelty soon spread around the island and found favor with both Procida residents and foreigners, quickly becoming the island's typical dessert, unmissable for anyone who visited. And identified by everyone with a single word: tongue. With the more descriptive addition "of ox" or more mischievous "of mother-in-law".
With time and growing success, other versions have been added, no less appreciated, all linked to the type of cream: custard, chocolate and also, more recently, pistachio. But the main thing remains the tongue with lemon cream, the most representative of the island. An undisputed pleasure for the palate, but also for the sight and smell, the sweet tongue that is now inevitably associated with the island where lemons grow.
