The two edibles I'll discuss today are both new, and old to me. The old part is that they're foods I've had before--ladyfingers and toast. But the new portion is that they're from a different country (Italy), and from a new company--the Bellino brand from the Cento company.
Normally I'd give a brief rundown of the manufacturer(s) of the products, but I wasn't able to find out much via online research. Bellino especially is a mystery. About all I could discover was a product list, and that their foods are actually made in Italy. Aside from the two things I had, they also make olive oils, spaghetti sauce, anchovies, vinegars, garlics, breadsticks, rice, pastas, cookies, and chocolates. I'm also not positive that Cento makes Bellino products in their factories in Italy, or if they just distribute the brand, or what. The Cento company was started by Alfred Ciccotelli, in Philadelphia, PA. He started to sell imported Italian foods in the early 1950's, and by 1962 the Alanic Food Distributers business was established. Somewhere along the line the company name was changed to Cento. Cento distributes 8 brands, and over 1000 individual products. Currently Cento is based out of West Deptford, NJ.
Ladyfingers are a type of biscuit (aka cookie) that's known for being dry, egg-based, spongy, and sweet. Made pretty much everywhere on the planet Many of the individual countries have their own names for this biscuit, so all told it goes by dozens of monikers. "Ladyfingers" is an English term, "boudoirs" is a French one, and in Italy they're referred to as "savoriardi" or "savoiadi." But my favorite names are the ones from Indonesia, Poland and Turkey, which all have some reference to "cat's tongues,"--like some of the other titles, after the body part people think the cookie looks like. Ladyfingers were developed in the late 1400's, in the now defunct Duchy of Savoy, currently part of France. Ladyfingers are sometimes eaten plain, but they're also often part of other, more elaborate desserts, such as trifles, charlottes, and tiramisus. And sometimes they're used as a chew toy for teething infants.
Loyal readers with good memories may recall that I've talked about twice-baked breads, or cakes, or toasts, on several occasions, especially in the past couple of years. Below is a list of their blog post dates:
Finnish flatbread: November 3, 2018
Zwieback: April 17, 2019
Brazilian toast: May 11, 2019
Bangladeshi cake rusk: February 8, 2020
Indian/Omani biscuits: July 18, 2020
Anyway, here's what I thought:
Bellino savoiadi (ladyfingers): These were the typical ladyfinger rod-like shape, or, I guess, like the digits of a woman. They were about 10.5 cm. by 3 cm. (about 4.25 inches by 1.25 inches), and were a yellowish-brown color, with some white sugar dusting on one side. The taste was very dry and crunchy, and not very sweet. Kind of reminded me more of a cracker than a cookie. So they were like most of the other ladyfingers I've had, and didn't enjoy much. They weren't terrible, just extremely bland. Later I realized that it's common to dip them in coffee or milk, so I tried putting them in milk. This clearly offset the dryness a bit, and so was marginally better. But still disappointing overall.
Bellino fette biscottate (Italian toasts): These were roughly oval, about 3.25 inches by 2.75 inches (about 8 cm. by 7 cm.). The color was yellowish, with brownish border crusts. Plain they were akin to rice cakes--dry, crunchy, and nearly flavorless. But obviously these are made to be eaten with a topping, or spread, or dip atop them, so I did this. Ketchup improved things a bit, but not dramatically. But, then I put the German cambozola cheese (see my January 23, 2021 blog post) on them. This really worked well--the two really complimented each other. Therefore, I think they'd be okay as a cradle for cheeses. But just plain there are few things duller!
So overall I didn't like the ladyfinger kind, and thought the toast one was alright with the right cheese on it. But, as usual, folks who are major fans of this type of cookie, or toasts, might really enjoy these. For example, I've already purchased both of these again, because my mother loves them.
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