One of the famed local delicacies of Pisa is torta co’ bischeri, a tart of pastry, chocolate, pinenuts and candied fruit. The filling, though delicious, is quite heavy and, well, filling! These days in Pisa, it is not always easy to find one, they’re not really something you can get everywhere. So we were very excited when we passed by a little pasticceria and saw they had torte co’ bischeri for sale:

So we purchased one, posthaste! It was nicely wrapped up in a brown paper package tied up with string… hmm, perhaps this shall become one of my favourite things. Yes, I suppose that was a little obvious. But you try coming up with clichés at the drop of a hat. Oh leave me alone. Onward!

A rustic Italian package just crying to be opened up and eaten in one sitting. But what terrible delights are really contained within?

There is much debate about what the ‘bischeri’ in torta co’ bischeri means. Signora Can-guru believes that it refers to the pinenuts sprinkled on top. I would hate to argue with a real Italian mamma. But other internet experts believe it refers to the pastry horns or strips laid over the top of said pie. Bischeri is also commonly used to refer to a stupid or naive person. What do stupid people have to do with this pie, I hear you ask?

There are pastry objects, pine nuts, and possibly stupid people atop this pie. Which is it?!

I was told something very interesting, intriguing and/or disgusting from our friend The Can-guru. She believes that in medieval and possibly up until recent times, there was a very special ingredient that went into making the rich, heavy filling of this pie, which gives it a slight bitter aftertaste.

Can you guess what it is?

Answers on a postcard! Since I can’t seem to enable any kind of answering function on this post.

The Can-guru is firmly convinced that she learned this delicate pastry of Pisa used to contain a healthy amount of pig’s blood, giving it an interesting rich flavour. Sorry vegetarians!

The torta was one of the best she’d had, and as the first of its kind I’d eaten, I would happily eat it again. The chocolate flavour was strong, with a slight bitterness, and I could well believe that there was secret pig’s blood in the filling.

However, it’s also possible that the Can-guru was thinking of sanguinaccio, a chocolate pudding from Calabria containing pig’s blood as a thickener. It also contains pinenuts and candied fruits such as citron, so the same ingredients as torta co’ bischeri. Given the existence of sanguinaccio, does that make it more or less likely that there would be other Italian delicacies involving chocolate and pig’s blood?

Sadly, neither Signora Can-guru or the other available Italian food oracle, Nonna (Grandmother) Can-guru could tell us. This is not a question that can be fully answered until The Can-guru returns to her home stomping grounds and delicately phrases a question of the proprietor of the pasticceria as to whether his delicious pie was full of pig’s blood or not. Would she be kicked out on her ear for such a suggestion? Or initiated into a special secret Pisan society of pig’s blood pie fanciers? We shall see.