Looking for Italian candy called Torrone. (the hard kind)
Try Ashley Market, they carry lots of European candy brands--esp around the holidays
I'm going to World Market this afternoon. Do you want me to check on/buy some for you?
Love it, but make sure you break in pieces if get the hard kind. I get the block in Little Italy during the feast. I know the stores in Little Italy sell it (NYC) , soft and hard, but it goes by the pound and not cheap.
World Market only has the soft kind. Maybe I'll just get it online.... Though I'll probably try Antonio's. I don't think I've ever been there.
yes, I know all about the eating technique. 
I've been eating it since I was a kid, but haven't seen the hard stuff in many years. It was the traditional gift from someone returning from an Italy trip - which during my youth my extended family did an awful lot, as they were all immigrants with lots of family still in Italy.
Want to get a bar for my brother for xmas - just as a sort of nostalgic gift.
mary2430 said:
Love it, but make sure you break in pieces if get the hard kind. I get the block in Little Italy during the feast. I know the stores in Little Italy sell it (NYC) , soft and hard, but it goes by the pound and not cheap.
@drummerboy - A bit off-topic, but my grandparents always served torrone (in the little boxes, right?) at Christmas, along with marzipan fruits and marzipan "potatoes" covered with cocoa powder. They also had a liqueur that I have been trying to find for years and years - it was slightly yellowish, and came in a tall bottle with a branch covered with sugar crystals inside the bottle. I think it was called "Millefiori" or "Fior di Alpi" - can't recall which. I've tried to locate it online and had no luck and no one I've mentioned it to seems to remember it. I'm hoping that if your family liked torrone they might have liked this, too, and you might remember the name. This thread has brought back lots of happy memories for me, too!
darn! I know the liqueur you're talking about. Never drank it myself but it was a constant presence when I was growing up. Wonder if my older brother remembers....
Millefiori (a thousand flowers) was an Italian herbal liquor, not sure if it still made. Galliano is still made, more of an anise, licorice-like base.
Definitely not Galliano (or Strega) - Galliano's an intense yellow, and no branch in the bottle. The color was a very, very pale chartreuse (and the liqueur wasn't Chartreuse), just barely shading from clear. I can see the bottle in my mind's eye, but not the name. As a kid, the sugar branch fascinated me more than anything else about it! I've asked some friends in Italy to check out local liquor stores there, but none have had any luck so far.
eta: I went back and searched some more and found the following info under juniper-based liqueurs: Widely available varieties include Amaro centerbe (30% vol.), Alpestre (38% vol.), Millefiori (38% vol.), Trisulti brandy (45% vol) and Vegetale (38% vol.). Other génépi brands include Fiori Alpini and Alpenkraeuter. Génépi des Alpes purports to be based only on the wormwood colloquially known as "mutellina" (today known botanically as A. umbelliformis). Another elixir, Barathier, represents itself as being composed of seven herbs and flowers, although none are identified.
But no luck finding a supplier locally. (and I guess there were 2 kinds of liqueurs, maybe both had sugar branches in them - Millefiori and Fiori Alpini (which I remembered as Fior di Alpi). Funny what sticks with us from our childhoods!
Try here: http://site.corradosmarket.com/home/home.html
Straight shot down the GSP, Hazel Ave. exit, about 20 minutes from here. Call before going.
Funny, I just noticed some this morning at Citarella's here in NYC and briefly debated picking some up for my mom to have at Christmas. If you still want Torrone, I can stop there on my way home this evening if you happen to see this. I leave the city around 8 or 9 pm and can get it to you tomorrow if you live locally. Just let me know how much to get. It's in the long rectangle blocks. I do recall seeing it at Antonio's Mozzarella Factory but was a while ago.
Now I'm hungry....
I'd check-out Mia Familgia in Millburn ... Best old school Italian deli in these parts. Period.
I just recently discovered Mia Famiglia a few months ago, after literally driving past it for 20 years.
Yes. Best old school deli. Period. They make the best sfogliatelle around.
But.
They don't have the hard torrone. Was there on Saturday and bought a couple of bars, but it's soft.
I'm looking for the kind you have to break with a hammer. (Well, that's how we did it in the drummerboy household)
Soul_29 said:
I'd check-out Mia Familgia in Millburn ... Best old school Italian deli in these parts. Period.
This thread brings back so many memories for me too. Have you tried the Wine Library in Millburn? I have seen it there but not sure if it's hard or soft. My family would eat the hard stuff after big parties along with dessert. There would also be loads of walnuts and other nuts scattered loosely around the table with a bunch of nutcrackers. Also oranges. The men would crack nuts open by hand while the women largely cleaned up. They would also drink Fernet Branca as a digestive which I now drink when I'm feeling too full and it's so readily available here.
Keep us posted!
drummerboy said:
I just recently discovered Mia Famiglia a few months ago, after literally driving past it for 20 years.
Yes. Best old school deli. Period. They make the best sfogliatelle around.
But.
They don't have the hard torrone. Was there on Saturday and bought a couple of bars, but it's soft.
I'm looking for the kind you have to break with a hammer. (Well, that's how we did it in the drummerboy household)
Soul_29 said:
I'd check-out Mia Familgia in Millburn ... Best old school Italian deli in these parts. Period.
Did you ask them if they could get it?
I hate the hard stuff and always manage to buy that type by accident. Doesn't stop me from eating it though 
The next time that happens I'll take note of where it was and let you know.
I did actually. They told me it would be coming in for the holidays, and they did get a lot of torrone in. It's just the wrong kind. Not sure if I asked him about the hard kind though. Might have just mentioned "long bars".
Soul_29 said:
drummerboy said:
I just recently discovered Mia Famiglia a few months ago, after literally driving past it for 20 years.
Yes. Best old school deli. Period. They make the best sfogliatelle around.
But.
They don't have the hard torrone. Was there on Saturday and bought a couple of bars, but it's soft.
I'm looking for the kind you have to break with a hammer. (Well, that's how we did it in the drummerboy household)
Soul_29 said:
I'd check-out Mia Familgia in Millburn ... Best old school Italian deli in these parts. Period.
Did you ask them if they could get it?
I finally found some at Sorrento's bakery on Eagle Rock Avenue in??? Hanover? East Hanover? Wherever.
And while there I had to get some pignoli cookies. $20 a pound!
and some sfogliatelle
and some biscotti-like cookies that I don't know the name of but that I love.
and some san pellegrino orange soda.
Love the pignoli cookies! They've gotten very expensive - something about poor pine nut harvests in Italy and the Chinese ones can trigger an allergic reaction in some people.
yeah.the pignoli cookies have been a favorite of mine for as long as I can remember.
Though I can pretty much bet that if they were the equivalent of $20 a pound when I was a kid, I never would have seen one.
cody said:
Love the pignoli cookies! They've gotten very expensive - something about poor pine nut harvests in Italy and the Chinese ones can trigger an allergic reaction in some people.
Went to Mi Famiglia today - what a great store! And they did have large square pieces of the hard torrone (in the rack next to the bread display case) in stock today. Also had the Italian marzipan fruits, pignoli nuts from Italy (not China), and so many things I haven't been able to find in quite a while! So glad someone mentioned them in this thread, because I had always gone to DiPietro's (now gone) before.
hi.
I was there yesterday and looked very carefully. It may look like the hard stuff, but it's not. At least all that I saw. I'll check again next time though....
But it's a great store. They occasionally carry a butter in a can from Italy called Soresina or something like that. Delicious. And their eggplant sandwich is wonderful. Good selection of olive oils, I think most of which you can taste. Haven't really begun to even explore all that they have yet...
cody said:
Went to Mi Famiglia today - what a great store! And they did have large square pieces of the hard torrone (in the rack next to the bread display case) in stock today. Also had the Italian marzipan fruits, pignoli nuts from Italy (not China), and so many things I haven't been able to find in quite a while! So glad someone mentioned them in this thread, because I had always gone to DiPietro's (now gone) before.
Found some on Amazon - but 16 bucks a bar is a bit much.