A lady who came for supper this past weekend brought me some homemade "taralli" with tiny black seeds baked into them. I didn't make note of what she called them, but later I asked her grandson and he said they were "aranzo"? seeds. I've done a google search and nothing came up. She comes from Cosenza, and I presume it's probably a dialect word for the seeds. Would anyone know what they are called in English?

My Calabrese relatives that make taralli put anise seed in them.

Thanks for your help.
Mary

If I am thinking of the same thing..I thought it was pepper.

They could be either 'semi di papaveri' (poppy seeds) or maybe fennel seeds.

The ones I ate some time ago had poppy seeds in them >Semi di papaveri< and they were lovely.

I like fresh baked bread with poppy seeds on top too... it's a bit like Challa bread

Now you're making me hungry!

Have spoken with an Italian/French colleague here - he suggested Fennel seeds?

Hi Mary! Sorry I haven't gotten back to you but I promise to soon. As for your question, I'll ask my mom about it tomorrow since she is from Cosenza area. I thin Aranzo is a dialect term..I'm sure I have heard it used before but I want to make sure.

Thanks, everyone, for answering. They're definitely not poppy or fennel seeds. They're about half the length of a fennel seed and about a quarter of the girth. I bit into one just by itself and it does have a bit of an anise flavour, so I would think it is from that family of plants, but it's black in colour.

Nuccia, I'm curious to see what your mother says.

Mary

I think then that they must be CARAWAY seeds, they are called CUMIN in Italy.

They are my favourite seed and I use them for making an old English recipe for caraway seed cake. They are also used extensively in savoury cooking - both Italian and (to my knowledge Indian cooking too...

Here they are



I wonder if Nuccia's Mom will agree, or maybe she knows of other seeds?

They are NOT caraway and they are NOT cumin.

I know what you mean--they are very tiny, round black seeds that look like tiny poppy seeds. They have an anise flavor.

My mother-in-law is from Calabria, originally. She has used up her supply of these from home. They get used in many baked goods, including breadsticks and biscotti and other cookies.

She asked if I could find someplace on the web to get her more.

The info I have found in several places is that the natives in certain areas of Calabria harvest these from wild plants up in the hills. It is time-consuming, and no one does it for sale. You have to have a friend or relative in the area get it from someone.

The closest thing I could find is black anise seed (from Pimpinella anisum), which is smaller than regular anise seed. It is still an anise-type seed pod, crescent-shaped. But you could use as a replacement.

I wonder is the wild plant I read about is a type of anise with larger seed pods, and if the tiny black seed is inside the pods. Maybe the Calabrese harvest pods and then open them all and use only the seed inside.