Sliced apple fritters

This dish is somewhat of an exception in Piedmont cuisine: it is a sweet fried food. In the Monferrato area frying is a cooking method reserved for the famous dish fritto misto (mixed fried food), which includes apple fritters, but the batter does not contain sugar. Carnival is the exception. This is when the whole world celebrates with all kinds of fried foods. Italy offers an endless selection of fried Carnival pastries: bugie and farciò in Piedmont, chiacchiere in Lombardy and Piedmont, zeppole in Veneto, crostoli in Trentino, cenci in Tuscany, frappe in Emilia, zippulas and parafrittus in Sardinia, pignoccata in Sicily and many more. These sweet pastries are prepared during Carnival celebrations, the eve of “carnem levare” (latin=remove meat) the beginning of the Lent period of fasting when meat is not permitted.