In the Madonie mountains of Sicily, Giulio Gelardi works to save the manna industry, in which his family and a few other producers have toiled for generations. This manna is the sweet sap of the ash tree Fraxinus angustifolia. Once used as both a sweetener and a laxative, the natural sap was replaced by cheap cane sugar and artificial medications. But Gelardi has spent 40 years growing, perfecting, and promoting manna for a new generation.
When I ask if his manna is the one referenced in the Bible, Giulio laughs. “As you can imagine, it’s a source of much debate in these parts,” he says. However, the biblical descriptions of manna being “like coriander seed, white” with a taste “like wafers made with honey” are consistent with Giulio’s product. Did it come from heaven? If we consider the phrase allegorical, then yes, it comes from up high and drips down onto the ground. Could it have sustained a generation of Israelites for months and helped them survive harsh conditions? Maybe. People have survived on less nutritious foods. By all accounts, if this is not the very same manna described in the Bible, it might as well have been.
Learn about manna's history, production, and future at Atlas Obscura.