crostini

Crostini is the plural of crostino, a diminutive of crosta (crust), from Latin crusta (shell, rind, bark). The same Latin root produced Old French croisée and eventually English 'crusade' — Crusaders took the cross (crux), and bread carried a cross scored into its crust. The connection is ancient: the cross on the crust, the crust on the bread, the bread sliced thin and toasted.

In Tuscan cuisine, crostini are small toasted bread rounds topped with a spread — traditionally crostini di fegato (liver pâté). This is the original and still most common form in Tuscany. The liver crostino was a way to use chicken livers: chopped, cooked with capers, anchovies, and butter, and spread on toasted bread. It was served before a meal, standing at the kitchen counter or at the dining table before the first course.

The word expanded in English to mean any toasted bread topped with anything. Crostini with ricotta and honey. Crostini with tomato and basil. Crostini with smoked salmon. The Tuscan liver spread was replaced by whatever a chef wanted to put on toast. The word stopped meaning a specific food and started meaning a format: small, toasted, topped.

Crostini and bruschetta are often confused in English. Both are bread with toppings. The difference is size and texture: crostini are small, thin, and crisp; bruschetta are larger, rustic, and often rubbed with raw garlic. Italians know the difference immediately. English speakers often do not. Both words have been absorbed into the international appetizer vocabulary as variations on 'things on toast.'