Dear Readers:
Italy gave us "La Dolce Vita" the film, but it is the members of A.I.D.I (Associazone Industrie Dolciarie Italiane) who continue through their production of sweets of unrivaled superiority, to provide a bit of "la dolce vita" to the world via their "gelati," baked goods, choco- lates and sweet confectionery.
Since many of our cherished memories of Holidays and family gatherings past include some type of "dolce," I thought I would share some informa- tion with you gleened from the pages of "Sweet Land of Italy": "Gelato" has evolved from ancient Roman times, when it was the custom to mix snow with honey and fruit juices. Expansion of ice cream outside of Italy began in the 17th century, with Italian ice cream masters attending the court of Caterina De Medici in Paris.
Today many of the world's ice cream parlors are strongly influenced by the Italian tradition. Torrone, served in ancient Rome during sumptuous banquets was made with almonds, honey and albumen and was highly prized. The delicacy was brought to Rome by Legionnaires. At one princely wedding banquet in Cremona in 1441, a chronicle of the time describes a special sweet "shaped to look like the magnificent and tall bell tower which dominates the town.”
The tower was called "Torrione" and the sweet was thus named "Torrone." Torrone's basic ingredients include almonds, honey, sugar, hazelnuts, pistachios and egg whites. From the Abruzzo region comes yet another version, a mixture of chocolates and hazelnuts and very tender. White or dark, hard or soft, Torrone stands tall among the world's sweetest tastes. Soft chewy almond Torrone surfaced in 1260, when the French count of Valois brought it to Benevento.
He defeated Manfred there and torrone came and stayed. It is still made and given for Christmas everywhere in Italy. Torrone from Avellino is available by mail, ordered from Anthony Andrioli's site www.torronecandy.com. I like the soft torrone, but you can choose from torroni, biscotti, mostaccioli, cioccolati, gift baskets and more. Gianduia, a new kind of chocolate was introduced in Torinoin 1852.
It is made with milk, sugar, cocoa and Piemonte hazelnuts, universal- ly regarded as the world's best. With its soft, velvety texture, marvelous hazelnut flavor, Gianduia has attained worldwide fame. At the marriage of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III in Monaco in 1956, Gianduia wrapped in gold foil was chosen as the wedding "bonbon." Amaretti (a tiny bitter) may be packaged loose or may come wrapped in pairs in flower like tissues. One romantic legend tells how a young baker and his lovely fiancee invented the cookies in the 1700's as a gift to the visiting Cardinal of Milan.
Though it was customary to present the Cardinal with cakes or sweets, the town's scant food supplies could not feed the prelate's huge entourage; so the lovers quickly gathered sacks of almonds, sugar, eggs and flour, and baked scores of shiny and chewy biscuits. The appreciative Cardinal and his numerous followers soon became regular customers. Three generations later, when the delicious almond liqueur Amaretto was invented, amaretti incorporated this taste.
Sprinkled with diamond-like sugar crystals, amaretti today lend special enjoyment after meals to tables all around the world, and are especially deli- cious when dipped in red wine. Cantuccini di Pratois a specialty from Prato, a town near Florence. These popular sweets in the form of a biscuit, or in Italian, biscotto (bis = twice; cotto = cooked) contain oil, anise and almonds.
First cooked in the shape of French bread, they are then cut into thin slices and put into the oven again to brown till the become dry and hard. Typically, Cantuccini are enjoyed at the end of a meal and are often dipped in coffee, milk, sparkling wine or other beverages to soften them.
Pasticceria (assorted cookies) are made with only the finest ingredients - wheat, flour, milk, butter, fresh cream and eggs - some types are covered with chocolate chips, crisp hazelnuts, walnuts, flaked almonds or even the exotic pignolia nuts. Other selections include chocolate covered wafers, sugar coated biscuits and also lady fingers and crisp wafers.
Often packed in rich assortments in colorful gift tins decorated with classic or modern art, pasticceria make a delightful treat for oneself or a tasty gift. Panforte(strong bread) was originally a delicacy of Siena, in Tuscany, and now enjoys wide popularity throughout Italy. It too is shrouded in legend.
One tells that in 1205, serfs and tenants of the Montecellesi nunnery were compelled to bring the nuns spice and honey cakes as a measure of the census. So delicious were these cakes that they soon came into laymen's hands. In those days, nuns were the great pastry cooks of Italy. Nunneries prepared medicinal mixtures of herbs and spices; and later, the concocting of these was assumed by the "speziali" (chemists), and along with it, the preparation of panforte.
Round in shape, panforte's basic ingredients are fresh almonds, candied fruit, (primarily citrus), spices and honey. The most widely sold panforte today is Panforte Margherita , name din honor of Queen Margherita, wife of the Italian king Umberto I, and based on a recipe which gave the cake a more delicate taste. Today panforte is enjoyed around the world, especially during the Christmas season.
Though panforte may be served with a wide range of wines, in Italy it is particularly popular with Vin Santo, a sweet raisin wine with origins in Tuscan monasteries. Panettoneis soft and sweet and overflowing with luscious morsels (raisins and candied fruits, mainly citrus). Born in Milanoaround 1940, it soon became the cake of all Italians, from the Alps to Sicily.
Many legends surround panettone's origins, the most popular tells of a young Milanese nobleman who fell in love with the daughter of a baker named Toni. To impress the girl's father, the young man dis- guised himself as a baker's boy and invented a sweet, wonderful bread of rare delicacy and unusual size and domeshaped curve.
This new, fruitcake-like bread enjoyed enormous success, with people coming to the bakery in droves at all hours to purchase the magnificent "Pan de Toni." Bakers have always made sweet risen breads and they still take charge of panettone; pandoro of Verona, its denser predecessor; and pandolce Genovese.
The Piemonte version of panettone was invented seventy years ago by a baker in Pinerolo who covered the fragrant dough with a crunchy glaze of hazelnuts, sugar and vanilla. Businessmen in Milano began to give panettone as a gift to their clients for the Christmas holidays. For a long time it was considered a luxury for an elite few, until new production techniques were developed to make it accessible to everyone.
A natural leavening process and a paper mold permitted the yeast to raise the dough to form a feather-light cake. Panettone's main ingredients, flour, yeast, milk, butter, eggs and sugar are derived from original recipes and the care and standards of preparation are the same at the industrial level as if they were baked at home. The more recent versions of Panettone were invented in the 1920s, when Angelo Motta founded a company that used natural yeast and tall cylindrical forms to turn out a rich, porous, high-sided panettone.
Studded with raisins and bits of candied orange and citron, the new panettone was such a popular success that Motta's friend Gioachino Alemagna opened a competing business the next year, and in the decades that followed panettone gradually became the Christmas bread of Italy.
Nowadays panettone weighs one, two, or three pounds, while rustic panettone was traditionally made in enormous six - to ten-pound rounds. It was once a real status symbol for immigrants who came to Milan and felt that they had arrived when they could set a panettone on their Christmas table. Today, not only is panettone a Christmas tradition, but it wonderfully compliments any fine meal.
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