Panforte

Panforte is a sweet pastry from Italy. It is a specialty of the Tuscan city of Siena and the immediate area ( province of Siena and Massa Marittima). Panforte is primarily a traditional Christmas cake, but today it is also outside of the Christmas season a dessert, for example together with Vin Santo.

In contrast to the widespread in northern Italy Torrone Panforte is quite soft; of gingerbread, it differs in that the ingredients are roughly chopped and baked without leavening.

Ingredients and preparation

Is prepared traditional Panforte from almonds, flour, dried and candied fruit ( candied peel ), egg whites, honey, sugar and spices like coriander, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon. The ingredients are mixed into a dough and then baked on round wafers. The Panforte is dusted with powdered sugar and must go through a long period. He is stable for several months.

In Siena it is said that the Panforte should consist of 17 ingredients, the number of Contraden, ie of the neighborhoods of Siena or their representatives at Palio.

Variants

• Panforte Margherita: this classic Panforte Panforte is also called bianco. He was named after Queen Margherita of Savoy, in 1879 the Palio of Siena visited.

• Panforte nero, Panforte with candied melon instead of candied lemon peel, cocoa and chili pepper.

• Panpepato - This pastry is darker and contains more cocoa and pepper.

• Panforte from Massa Marittima, similar to the Panforte Margherita.

Today also various modifications of the classic recipe are offered, such as Panforte with chocolate coating, with chestnut flour, raisins or pine nuts.

History

The Panforte is akin to medieval recipes such as gingerbread and gingerbread. Already the Romans knew a simple honey cake, which they called Panus mellitus. From the Italy of the Middle Ages -like cakes are delivered as melatello, panmielato or panmelato. It was a nutritious food for the winter; a kind of fruit bread made ​​from flour, water, garden fruits (figs, apples, grapes) and nuts.

Its current name originated because the pastry was often sour by a fermentation process - forte is not strong, but sour in a secondary meaning of the word in this case. Honey flavor and improved shelf life. Later the recipe in the monasteries was seasoned with exotic spices that came after the time of the Crusades from the East to Italy, after Siena was a major trading center for spices. The first written record comes from the year 1205 from the Abbey of Montecelso.

Today Panforte is industrially produced ( well-known brands include Parenti, Pepi, Sapori and Nannini ), but also made ​​from many small farms in hand.