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Sweets
Honey
The production of honey has its ancient origins in the Berici Hills and in the hills of the northern part of Vicenza (in the area of Mt. Grappa and the Brenta and Astico River valleys, in particular). As early as Medieval times, honey from this province was one of the most highly appraised in northern Italy; it must be remembered that in Europe and especially in Italy, in the absence of beet sugar and cane sugar, honey had represented the only concentrated sugar food for thousands of years. The production in Vicenza has always maintained artisan characteristics, entrusted to a century old tradition and experience. Honey produced from plants like the acacia, chestnut, basswood and dandelions as well as the “Multi-flower Mountain” and millefiori hillside varieties are among the most widespread types of honey. Honey requires just a few steps to come from the beehive to the table: extraction by centrifugal force, purification by filtering and decanting are common to all of the products. Following these operations honey can be placed in the classical glass jars and marketed. Other techniques may also be used in order to obtain honey, whose sole purposes however are only to obtain an improved aspect of the product, without altering its characteristics. None of the components of honey can be added or removed in order for the product to be sold. The only concession to modernity is lowering the temperature, which does not alter the substance of the product, although it does improve the physical and aesthetic characteristics. Honey is made almost exclusively from sugars: in fact, sugar represents 95% to 99% of the dry substance of honey and simple sugars such as fructose and glucose, which make up most of these (85%-95%), generally with a prevalence of fructose. In addition to honey, royal jelly and propolis are also produced.
USEFUL ADDRESSES
Associazione Apicoltori dall’Astico al brenta (Astico & Brenta Beekeepers Association)
Piazza Mazzini, 18
36042 Breganze (Vicenza)
Ph. +39 0445 873607
Fax +39 0445 873200
E-mail:
cm.astico.brenta@keycomm.it
Associazione Regionale Produttori di Miele del Veneto
(Veneto Regional Honey
Producers’ Association)
Str. Maddalene, 169
36100 Vicenza
Ph. +39 0444 357905
Fax +39 0444 359378
Associazione provinciale
apicoltori di Vicenza
(Vicenza Province Beekeepers’ Association)
Via della Tecnica, 13
36100 Vicenza
Ph. +39 0444 962564
Fax +39 0444 962563
E-mail: apav@virgilio.it
TRADE FAIRS AND EVENTS
Vicenza
(October): Miele in piazza
(Honey in the Square)
Ph. +39 0444 508023
Breganze
(Mid-November): Mostra miele in occasione dell’antica Fiera di San Martino (Honey Show on occasion of the Ancient Fair of San Martino)
Ph. +39 0445 873618
Vicentine “Mostarda”
Let us start from the name, mustus ardens, or cooked must, mixed with mustard. In France the word moutarde is still used to indicate mustard. It is candied fruit in syrup, to which a pinch of powdered mustard has been added. It was used to accompany a series of cold and hot dishes, and is still used for this purpose today. Our Mostarda was mentioned specifically as early as 1397, when Gian Galeazzo Visconti wrote to the podestà of Voghera to order a “zebro grande de mostarda de fructa cum la senavra, che fa bone le robe de lo disnare et li caponi el la cacciagione et li viteli bolito e allo spiedo” (a large container of fruit jam with mustard, which dresses foods nicely, such as pork, wild game, boiled and spitted veal). Over the centuries, the method of producing Mostarda has changed. Some people produce it with many different fruits, like the Mostarda produced in Cremona and Voghera. In Mantua it is produced with only one fruit, the “Campanina” apple, or like we do in Vicenza with the quince apple. Among other things, there is a locality in the Berici Hills whose name is derived from the cultivation of the quince apple: Cotognara (N.d.T.: the quince apple is called the cotogna apple in Italian). In the area of Cotognara, the quince apple trees grow spontaneously and produce small but intensely perfumed fruit, which have always enriched Mostarda of doubtless gastronomic quality. The quince apple has waxy olive green leaves and a flower that resembles a small wild rose, with white petals that tend to pink in the centre. The fruit is similar to an apple with an irregular globe shaped and has a wrinkled and particularly bristly skin and a yellow waxy colour when mature. It has an intense, sweet,
honey-like perfume, and is even used to perfume linen, which is possible because the fruit lasts for a long time (even a full year). The quince apple has a granulous and quite bitter pulp and is not a pleasant fruit to eat. When mature, at the end of September, it can reach a weight of a kilo and a half. It is a typical fruit of the Veneto, and was imported by the Republic of Venice from the Middle East during Medieval times.
Product Characteristics
How is Mostarda actually made? It is sometimes made of rough passed quince apples but not always, with the addition of candied fruit. Quince apples that are not perfectly ripe must be used. Afterwards they are passed through a sieve and cooked. With respect to the product made by our grandparents, today’s Mostarda is “softer” and citrus aromas, cinnamon and nutmeg have been added. In our area, it is eaten with flatbreads, “panettone” cakes, but also with dishes of wild game and cheeses. Try tasting a “splinter” of Asiago Stravecchio cheese with a bit of Mostarda and you will agree with us. Another tradition completely Vicentine is the use of Mostarda with “mascarpone” cream cheese. A piece of biscuit bread and a good helping of Mostarda and mascarpone: a simple way to reach happiness.
Mostarda is a gastronomic patrimony that must be spreaded and defended from the homologation of taste that is widely present nowadays. A Vicentine industry has been producing ceramic “Mostarda jars” for over one hundred years now. These jars have become splendid knick-knacks of restaurants and trattorias that cultivate our age-old traditions.
Mustard
White mustard is one of the fundamental ingredients of Mostarda. This ingredient is the result of ground ripe dry seeds mixed with warm water. They have an extremely strong taste and odour. After maceration in warm water a particularly spicy syrup is formed and is mixed with sugar and candied fruit. Typically, contrary to the Verona variety of Mostarda, the percentage of candied fruit is quite low.
How it is produced
The pulp of the quince apples are cooked in a steel recipient, suitable for foodstuffs, at about 60° C for approximately 45 minutes in a vacuum, which has a double bottom, with about 40% of sugar. It is then left to cool and is mixed slowly. The quince apples contain densifying and gelating pectins that allow the mass to cool therefore resulting in a smooth and spreadable pasta. The right quantity of mustard is then added which may vary according to its concentration in parts per million. A small quantity of any kind of candied fruit is then added. When the processing is done the jelly is packaged in glass containers suitable for foodstuffs, not necessarily vacuum-sealed. Mostarda is itself a preserve and requires no anti-microbe protection. It has a decisive spicy taste to the palate, but is equally sweet and pleasant, with a pale yellow colour and a rather dense paste.
Recipes
Mostarda Vicenza way
Ingredients:
500 g. ripe apples (cotogna variety),
500 g. apples,
5 lemons,
white sweet wine
strong mustard oil
500 g. pears,
800 g. sugar,
500 g. mix candied fruit,
one garlic clove
salt
Cook each fruit separately, in different pans previously half filled with sweet wine and water. Obtain a firm cream of each fruit flesh separately. Add sugar and the same amount of cream.
Blend the whole and add a bit of salt. Cook for about 40 minutes.
Add mixed candied fruit, strong mustard oil and mash up garlic clove. Boil for 15 minutes to obtain the proper texture.
Put mostarda in glass jars close them while cream is still hot.
Can be used old glass jars (previously cleaned).
Other traditional Vicentine sweets
Ortigara Cake
More than a typical product, the Ortigara Cake could be defined as a small secret. The shop where Ortigara Cake is still produced today. Is the Carli Bakery which was founded in 1909 in Asiago as an “offelleria”. In 1922 the Bakery was awarded a diploma and gold medal for its fine pasta and sweets specialities, which included the Ortigara cake. This cake immediately acquired a certain notoriety even outside the area of the plateau, to the point that it was indicated as a typical cake of Asiago. It is a dry cake, prepared in three sizes: 500 grams, 750 grams and 1 kilo. The shape is round and the cake is about three centimetres high; the internal colour is “zabaglione yellow”, while the outside has a soft, light nut-coloured crust. Within the first month of its production (it is not a problem to consume it later), the consistency is soft and fragrant. Over a period of time it tends to dry and becomes suitable to dip in wine: the most suitable is raisin wine. Before serving, the Torta Ortigara is sprinkled with powdered sugar. It should be noted that the Ortigara Cake can boast of a name and trademark that have been duly registered and are held exclusively by the “Pasticceria Giovanni Carli”. The peculiarity of the cake lies in the quality of its ingredients especially the butter produced on the Asiago high plateau. The secret of this peculiar tasty cake does not lie in the knowledge of its ingredients but in the use of the right amount of the ingredients and artificial flavouring. Since it is a dry cake, it requires no particular conservation method.
And the others
The tradition of sweets in Vicenza includes the “Pandoli” from Schio, the “Treccia d’oro” from Thiene, the “Zaletti” produced with Marano Corn flour, the “Pan biscotto” and the “Ciopa Vicentina”. The “Pandoli” from Schio are small sweets produced with bread mixed with milk. It is a very simple cake, ideal for dipping.
Holiday bread is produced with extremely refined and fine flour, dressed with oil and lard the Thiene “Treccia d’oro” was created in 1933 as a re-elaboration of the “Kranz”, a famous Viennese sweet. In January 2003 this pastry obtained registration of its trademark. It is a pastry with a particular shape that maintains all the original taste, jealously guarded in the unique original recipe and thanks to the natural leavening it remains soft for many days. The high percentage of butter and other top quality ingredients exalt the taste, especially if it is heated slightly before serving. The Treccia d’oro is great to eat throughout the year and also contains raisins, oranges and lime. The production is completely artisan; nevertheless it is quite widespread throughout the territory.
Among the various well-known types of bread produced by artisans in the province of Vicenza, the “Cioppa Vicentina” is outstanding. It is produced by artisan bakeries in Vicenza from a dough made from flour, water, acid yeast and salt. The dough is made from a “poor” flour, with a low content of glutens. The leavening takes place on special tables, where the fresh dough is covered with a cloth, according to a century old procedure. The dough must be sufficiently hard for it to maintain the typical shape (it is not by chance that this type of bread is defined as “hard dough” bread). The processing is manual and calls for the creation of “loaves” and then “rolls”; namely two pieces of dough are manipulated and placed one on top of the other to form two braided “horns”. This type of bread preserves well, even for several days after production. Baking is don preferably in wooden ovens at temperatures between 230° and 250° C. “Pan biscotto” (“biscuit bread”) is well known in the area of Vicenza, but also in the rest of the Veneto. This bread was once considered a ritual Christmas bread. It was attached to a beam in the kitchen in people’s homes, in a basket, because “homemade bread” was jealously guarded against the raids of the governess. A natural food to accompany Soprèssa and cheese, it is ideal to break up in a bowl of milk. Between bread and sweets, in the artisan shops, the combination is in any case still used: Baìcoli, Bianchetti, Bisse, Bolenghi, Buffi, Bussolai, Esse, Fave dei Morti, Fugasse, Ossi da morto, Parpagnacchi, Pevarini, Putane, Sfoiadini, Sfregolini, Storti, Tegole, Trecce and Saetti. It is a lengthy list of cookies that the Veneto land has invented, creating a kaleidoscope of taste and colours that are unique in the Italian panorama of foods.
Mandorlato
Another sweet delicacy is produced in Lonigo, over Berici Hills, which is the mandorlato, from a medieval Veneto pastry chef recipe. Ingredients must be of excellent quality, since selected and skinned almonds, acacia honey, sugar and egg whites.
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