Modica chocolate
Chocolate from Modica (Italian: Cioccolato modicano or Cioccolato di Modica ) is a chocolate made in the Sicilian city of Modica . As Prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale italiano, it is an officially recognized specialty by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry . Chocolate from Modica is made according to a traditional recipe "cold" ("a freddo") and not conched .
history
The recipe was probably passed down from Spain by the Counts of Modica. Their noble house was the most influential feudal power in southern Italy in the 16th century, during the Spanish domination of Sicily. Even today there is a similar form of preparation in Spain in the form of Chocolate a la piedra ; Such varieties are also known in Mexico and Guatemala . According to Leonardo Sciascia , the recipe comes from Alicante ; Originally there were only two forms of preparation, with cinnamon and with vanilla. Before the product became an internationally known specialty, it was a festive dessert in aristocratic families.
Contrary to the legend often told by tourist guides, this processing method does not go back to the Aztecs : They did not even know the second main ingredient, sugar, but processed the beans exclusively into a bitter drink.
Manufacturing
Ground cocoa from São Tomé , from which the cocoa butter has not been removed, is heated to a maximum of 40 °. Sugar is added to the mass and possibly a spice such as cinnamon , vanilla , ginger , chili , ground almonds or nuts or grated peel of citrus fruits. The cocoa content is 45% to 90%. In traditional preparation by hand, the mass was rolled out in a crescent-shaped, heated mold made of lava rock in several steps using rollers of different thicknesses until it had the desired consistency. Nowadays this is done using machines. The finished, warm chocolate mass is then poured into tin molds in the form of thick bars.
The sugar crystals do not dissolve during this process. The finished chocolate therefore has a grainy, rough consistency with the inclusion of small air bubbles; it crumbles when broken. When selling, the surfaces of the bars are slightly gray due to the excreted cocoa butter. In the mouth, the chocolate develops an intense cocoa aroma.
Apart from the substances mentioned, chocolate from Modica contains no other ingredients, in particular no milk, no butter, no vegetable fat and no lecithin .
Protection community
In 2003 the Consorzio di Tutela del Cioccolato di Modica was founded in order to obtain a protected indication of origin for chocolate from Modica. It has 20 manufacturers.
Events
From 2005 to 2008 Modica hosted Eurochocolate alongside Perugia . Since 2009 the city has hosted the Chocobarocco Festival together with the Fine Chocolate Organization .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Zeffiro Ciuffoletti: Storie e storia dal cacao al cioccolato . Alinari IDEA, Florence 2003, ISBN 978-88-7292-462-4 , pp. 87 .
- ^ Leonardo Sciascia, Giuseppe Leone: La contea di Modica . Electa, Milan 1983, ISBN 88-435-0980-2 .
- ↑ THE TRUE STORY OF MODICA CHOCOLATE. Sabadi Chocolate Factory, 2020, accessed August 22, 2020 .
- ↑ L'Eurochocolate a Modica ( Memento of the original dated November 13, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 23, 2012
- ↑ Website of the Fine Chocolate Organization ( Memento of the original from March 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 23, 2012
- ↑ ChocoBarocco a Modica: vieni a passare un ponte di cioccolato ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Newsfood.com, March 3, 2009, accessed October 23, 2012.
Web links
- Recipe (Italian, accessed October 23, 2012)