[Sca-cooks] Panforte was ( Re: Food gifts)

[Tara]

> Pan-for'-tay is about right.  Someone with a better grasp of Italian might
> give you a more correct pronunciation.
>
> The name essentially means "strong bread," most likely from the use of
> pepper as one of the spices.  The earliest references are from 13th Century
> monastery accounts where the bread was part of the rents and fees taken in
> by the monastery.  I've found no period recipes for panforte, but I suspect
> it may have been similar to period gingerbread.

Cool - I guessed right :)  The recipe that I used did remind me of the
period gingerbread that I've made, only it used a sugar syrup instead of
honey.  Perhaps I'll try it with honey this year.  mmmm....

If I can find the recipe that I printed out last year, anyway...

So, as rent and fees taken by monestaries, can I assume that it wasn't
just a Christmas treat like it is these days?

-Magdalena