[Sca-cooks] Coronation Laurels, cubebs, and chocolate (LONG)

[Christiane]

First of all, thanks to Phlip on that detailed and moving account of Brighid's and Jadwiga's day! I am so sorry I did not get to meet you all in person; but we were all distracted, and in Brighid's and Jadwiga's case, even more so! Vivant for you both!

Olwen, I would love some grains of paradise to go with the cubebs, but you don't have to pick them up for me, I can order them from the Spicer's Guild, right? And I think Auntie Arwen sells them as well. But thank you for the offer, that's very kind! As an aside, I went for the trifecta of medieval luxuries on Saturday; some silk chiffon from Baroness Freya (for a bellydance veil); some cubebs; and little vials of rose and lilac perfumes. Silk, spices, and perfumes, whee!

I had posted awhile ago about Modican (Sicilian) chocolate, and it turns out there had been a huge chocolate event  in Modica over Easter. I found this release on the Website, including a bit about the history of chocolate in Modica and the ingredients for a game pie that includes chocolate with a bit of apocryphal history. There is also a detailed description on how Modican chocolate is made. I'm still bound and determined to find out if there are any records of chocolate being produced in Modica for private consumption, before 1600, and will be writing to Eurochocolate for assistance. The  production of chocolate as a publicly available luxury did not seem to come into being until the 18th century.

FROM THE AZTECS TO THE MODICANS: THE HISTORY OF CHOCOLATE MADE IN MODICA AND A CURIOUS DICTIONARY
 

 

The history of Modica chocolate starts long ago and far away, with the meeting “ manqué ” between Cortez and Montezuma in 1519. As the story goes, as a sign of friendship the Aztec leader offered a drink made of coarsely ground cocoa seeds, water, corn flour, chilli, cinnamon and aniseed. The Spaniards found the drink disagreeable because it was bitter, and their first innovation was to add cane sugar to it. 

They brought cocoa seeds back to Spain, along with the recipe for “chocolate”, which quickly spread throughout Europe, where royal courts considered it an elite, unconventional, healthy and dietetic drink. 

 

The Spanish also brought chocolate to Sicily, notably to the powerful and prosperous County of Modica. Cocoa seeds were crushed with an implement the Aztecs called a metatl , a curved stone resting on two cross-bases, using a special stone rolling pin. A perfectly preserved and “functioning” example of this tool can be seen in the Ethnographic Museum of the County of Modica. 

The extremely bitter cocoa paste yielded by this process was blended with cane sugar and spices, cinnamon or vanilla in particular, as well as other secret flavourings. This preparation process has survived in Modica until the present day. 

Today, Modica chocolate comes in a characteristic rectangular shape and is mainly wrapped by hand.The preparation technique is the outcome of an age-old tradition that still plies the manual systems that have been in use since the eighteenth century, when the first chocolate makers started to thrive. 

La valata ra ciucculatta , made entirely of lava stone, is a crescent-shaped block set on a quadrangular base that is also made of lava stone. The base has two hollow spaces to hold the a lanna co crauni (charcoal container), which gradually heats the black crescent-shaped block. The bitter cocoa paste is travagghiata, passata e stricata (worked, blended and refined) together with refined sugar and flavourings such as cinnamon and vanilla. Today, many workshops handle this phase using modern tempering machines. 

In the past, the cocoa paste was also prepared on site, but now it is purchased ready to use. In fact, confectioners used cocoa seeds, known locally as caracca , which were roasted, crushed and blended in a special wooden container using an iron blade called a manuzza ri ferru , to make cocoa paste. The mixture, composed of the bitter paste, refined sugar and cinnamon or vanilla, was placed on a pre-heated crescent-shaped board and blended using a pistuni , a special cylindrical stone rolling pin that differed in weight and thickness depending on the workmanship phase involved, i.e. the first, second and third passata , through the refining phase, known as the stricata .

With this method, the paste maintains its sugar crystals. Despite the fact that a charcoal fire is used to heat the lava stone, Modica chocolate is uncooked and does not undergo the conching process usually used to make chocolate. The flame merely melts the cocoa butter, making the mixture easier to blend and amalgamating the ingredients. The soft mixture is then placed in lanni (rectangular tin moulds), which are tapped to allow the chocolate bar to settle and take the shape of its container.The bars are left to cool in these lanni pa ciucculatti . When it is removed, the chocolate bare – called a lenza – is glossy and lined with “grooves”, known locally as sinnu ri ciucculatti .

THE MODICA CHOCOLATE CONSORTIUM 

 

 

The foundation of a consortium of chocolate producers in 2003 underscores the strong renewed interest in Modica chocolate. The Modica Consortium has 17 members: 

 

Antica Dolceria Bonajuto 

Antica Gelateria Rizza 

Bar Fucsia 

Bar del Viale 

Bar Napoli 

Caffè dell’Arte 

Casalindolci 

Dolce Arte 

Dolce Millennio 

Dolceria Giunta 

Dolci Pensieri 

Donna Elvira 

Pasticceria Bonomo 

Pasticceria Cappello 

Pasticceria Di Lorenzo 

Pasticceria Fede 

Pasticceria Sacro Cuore 

 

 

The Consortium immediately began the preliminary procedures for obtaining IGP status (Protected Geographic Indication), drawing up detailed production standards that, now and in the future, will guarantee the protection and promotion of a product that superbly represents a great age-old Modica tradition. 

 

The President of the Consortium is Mr Antonino Spinello (Dolci Pensieri, tel. +39 0932 751-366). 
FEATURED CHOCOLATIERS: 

 
L’ANTICA DOLCERIA BONAJUTO 

 

The world of chocolate – and not only in Modica – is bound to agree on one thing: the first to fight for proper and legitimate recognition of Modica chocolate and its rediscovery, renewal and promotion was Franco Ruta , owner of L’Antica Dolceria Bonajuto . It has been an important business in Modica since 1880, one that is well known and appreciated today by all aficionados of the “food of the gods”. L’Antica Dolceria Bonajuto was a true trailblazer for Modica chocolate and, through its unflagging efforts, it still amazes people today with its capacity for innovation and communication. Notably, in 2003 Franco Ruta received the prestigious Eurochocolate Award .

 

“MPANATIGGHIA” 

 

In addition to traditional Modica chocolate, local producers have continued to make a traditional recipe known by its name in dialect: mpanatigghia . It is a crescent-shaped pie filled with mincemeat (in the past, only game was used), toasted almonds, chocolate, candied fruit, cinnamon and nutmeg. This distinctive sweet, which was also introduced by the Spanish during their reign, is also the source of a number of delightful anecdotes. According to one of these tales, mpanatigghi were invented by the nuns at a convent who were filled with pity over the hard work of the preaching friars who travelled from convent to convent during Lent. Thus, they concealed mincemeat in a blend of chopped almonds and sweet chocolate, as the latter was permitted even during periods of abstinence. Instead, others maintain that the preparation of this sweet was simply a way to use leftover game during overabundant hunting seasons. 

This is how the great Italian writer Leonardo Sciascia describes it in his La Contea di Modica (Ed. Electa, Milan 1983): “one must particularly recall those sweets made of the thinnest, most delicate crust holding a skilful blend of meat and mainly chocolate”. 

Ingredients: 

Dough:flour, pork fat, sugar, eggs, natural flavourings. Filling: almonds, beef, egg whites, cocoa paste.