A sweet treat

Press, 4 August 1987, Page 10

A sweet treat

| Food & Fable

' b Y

David Burton

Judging by the speed with which a gathering of friends demolished a panforte di Siena I made recently, this delicious chewy Italian nut slice deserves to be much better known in this country than it is already. Consisting of little more than nuts, spices, and cocoa held together with honey, it is undoubtedly an extravagance, but what the hell. Panforte is great with coffee, and being compact and chockful of energy, is also ideal tramping/mountaineering food. Like the Tuscan town of Siena after which it is named, panforte di Siena goes right back to medieval times. It is mentioned in chronicles of the twelfth century as "honeyed and spiced bread,” and Dante tells us

it was introduced from the East by Niccolo Salimbeni. The name translates literally as “strong bread.”

Panforte di Siena

Spread iy 2 cups (200 g almonds (preferably blanched), 2 cups (200 g walnuts and y 2 cup (100 g hazelnuts on an oven tray and toast in a hot oven, stirring them in towards the centre from time to time to prevent the nuts on the outer edges from burning. Remove and chop roughly. Place in a bowl with 60g cocoa powder, 200 g mixed chopped peel or crystallised fruit, 6 large dried figs, y 4 tsp ground coriander, % tsp ground cloves, y 2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg, % tsp ground cinnamon and

y 4 tsp ground white pepper. Measure s#g plain white flour, sift this into the bowl and mix well. In a heavy-bottomed pot, melt 4 to 5 tbs honey and 150 g raw or white sugar over a low heat. Simmer, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture will form a soft ball when dropped into a cup of cold water.

Pour over the mixture in the bowl, stirring as you do so, and quickly mix through. Line a 23cm (9in) pie dish with buttered greaseproof paper and firmly press the panforte mixture into it. Bake in a preheated 180 C (350 F oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until dry.

Turn out on to a wire rack and allow to cool a little before peeling off

the greaseproof paper. Dust with icing sugar before serving. Cut in small squares — a little goes a long way. Inevitably, the recipe has undergone changes over the centuries. Many early recipes would be far to heavily spiced for modem tastes, since the spices were originally designed too preserve the panforte from the development of mould and to disguise the taint of the mould once it appeared. However, such overspicing is unnecessary as even with moderate spicing a panforte will keep for at least a month in a sealed tin. Originally the recipe contained only honey and no sugar. The cocoa powder is another relatively late addition, since cocoa was not introduced to Europe until 1502, when Columbus sent some beans back to Spain from what is today Nicaragua,

and it did not reach Italy in any quantity until early in the seventeenth century. Today you can buy panforte everywhere in Siena, particularly now that this beautifully preserved old Gothic town has become so popular with travellers. In the shops surrounding the campo, the curious central square which slopes upwards from a central hub in front of the much-copied Palazzo Publicco (Public Palace), I saw panforte for sale in all shapes and sizes, thick and thin, and much of it in the colourful packaging which so many Italian cakes and confections are sold. Some of the panforte was coated in marzipan or chocolate rather than the icing sugar suggested in the recipe here. The best time to be in Siena is during the famous horse race known as

“D Palio” held in the town square on July 2 and again on August 16. The race is preceded by a parade in which the jockeys, representing the 17 competing wards of the city, ride behind their banners, mace bearers and drummers, and boys dressed in Renaissance silk and velvet costumes twirl flags in the air and through their legs. The race itself has been described as the dirtiest on earth. There are no holds barred, and whips are allowed to be used not only on the jockey’s own horse but also against other horses and even rival jockeys. Since there are two

right-angles on the course and the jockeys ride bareback, some invariably fall off and riderless horses (often drugged beforehand) careen wildly amongst the others in utter confusion.' It is all over in a minute, but the victory celebrations last right through the following night. The winner’s silken banner (from which the race takes its name) is paraded through the streets by drunken supporters, and a banquet is held on the main street of the victorious ward. The guest of honour is the winning horse, with its own table and plate of carrots and sugar.