RIMINI, Italy – The SIGEP Observatory of Rimini’s international confectionery expo recently travelled from north to south. A very sweet journey to discover how the artisan panettone for Christmas 2016 is being prepared and baked.
The word Panettone is derived from “Pan de Toni”. The chef at the service of Duke Ludovico Maria Sforza (Il Moro) forgot a cake in the oven and Toni, a small scullery boy, proposed a solution to replace it using what was left in the larder: flour, butter, eggs, lime zest and raisins. The ingredients of a Panettone!
Master chef Iginio Massari reveals, “Personally, I change my panettone’s aromatic ingredients every year, to make it more appetizing and more enjoyable. In fact, the product’s quality is not static, because requirements are constantly changing.”
From Brescia to Padua: Maestro Pastry Chef Luigi Biasetto says, “This year, I decided not to include candied fruit and experimented the uses of vanilla pearls, creating the ‘Pearly Panettone’, with pearls of white chocolate and vanilla, which enable to maintain all the cake’s crunchiness when it is eaten.”
Federico Anzellotti, chairman of the Confederation National of Italian Confectioners, favours panettone baked in glass. “It is closed in a container and cooked for 75 minutes at a low temperature, then cooled upside down. It thus keeps all its flavour and consumers really appreciate it.”
In Rimini, Master Pastry Chef Roberto Rinaldini’s recipes include the ‘Very Irresistible Panettone’, with sour black cherries and 70% chocolate, filled with hazelnut cream, a panettone that is almost a pudding.
Master Pastry Chef Leonardo Di Carlo says, “Our Pastry Concept pastry school has launched a new recipe with hints of hazelnut, thanks to the use of hazelnut butter, soft for the melting point of the fats and very rich with candied and dried fruit.”
Panettone and gelato, an increasingly popular combination
Vincenzo Pennestrì, Chairman of the Association of Italian Gelato Makers explains, “We propose ‘Excellent’, a panettone with candied ginger and chestnuts, filled with candied chestnut and 70% dark chocolate flavoured gelato.
Candida Pelizzoli, Vice Chairperson of the Italian Gelato Masters Association states, “For several years, I’ve offered a ‘Panettone with landscape’, will small pieces of milk or dark chocolate, chocolate icing and a Christmas landscape.”
The most popular Christmas cake will receive the official nomination as worldwide ambassador of Italy’s artisan haute patisserie at the 38° SIGEP, organized by Italian Exhibition Group (the company established with the merger between Rimini Fiera e Fiera di Vicenza) and being held at Rimini Expo Centre from 21st to 25th January 2017.
The initiative is the result of an idea by Master Pastry Chef Iginio Massari and intends establishing worldwide a product that has long been part of Italy’s heritage.
SIGEP will dedicate the morning of 24th January to panettone, with the participation of Iginio Massari, during a live streaming session, and the prestigious participation of other great pastry chefs, such as Luigi Biasetto, Gabriele Bozio and Leonardo Di Carlo.
On 22nd January, also at SIGEP, the Italian Confectioners Confederation will present innovative slants on packaging and versions able to communicate the taste of excellent Italian products.
