What a wonderful surprise for Easter 2005!
A great event has been dedicated to chocolate in Modica, in splendid Sicily. This area can easily be defined as a true “chocolate district”: it is distinguished by the presence of numerous qualified producers, who in recent years have successfully renewed an ancient tradition that also encompasses cultural, ethical and social aspects.
At Eurochocolate, we have renamed this district the “South Pole of Chocolate” and we hope that this expression will bring good luck to our chocolatier friends in Modica. This has already happened with the Tuscan Chocolate Valley, the term that identifies the Tuscan chocolate district. Once again, we at Eurochocolate can lay claim to coining this term. All it takes is a quick look at the map and the reason for this curious new moniker immediately becomes clear: the latitude of Modica is actually below that of Tunis.
From 18 to 20 March, the weekend before Easter, there will be plenty of reasons to visit this Sicilian Baroque gem, which has also been inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
The event Cioccolato Modica, il migliore amico dell’uovo has been created and organised by Eurochocolate with the sponsorship and contribution of the Municipality of Modica, the Region of Sicily, the Province of Ragusa, the AAPIT Tourism Board of Ragusa and the Ragusa Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Crafts and Agriculture, with the participation of CNA (the Italian association of SME’s),Coldiretti (National Federation of Italian Farmers) and ASCOM.
Previews
There is a full calendar of events for the first year of Cioccolato Modica, il miglior amico dell’uovo. Here are some of the most important.
- The Chocolate Districts (historic buildings in the city of Modica)
Approximately 40 small chocolate companies will be on hand to represent the most important Italian chocolate districts: Piedmont, the Tuscan Chocolate Valley, Perugia, Naples and, naturally, Modica, the South Pole of Chocolate.
Guided tastings, the opportunity to buy products and live chocolate-making demonstrations will be featured at this splendid boutique of chocolate, which will also leave plenty of room for other chocolate makers around the Mediterranean, starting with Barcelona, a city that has long been tied to the history of cocoa.
- The ChocoCircus (Piazza Matteotti)
The successful tour of the ChocoCircus continues! This extravaganza, dedicated entirely to chocolate, showcases curious figures: the Human Cannolo, the Confectioner Tamer, ChocoClowns.…
The circus is bound to delight chocolate-loving children and grownups alike, and they can take advantage of an intense daily schedule (six performances a day).
- Non vedo l’Ora di assaggiarlo… (Castle of the County of Modica – Corso Garibaldi)
A picturesque itinerary starts at the splendid Clock Tower of the Castle of the County of Modica to wind its way downhill along the streets of Baroque Modica. Visitors will have a chance to taste Modica’s exquisite chocolate together with typical local products such as carob, wine and fruit.
- Modica La Dolce (historic town centre and environs)
This event showcases the businesses that are members of the Consortium of Modica Chocolate Makers, who offer visitors the opportunity to see their workshops and taste their chocolate specialities – and more. The route will be illustrated on a valuable ChocoMap specially printed for the occasion… with the scent of chocolate!
- Exhibitions, debates, seminars, etc.
The Modica event will also propose important cultural sideline initiatives: from the Panini & Cioccolato exhibition – a collection of the most prestigious historic picture-cards on the topic of chocolate, in collaboration with the Municipality of Modena and Panini, Modena’s historic producer of picture-cards – to the Alinari exhibition, with old photographs illustrating the art of chocolate making. There will also be an exhibition on design applied to chocolate, as well as the show on the “Easter” wrappings from the Kramsky collection.
Every day there will be a debate on the subject of chocolate, which will also pay special attention to issues like fair trade, an update on the progress of Modica’s IGP (Protected Geographic Indication) status and the definitive approval of the IGP regulations to be signed by the Consortium of Modica Chocolate Makers, and more.
Children from the elementary and middle schools of the Province of Ragusa will be invited to participate in courses on “The ABC’s of Chocolate”, which will be taught by Modica’s chocolate makers.
In-depth studies (see attached documentation)
- From the Aztecs to the Modicans: the history of chocolate made in Modica and a curious dictionary… Text drawn from the book Dolceria: antichi sapori della terra iblea by Grazia Dormiente – Pagine dal Sud Ed. Centro Studi “Feliciano Rossitto”
- The Modica Chocolate Consortium
- Featured chocolatiers: L’Antica Dolceria Bonajuto, “Mpanatigghia”, Chocolate & Solidarity
Eurochocolate Press Office
Viale Centova 6 – 06128 Perugia
Tel. +39 075 502–5880 – Fax +39 075 502-5889
E-mail: info@eurochocolate.com
Press Office of the Municipality of Modica
Piazza Principe di Napoli, 17 – 97015 Modica (RG)
Website: www.comune.modica.rg.ite-mail: marco_sammito@virgilio.it
Tel. +39 0932 759-259 – Mobile +39 338 349-0925
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.
CHOCOLATE & SOLIDARITY
WHEN SWEETNESS HELPS THE WEAKEST. FROM THE PROJECT OF THE “DON GIUSEPPE PUGLISI” ARTISANAL CONFECTIONERY WORKSHOP…
The “Don Giuseppe Puglisi” artisanal confectionery shop – like the halfway house of which it is part – is symbolic in scope. The opening of the workshop indicates a broader commitment: valorising the city’s beauty, its historic district and its traditions. The workshop produces typical Modica chocolate as well as traditional biscuits and sweets, and it strives to be a “sign of education in dignified work”. In fact, its goal is to help reintegrate mothers who are staying at Casa Don Puglisi with their children by helping them become independent. The confectionery workshop is thus part of a shelter that goes beyond room and board to promote dignity and solidarity.
… TO THE MESSAGE OF FAIR TRADE OF THE QUETZAL COOPERATIVE
The Quetzal Cooperative of Modica imports cocoa paste (forastero variety) produced by CONACADO in the Dominican Republic, whereas the cane sugar used to make Modica chocolate comes from Coopeagri in Costa Rica, and the spices are produced by Podie in Sri Lanka. A sign of solidarity can also be noted in the refined and elegant packaging: the string used to close the packages holding an excellent variety of chocolate bars is produced by MCC in Bangladesh.
In short, the entire workmanship cycle respects the values of fair trade. In fact, in Italy the Quetzal Cooperative distributes its products to the shops of the CTM-Altromercato Consortium, of which it is a member. On a curious note, the workshop is essentially an all-female one: it employs six women and only one man!
