Saturday,
December 15, 2007
Panettone
Rivaling Traditional Fruit Cake in
The
ANNOTICO Report
Panettone Gives Christmas Cake a Run for its Money
12th December 2007
Strip
away the fancy box and its Italian origins and it's basically a rather
luxurious type of bread.
But it seems panettone is giving the traditional Christmas cake a run
for its money.
Long a staple on
the festive table in the Italian city of Milan, where it originated, the
dome-shaped dessert is fast become the pudding of choice in homes across the
country while grandma's fruit cake sits in the cupboard.
Sales of the
dessert have soared with supermarkets reporting shoppers flocking to pick up a
slice of Christmas Italian-style.
Like the
traditional fruit-laden Christmas cake, panettone
comes laced with candied fruits and raisins.
But in its favour for all those who secretly loath peel, it also comes
in varieties laden with chocolate chips.
Because it comes
in a beautifully presented box, panettone -
unlike its richer British cousin - is also a popular gift choice.
The origin of the
dessert is mysterious, with two competing legends involving a baker named Toni,
giving panettone the translation of "Toni's
Bread".
Toni was either a poor kitchen boy in a wealthy home who saved the day when
the chef burned the planned dessert, or, more romantically, a young aristocrat
who was smitten with the daughter of a pastry chef named Toni and to
impress her father conjured up a lavish pudding.
However it
probably dates to even earlier and denser medieval bread made from wheat flour
named pan
The sweetish
bread, along sourdough lines is baked in a special tubular mould to give it height
and is supposed to be very light.
Traditionally, it
is served as a dessert, accompanied by sweet wine and is also eaten toasted and
spread with butter, or used in place of bread in a bread and butter pudding.
At Waitrose sales
of panettone are up by 95 per cent on two years ago
and at Marks & Spencer sales of the cake - which are stocked in two sizes -
have soared by 50 per cent since Christmas last year....
Waitrose Cake
Buyer, Sam Witherington: "Panettone
is becoming increasingly popular as customers search for products that have a
story to tell, especially at Christmas time.
"People are
looking for genuine food with a genuine taste, and we have seen fantastic sales
of panettone this year.
"All our panettones are made in
"Because of
this traditional method, one way to spot an authentic panettone
is to look for pin pricks on its base, where it has been hung."
As popular as panettone has become in
Today some 10 per
cent of the cakes produced in
Yesterday Italian
bakers called for protection from foreign imitations.
In Italy Parmigiano Parmesan cheese can only be made in
By law the 100
million plus panettone produced in the country each
year must be made according to strict rules, including using only butter and
beer yeast.
But those rules
do not apply abroad, meaning exported Italian cakes may not be up to
scratch, and foreign-made versions may only bear a vague resemblance to the
tall, puffy, golden desserts prized by Italians.
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