The Italian “panettone” is the typical Christmas cake that all Italians buy (they rarely make it at home) to celebrate the festivities. Although it originated in Milan, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas for any Italian without his panettone (we could translate it as large loaf and it does in fact rather resemble a loaf of bread). It comes in all shapes and sizes and today in hundreds of variations. The
traditional type, made with flour, eggs, butter, vanilla and sugar, is stuffed with raisins and candied fruit. The
Florentine version also contains pine nuts and aniseed. It should be well leavened and bulge out over the edge of its paper container. The plainer indented
“pandoro” (Golden bread), from
Verona, was created to satisfy those who do not like raisins and candied fruit and should be sprinkled with powered icing sugar so that it appears to be dusted with snow. Now both variations can be found stuffed with creams and flavourings, or covered in chocolate or icing sugar, with new versions appearing in the
Christmas windows every year. The Panettone or Pandoro is also a very popular
Christmas present: It can make a handy gift for friends and relations, is most appreciated by business acquaintances or staff or just as a thank you present for some past favour. The wrappings can also be absolutely splendid, though this depends on the make and “quality” of the panettone in question.
Christmas gift baskets always contain a panettone of some sort. I am sure that if
Charles Dickens had known about it he could have written a
Christmas story about Tiny Tim and the panettone (rather than the goose), but set in Italy ! Perhaps he would have lived in the
Oltrarno... but who would have played the part of Scrooge? The imagination runs riot!
[Susan Glasspool]
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