Panettone (Part 2 of 4)

We wanted to learn more about panettone and went to Wikipedia.  Here is some of what we learned.

• Panettone is a type of sweet bread loaf originally from Milan, usually prepared for Christmas and New Year's Day in Italy and elsewhere in Europe and beyond.

• Panettone contains raisins and candied orange, citron, and lemon zest.  Other variations include plain and chocolate.  (Note:  Panettone is nothing like American-style holiday fruitcake.  So, if you have a fruitcake phobia, you can rest easy.)

• The origin of panettone dates back, at least, to the Romans and probably much earlier.

• In its modern incarnation, the national panettone craze dates back to Milan about 100 years ago.  Two bakers updated the recipe and competed by producing as many panettone as Italy could consume. Their brands, Motta and Alemagna survive today, along with Bauli, another well liked brand. 

• In Italian, the word panettone possibly derives from panetto or small loaf cake.  Adding the -one to the word denotes a large size. 

• There are at least 3 legends about the name panettone.  You can decide which one you like most.

• 1.  A friar named Antonio always wore a tall, domed-shaped clerical hat.  Antonio also liked the bread, or pane in Italian, shaped the same way.  Hence, Pane Tone was born.   (Seems a bit thin.

• 2.  In the Milanese dialect of Italian, "pan del ton" means "cake of luxury" and might explain the name panettone.  (Not quite as thin as the first legend.)

• 3.  In Milan during the 1400's, a nobleman fell in love with the daughter of  poor baker.  "To help her, the nobleman disguised himself as a baker and invented a rich cake to which he added flour and yeast, butter, eggs, dried raisins, and candied lemon and orange peel."    "The duke of Milan agreed to the marriage and encouraged the launch of the new bread-like cake: Pan de Toni (or Toni's cake)."   (Thin but very Italian and therefore our favorite legend.)

• Every year in Italy, about 120 million panettone and similar cakes are produced for all 60+ million residents of Italy.  Wow, two cakes for every person -- that's a LOT of panettone!

Next Up:  Only in Italy--a 2-day fair here in Florence all about . . . (you guessed it) . . . panettone!

Could life get any better? 

As a matter of fact, yes! 

Check out Part 4 of this post, coming in a couple of days.

Happy Panettone!