March is Italian chocolate madness month and I’ve become a chocolate devotee in Italy.
I went racing over to Florence in early March simply because a chocolate festival was happening there, in the lovely Piazza Santissima Annuziata. Toward the end of March we had one here in Lucca, in charming Piazza San Frediano.
At these festivals you will find Italian artisanal chocolate makers who are passionate about pure chocolate. In 1999, the EU declared that chocolate makers could use up to five percent substitutes instead of coco butter, such as palm oil, and legislation allowing this was passed. Italian chocolate makers were furious and Italian political parties united in rejecting the EU’s the legislation. Italy introduced its own national law, stating that chocolate containing only coco butter could be labeled “pure chocolate”. But the EU stepped in and forbade this, so Italian chocolate makers now cannot use this label.
Support Italian artisanal chocolate makers and don’t forget to read ingredients and be sure your chocolate is free of palm oil.
Cremino is a big stand out at these festivals. What is it? A chocolate combo, originally from Piemonte, with three layers: gianduja chocolate on the outside, and inside is a paste of flavors such as coffee, pistacchio, hazelnut, and lemon. Made with the highest quality of products produced in Italy: the hazelnuts from Piedmont and lemons and pistachios from Sicily. By the way, gianduja, which comes from Piemonte, is a mixture of chocolate, and hazelnut paste.
You will also see “Spalmabile” (meaning spreadable) at these festivals. After tasting many flavors, I bought one that is a dark chocolate & pear combo. These artisan ones are far superior to Nutella. If they’re truly artisanal they will be made with olive oil and will not contain palm oil.
Then there are the luscious liqueurs. I was introduced to Italian chocolate liqueur on my first trip to the Amalfi Coast in the 1990s, in the less-touristed town of Atrani, where I met a local guy who made it himself, and bottled it in long thin beautiful blue glass bottles. I bought two and kept the bottles for a long time.
The chocolate liqueur with rum— made with good Cuban Rum, is an excellent addition to your pantry. It is lovely to sip after a meal, or to pour over gelato or heat like hot chocolate.
My friend Lauren and I, at the Lucca festival, indulged in very rich chocolate crepes, and then found ourselves at the liqueur stand being handed tastes of every single flavor by a hyper young guy who did not at all seem to care about selling, but instead was handing us endless plastic tasting cups… we tried at least ten flavors, including green apple, peach, banana, coconut, chocolate with pepperoncino and then I lost track.
If you can get yourself to one of the many chocolate festivals in Italy, throw worries about your waist line into the Italian night and have a chocolate crepe. I recommend the pistachio cream inside. It is insanely good.
When to go:
The chocolate fair in Florence runs for about ten days. This year is was March 2 to 11. So look for it around that time. The one Lucca runs for 4 days and this year was March 22 to 25.
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