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CHOCOLATE AND PISTACHIO: THE PERFECT MATCH

CHOCOLATE AND PISTACHIO: WHEN UNITY IS STRENGTH

Two great protagonists of Italian cuisine, so close but so far!
On the side, chocolate which is still today, since its primitive discovery, a food of great importance; we give it to lovers on Valentine’s Day, it composes Easter eggs, Christmas sweets and we have even created numerous events dedicated to it.
On the other side, pistachio, “green gold”, so loved and appreciated by Italians, used in many recipes, sweet or savory, or to flavor meat sausages.

CHOCOLATE

The true history of chocolate begins even 4,000 years ago in Latin America, more precisely in Central America among the countries we now call Mexico, Peru and Panama.
In 1500 BC a pre-Columbian civilization, more precisely Olmecs, discovered in the meanders of the woods this plant which was first given the name of Kakawa, then changed over the generations into Xocoatl, from which the word we know today as Chocolate.

The history of chocolate in Europe is due to the colonizer Hernàn Cortès who in 1502 imported cocoa to Western markets for the first time.
After the first hesitation, chocolate even became a medical remedy, probably due to the erroneous Aztec belief that chocolate was a stimulator of the body and the senses.

It was at the beginning of the modern era that chocolate lost its scientific importance and began to be considered a food in all respects.
Initially, however, it was not accessible to everyone but only to the tables of the rich, until, with the industrial revolution, it became a common food regardless of the class of origin.

The first bar of chocolate was born only at the beginning of the 1900s and from here the development was no longer slow: truffles, biscuits, ice creams, pastries for breakfast, Easter eggs, Christmas sweets.
It is impossible to remain without one of the most loved products in the world, still today surrounded by an aura of mystery and the subject of numerous and continuous studies.

PISTACHIO

Pistachio (from the Greek Pistàkion) is a plant native to the Mediterranean basin (Persia, Turkey) which, like chocolate, has a history rooted in ancient times; it was known and cultivated by the ancient Jews and even then considered a precious fruit.

Out of chronological curiosity, we find the word “pistachio” for the first time in the Old Testament, then in Genesis (origin-birth of the world). Even today, in the dialect we keep the terms “frastuca and frastucara” which indicate the fruit and the plant respectively.
Corrupt terms deriving from the Arabic “fristach” and “frastuch”. In the Brontese dialect of our grandparents the term “frastucata” indicated a sweet made with pistachio and “frastuchino” the pistachio green color.

It was the Arabs, therefore, who took Sicily from the Byzantines, to increase and equip themselves in the cultivation of pistachio which on the island, particularly on the slopes of Etna, found the natural habitat for a luxuriant and peculiar development.

Pistachio plants (Pistacia Vera) are usually grown in places with a warm and dry climate and can last up to 3000 years. The main exporting and producing countries are those of the Middle East, such as Iran, Turkey and Syria;
In Greece, a particular species of pistachio with a white shell and a red core is grown. Italy, with its historic niche cultivation of Pistachios from Bronte and the larger one from Stigliano, is the seventh producing country in the world.

THE PERFECT MATCH

Two stories that develop in diametrically opposed places, America and Asia, but which find a meeting point and balance in our country. From this synergy of flavors and traditions comes the Spagni chocolate and pistachio spreadable cream, sweet and rich in taste, intense but delicate, which sees a unique feature in the use of simple and genuine ingredients.
A delicious spread with pistachio and white chocolate perfect to enjoy at breakfast, but also to fill cakes or accompany ice cream!
Ideal to spread on homemade bread, rusks or to fill a sweet biscuit sandwich, this cream is a tempting devil ready to tease your mind: it makes you want to use it to fill crepes, to accompany pancakes, to fill the waffle cells, to garnish a whipped ricotta mousse.

Food is not just a way to feed yourself, but much more. It is an experience with which one approaches the world and others and each food has a history, an origin, a special bond behind it that refers to a family member, a friend or a territory. Each food is a thread that binds people, cultures and society.