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Modica - La Dolce

Modica la Dolce (Modica, the sweet one) will be the name of the area reserved to the famous Cioccolata Modicana at the Eurochocolate Perugia 2004. The event will run from the 16th to the 24th of October and will play host to numerous shows and didactic and cultural initiatives, aiming to promote the knowledge of chocolate. The "Consorzio Cioccolatieri di Modica per la Tutela del Prodotto", which includes around 20 cioccolatieri Modicani, will recreate a typical Sicilian atmosphere at the Rocca Paolina di Perugia. The cioccolatieri will present their interpretation of the traditional chocolate from the Aztec Mexican tradition.

This tradition of the cioccolato modicano dates back to at least the 16th century, when Modica had a river flowing through its centre and was also known as the Venice of the South.

The link is (as with all chocolate in Europe I guess) through the Spanish bringing back techniques from what is now Mexico. The only difference is that in the case of Modica this link was maintained much truer to original intents so you get chocolate with peperoncino, canela, etc, that is made straight from the cacao beans (well now the dolcerie get the cacao paste ready rather than start from the beans).

One step of the process requires that the chocolate is warmed in a container made from lava and I guess the fact that lava stones are in abundance both in Modica (due to its proximity to Etna) and in Mexico provides another stong link between Modica and Mexico.

The heating in lava stone containers apparently is not done to avoid overcooking the chocolate, but simply to facilitate the mix of the chocolate with whatever ingredient is being added to it.



Modica Chocolate

The good news is that winter is well and trully moving in... which means cups of hot chocolate (expect an update soon!).

Written on
October 8, 2004
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