Have you ever tasted it?Spongata is an ancient and mysterious dessert, produced in Italian Pontremoli and Sarzana, which originated in Jewish cuisine.
Spongata becomes popular in Pontremoli when Marc’Antonio Ceppellini (1814-1892) buys an old Pastry and Drogheria Pontremolese in the northwest corner of Piazza Duomo.
Traditionally this desert is prepared in November around the All Saints Day, to then be consumed during the Christmas lunch. The spongata can be kept for a long time in sealed containers.
If you manage to eat the whole spongata, you will have enough calories to travel the entire Via Francigena of 3200 km.
Here is the legendary recipe:
- 300gr flour
- 100gr butter
- 100gr sugar
- 200gr liquid honey
- 50gr peeled almonds
- 50 gr shelled walnuts
- 50gr hazelnuts
- 50gr pine nuts
- 100gr raisins
- a pinch of cinnamon
- nutmeg
- crumbled biscuits
- a bit of white wine
- a little pinch of salt.
Luigi Veronelli, one of the greatest food and wine journalists in the world, suggests to combine “fragile wines, not very strong and earthy” with the strong flavour of the spongata.
