by Sara D'Oriano
Time for chestnuts, the fruit that is queen of our autumn woods. For the bakery, chestnuts and their precious flour are the main ingredient of numerous preparations; two above all: necci, strictly molded and eaten with ricotta or chocolate and castagnaccio, a must on our tables. Tall, short, softer or crunchier, with pine nuts and rosemary or with raisins and walnuts, castagnaccio is available in numerous local recipes which, however, have very few ingredients at the base: chestnut flour, water, oil and a little sugar . Precisely due to the absence of milk, eggs, flour and yeast, it is a very particular dessert and perfect for those with celiac disease problems, excellent for vegans and vegetarians.
Its origins are lost at the beginning of the 16th century, and initially it was called "bread of the poor", because it often replaced bread on the tables of farmers, who could still count on the important nutritional contribution of chestnuts, at a cost that was certainly lower than the precious flour. . Only in the nineteenth century did castagnaccio begin to be flavored with raisins and pine nuts, but above all with the unusual fresh rosemary which allowed it to also be combined with savory foods, such as lard or cheeses.
In the purely sweet version, it is typical to combine it with ricotta and honey, or tasted warm, in its soft consistency, accompanied by a glass of red wine or Vin Santo.
Production in our bakery is concentrated in the months of October and November, after the harvesting and grinding of the fruits. We prefer flours from our forests, that of Migliana is our favourite, rigorously produced from local chestnuts dried and stone ground in the mills close to the production sites.
We produce it in different variations to satisfy all palates and when we finish making it it is because another production begins for us: that of Christmas and all its delicacies.