Category:
Fresh pastries and bakery, biscuit, confectionary and pastry products;

1. Product name:
Pan di ramerino

2. Other names:
“Pandisdramerino” in Maremma, “Ramerino all’olio” in Arezzo

3. Short product description:
Pan di ramerino is a soft and sweet bread roll made with raisins and rosemary. It’s a golden brown colour and is brushed with a beaten egg before being baked for a shiny crust. It’s made all year round.

4. Production area:
Provinces of Prato, Firenze, Arezzo, Grosseto and Lucca.

5. Production status:
r disappeared r at risk r active

6. Production process:
Knead the wheat flour, water, yeast, salt, oil, raisins and rosemary. The bread loaves are portioned and shaped by hand and covered with a damp cloth to facilitate leavening. Before being baked, the tops are brushed with oil. It’s traditional to cook them in a wood-fired oven.

7. Materials, equipment and premises used for production:
s Work surface for kneading the dough and leavening it
s Damp cotton cloths
s Brush dipped in oil
s Wood-fired oven for baking

8. Notes on traditionalism, homogeneity of spread and persistence of production rules over time:
Pan di ramerino owes its traditional character to its combination of ingredients (raisins and rosemary) and its production method, which has remained unchanged over time. It’s been made since the Middle Ages and was eaten for breakfast or afternoon tea traditionally during Lent (Holy Thursday), even though, today, it’s eaten all year round.
Originally it was one big loaf, not bread rolls, and was considered tastier than a plain loaf because it was made with rosemary that had been ground in a mortar, passed through a sieve, placed in a saucepan full of oil and then mixed into the dough. The sultanas were optional and the sugar was not added.
Once upon a time, there were pan di ramerino sellers, who attracted the attention of those who came to “visit the seven churches” with their characteristic cry of “with oil”. The pan di ramerino was often bought as a blessing as the cross-shaped cut on the crust gave the loaves a certain religiousness, even though it was actually made to improve the leavening.

9. Production:
The production of pan di ramerino is widespread in the province of Florence, where there are more than 100 bakeries. Quantities sit at around 1,200-1,400 tonnes a year. Consumption and the quantity produced in the last years are fairly stable. Sales are made exclusively in the area, of which 80% is directly to individuals and 20% to local stores.