Category:
Fresh pastries and bakery, biscuit, confectionary and pastry products;
1. Product name:
Pane marocco di Montignoso
2. Other names:
Pane marocco, pane merocco
3. Short product description:
Pane marocco di Montignoso is made by mixing maize flour and wheat flour with fresh yeast, oil, black olives and herbs and spices (rosemary, diced chilli, sage, garlic and salt). It’s round in shape with a 20-25cm diameter, dark colour and golden crust. It’s baked in a wood-fired oven on chestnut leaves. It’s made from November to January to coincide with the olive harvest.
4. Production area:
It’s made in the municipality of Montignoso and across the Massa plains area, province of Massa Carrara.
5. Production status:
r disappeared r at risk r active
6. Production process:
The wheat and maize flours are mixed with water and oil. Fresh black olives, rosemary, diced chilli, sage, oil and salt are added. 20-25cm diameter round loaves are shaped and baked in a wood-fired oven on chestnut leaves. It’s eaten freshly baked, usually as an antipasto.
7. Materials, equipment and premises used for production:
s Kitchen utensils
s Wood-fired oven
8. Notes on traditionalism, homogeneity of spread and persistence of production rules over time:
The production of this bread has been part of Montignoso’s heritage for a long time. So much so, that Raffaello Raffaelli, in his 1881 historical and agrarian monograph of the areas around Massa and Carrara writes: “In the Massa plains, the typical food is maize polenta, sometimes mixed with cabbage, or beans, and bread made with the same flour, which they communally call Marocco”. Where di pane marocco come from? It’s likely an abundance of maize flour, oil and olives gave someone the idea to mix them together and produce something that was different from the “usual” bread and polenta. The name stems from the bread’s colour, which reflects the dark-skinned Moroccans.
9. Production:
There are two major producers of pane marocco di Montignoso, which, together, make about 17 tonnes a year. The bread is sold exclusively in the area through direct sales to individuals.
