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

1. Product name:
Panficato dell`Isola del Giglio

2. Other names:

3. Short product description:
Panficato is a sweet brown-coloured loaf made with dried black figs or “neruccioli” and Giglio Island nuts. It’s quite soft and the loaves weigh 400g. It’s made from Christmas to Easter.

4. Production area:
Isola del Giglio, province of Grosseto.

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

6. Production process:
The figs are soaked in wine for an entire day to soften and infuse. Then they’re chopped and mixed with almonds, raisins, pieces of cooked apple or other seasonal fruit, chopped chocolate and honey. The loaves are then baked in the oven. The whole process takes two days.

7. Materials, equipment and premises used for production:
s Workspace
s Kitchen utensils
s Oven

8. Notes on traditionalism, homogeneity of spread and persistence of production rules over time:
Panficato comes from Giglio Castello, the island’s fortified village, and uses the most commonly found island fruits like the small and dark figs, almonds and sweet sundried raisins. In 1554, the pirate Cair Heddin, aka Barbarossa, sacked Giglio, killing all those who opposed him and shipping 700 Gigliesi off to slavery. Following this bloody invasion, the Medici family decided to repopulate Giglio with people from as far away as Siena, and it’s perhaps thanks to this forced immigration that the panficato del giglio is so similar in flavour and aroma to the panforte, but uses ingredients found on the island. The original recipe called for “vinella” made with grape stalks soaked in water and left to ferment as wine was a precious bartering item. Honey and chocolate were rarely used and only if the family could afford them. A bit of bread dough was added to make the dough more robust and consistently fluffy.

9. Production:
Panficato is produced at home and destined for personal consumption from Christmas to Easter, and in bar/pastry shops on the island. It’s not to be confused with pandolce, which is made all year round, in almost all of Tuscany, using other types of figs. It’s usually eaten with the Passito del Giglio sweet wine or Ansonica white wine.