Category:
Fresh pastries and bakery, biscuit, confectionary and pastry products;
1. Product name:
Spongata della Lunigiana
2. Other names:
3. Short product description:
Spongata is a sweet circular and rose-coloured tart. It’s made from two layers of pastry filled with a filling of honey, dried fruit, bread, flavourings and spices. It’s made all year round.
4. Production area:
Province of Massa Carrara and above all in Lunigiana.
5. Production status:
r disappeared r at risk r active
6. Production process:
Flour is mixed with wine warmed with butter, oil and sugar. It’s rolled into a 3mm pastry sheet, cut into a disk and placed on a baking tray. The filling is spooned on top and another pastry disk placed over it. The edges are pressed closed and the tart is pricked with a fork being brushed with a little oil. It’s baked for no more than 20 minutes so the pastry remains soft. Once cooled, it’s dusted with icing sugar. For the filling: the honey is boiled for a few minutes with white wine. Dry bread is added to the honey, along with nutmeg, pepper and cinnamon to be cooked over a moderate heat. Chopped almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts are added. It’s removed from the heat and mixed with rosolio liquor, citrus, raisins and pine nuts. The filling is left to rest for a day in a warm place and therefore must be prepared the day before it’s spread onto the pastry.
7. Materials, equipment and premises used for production:
s Kitchen utensils
s Oven
8. Notes on traditionalism, homogeneity of spread and persistence of production rules over time:
The traditional character of spongata comes from the combination of ingredients: the sweet is complicated to prepare and mixes ingredients local to the area. Small variations of the main ingredients can notably change the flavour. In Pontremoli’s ancient tradition, the young men would gift the spongata to their girlfriends at Carnevale. The Rector of the Parish of Serravalle mentioned this sweet as far back as the beginning of the 19th century.
9. Production:
50 tonnes of spongata are estimated to be made each year, all of which are sold at a local level to individuals through direct sales.
