SICILY ON WEB

Today, I want to discuss about another famous product of Sicily. It is black, sweet and really delicious and very easy to imagine. I am talking about the Modican chocolate, one tasty product known all over the world, by now. In 2009, this product of Sicily  was also mentioned in The New York Times. It is also called Modica chocolate, Chocolate from Modica or chocolate of Modica, because it is prepared in this beautiful baroque Sicilian city placed in the mythical Noto Valley, in the province of Ragusa. It is obtained from cocoa seeds handy worked with the same methods used by the old artisans who worked in Modica in the 1700s.

The Sicilian name of this chocolate is “ciucculatu muricano”. I usually eat this chocolate, for breakfast, and all the times I am in need to taste something very good and tasty. Today, this product is regarded as the symbol of the Sicilian pastry in the world. You can eat this chocolate alone or soaked in milk. In the past, Sicilians used to taste a drink of Modican chocolate, but nowadays, they prefer to eat the chocolate bar just as a sweet snack. This chocolate is really good because is prepared by an artisan method.

The cocoa beans are not refined with machines, roasted and put into metal containers, but they remain rough, milled and heated at a temperature of about 40 degrees in a stone container called “metata”. The refined chocolate is also added with butter and refined sugar that make the cocoa mass extremely smooth and sweet. Instead, the real Sicilian chocolate of Modica is always prepared manually and not with machines. Only the stone container has been nowadays replaced with a metal container, but the cocoa mass keeps its natural dose of cocoa butter, anyway.

This traditional method makes the cocoa mass rougher and less smooth, but with a delicious flavour you never can find elsewhere. Just think the surface of Modican chocolate is nearly brilliant. This feature depends on the fact that the sugar is always added after the cocoa mass has been heated in the stone or metal container. The taste of this Sicilian chocolate is less sweet than the modern chocolate, but more flavoured. Indeed, in this chocolate, it is never added refined sugar, but only brown sugar.

This kind of chocolate is also suitable to be prepared with the addition of spices or dry fruit. The Modican chocolate is available in the following formats: dark chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate with almonds (my favourite), dark chocolate with ginger or spices, such as hot pepper, pistachio, vanilla, cinnamon or with lemon or orange peel.

Modican chocolate is good for our health because contains only organic substances and a high dose of antioxidants that are useful to prevent the cell aging. It is prepared without vegetable oils, preservatives or animal fats. 100 g of Modical chocolate has 500 calories.

This organic chocolate, always prepared naturally, has very good healthy properties. The powder of cocoa also contains polyphenols, these molecules are also in Modican chocolate, they protect our heart and veins. A piece of Modican chocolate also help to keep mood swing under control. These properties don’t belong to other kinds of chocolate because the products which are prepared industrially with machines and a high temperature lose their healthy properties. Just because this Sicilian chocolate is prepared at a low temperature it is said it is processed cold, only a cold preparation allows to keep the good properties of cocoa. If you haven’t done, yet, I suggest you taste this chocolate now.

You can keep the bar in the fridge. If you want to eat it at breakfast, pulled it out of the fridge, a few minutes before, so that the bar becomes softer to eat. As said, the original Modican chocolate comes from Modica ( see the image), to tell the truth, the ancient county of Modica . The baroque Sicilian city, overhanging the hills of the South East of Sicily, was a powerful feudal county in the Middle Age. The ancient manuscripts refers that the nobles loved drinking chocolate and coffee. Their habitude gave rise to a chocolate factory in the County of Modica that lasted from 1296 to 1816.

During the early ages of his existence, Modica was under the control of the Spaniards and the habit to eat and drink chocolate was surely due to them. The XIX century marked the abolition of the County of Modica , but the typical chocolate of this ancient county is just the one I still use for my breakfast. Furthermore, in 1693 Modica was destroyed by an awful earthquake who hit the entire Noto Valley. The city regained the capacity to go forward thanks to the will of the local chocolatiers, who continued to produce the fabulous Modican chocolate to give a bit of sweetness to the city after the great grief of the earthquake destruction.

To buy the several kinds of Modican chocolate I am eating,  see this link.

Rosalba Mancuso

Rosalba Mancuso is a freelance journalist born in Sicily. Passionate about her loved island and with extensive writing experience, Rosalba worked as a contributor for the main Sicily’s newspapers and as a bilingual Italian – English writer. Thanks to her skills, she also founded four websites in English. On Sicilyonweb, Rosalba tells every corner of her beloved Sicily. Furthermore, she writes this blog thanks to your help. Rosalba, in fact, earns a small commission, with no cost for you, when you book your travel or buy products through the affiliate widgets or links you find in her posts.