Organic Panforte Nero

The history of panforte – a Medieval Health Food

I first discovered panforte nero, a low, dense cake made from dried fruits, nuts, honey, and spices when I lived for a few months in Italy in the late 1970s, and much to the delight of my family and friends, have been making it ever since! While most people know of the Italian panettone, few people outside of Italy have heard of panforte, which is a shame as it is one of my favorite occasional indulgences.

The cakes, whose name means ‘strong black bread’ in Italian, originated in Siena, Italy in the Middle Ages, and at the time were made by nuns who were supposedly concerned about the welfare of the local people. Possibly one of the earliest known ‘health foods’, panforte nero were sold in apothecaries because their honey, nuts, chocolate, dried fruits and spices were thought to confer long life on those who ate them. At one point it was also believed that panforte had aphrodisiac qualities, due to the “hot” spices used in the mixture. It was said to keep families together and prevent spouses from fighting.

Over the centuries bakers began producing their own versions of the cakes, and there are now generally two types available, the original panforte nero, with its chocolate and spices, and panforte bianco, which omits the chocolate and is usually topped with powdered sugar.  

Room for improvement!

Far removed from the original ‘health’ cakes, "traditional" panforte, whilst still hugely popular in Italy, is now not a healthy food. The main ingredient is most often white sugar, which almost all experts agree is extremely unhealthy, and the cakes also usually include bleached, refined white flour, dried fruit which contains preservatives to retain the color, candied fruit peel and poor quality chocolate and nuts.
As if this wasn’t bad enough, rarely are these ingredients organic, which means that there is a possibility that they may be genetically modified, contain fewer nutrients than their organic counterparts and may also contain pesticide, herbicide and fungicide residues.

A return to tradition

As far as we are aware, the panfortes produced by Flourish with Food are the only ones available commercially in the US which are organic, and which have also been meticulously crafted to provide the maximum health benefits possible whilst still enjoying an after-dinner indulgence. Guilt free cake!

In making our panforte nero, we wanted to return to the health tradition of the original cakes, so every ingredient that we use is organic, and of the highest possible quality. Where possible we purchase from companies that engage in fair trade practices and we have even found a local supplier for our almonds.  We use no artificial preservatives, colorings or flavorings and have replaced all of the white sugar, white flour and high fructose corn syrup found in other cakes with significantly healthier alternatives; honey, rapadura, stone ground whole grain flour, cacao paste and unsulphured dried fruits.

Give yourself or a friend the gift of health!

We think that our panfortes taste better than ever! Click on the ‘Add to Cart’ button above and order one today; they are wonderful for sharing with friends after dinner, or simply having in the pantry for unexpected guests. Each panforte comes vacuum sealed in a presentation tin and also makes a wonderful present.