Caltanissetta nougat, Turruni
Product included in the national list of traditional agri-food products (PAT)
Typology PAT : Fresh pasta and products from the bakery, biscuits, pastry and confectionery
Production area:
Technical data sheet of the traditional agri-food product (PAT)
Area of production: Caltanissetta.
Brief description of the product: Pastry product with hard or crumbly dough, covered or not with chocolate.
Description of the processing, conservation and maturing methods: Ingredients: almonds (tuono variety), pistachios, honey, egg white, sugar and glucose syrup; for the nougat variants also coated: cocoa mass, cocoa butter, soy lecithin emulsifier, flavorings and at least 55% cocoa. Processing of traditional nougat: the ingredients are cooked by mixing, on a low flame, for about eight hours; almonds and pistachios are added in the final stage of cooking. The covered nougat or Fantasy fabric they are obtained from the grinding of traditional nougat, whose powders are baked at medium temperature, followed by the covering phase. In the variants Iolanda e Zara there is a filling of praline obtained by refining almonds and sugar until it becomes cream. The variant Pepita is a soft nougat in the shape of small squares, overlaid with a whole almond fixed by a drop of chocolate. The variant Elena it is crunchy in the shape of small rectangles weighing about 15 grams. The variant Umberto and how Elena, but larger in size. The variant Splendor it is a crunchy nougat in the shape of small cylinders with a diameter of about 1 cm. and about 6 cm in length, whose processing, up to the beginning of the 80s, was entirely manual.
Specific materials and equipment used for preparation and conditioning: For cooking, the ingredients are mixed into one boiler from the copper bottom; the dough is then distributed inside looms of rectangular wood, where it is spread and worked with rolling pins of wood (this phase is called to incorporate, in dialect intular). Other chopped pistachios are added with the machine refiner.
After cooling, the nougat is extracted from the frames and portioned by means of the machine cutter in pieces of 50, 100, or 250 grams. Until the early 80s, wrapping and packaging operations were manual; today they happen by means of a machine flowpack which also carries out the vacuum sealing. To obtain cylindrical-rectangular shapes, the ground is processed in special wooden frames called channels. All the variants of nougat, traditional and covered, are kept at room temperature and away from heat sources, arranged on parchment sheets, inside wooden drawers, rectangular, with a high edge, covered with other parchment and other wooden drawer.
All variants of nougat are wrapped in colored foils or cellophane and finally packaged in cardboard or tin containers.
Description of the processing, storage and maturing rooms: The processing rooms must be suitable for housing machinery and equipment, which are rather bulky. The storage rooms must be separated from the processing rooms, adequately cool and relatively dry, as in addition to heat, humidity also alters the organoleptic characteristics of the nougat.
Elements proving that the methodologies have been practiced in a homogeneous way and according to traditional rules for a period of not less than 25 years: Certification of the Caltanissetta Chamber on the nougat factory activity carried out by certain Caltanissetta companies since 1895, one of which started the activity in 1870 (before being registered with the Chamber of Commerce). Photographic documentation and various newspaper articles. List of awards and certificates received since 1895, details of various publications.
Source Pat Cards: Sicily Region
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