The Ricciarelli di Siena are a Protected Geographical Indication (IGP) present in the national list approved by the Ministry of Agriculture Food and Forestry, the requirements of which are regulated by the production discipline of the Tuscany Region.

Features

The name Ricciarelli di Siena indicates the confectionery product obtained from the processing of a dough made from almonds, sugars, egg whites later cooked in the oven.
When you enter the consumer, the product has the following characteristics:
– shape: ovalized lozenge.
– weight: between 10 and 30 grams per piece.
– size: diagonal greater between 50 and 105 mm; diagonal between 30 and 65 mm; 13 to 20 mm thick.
– external appearance: the surface is white for the cover of icing sugar with the presence of diffuse cracks of the dough; the edge is slightly golden.
– Interior appearance: the dough is slightly golden beige.
– consistency: soft, not crumbly.

Ingredients

The ingredients used for the preparation of the Ricciarelli di Siena, referring to 1 kg of dough, are:
– sweet almonds: 35% to 50%
– granulated sugar: 35% to 47%
– chicken egg white:: 6% to 12%. The use of powdered or pasteurized egg whites is permitted.
– icing sugar: 5% to 8%
– yeasting agents (ammonium salts and/or sodium salts): q.b.

Optional ingredients are:
– bitter almonds: up to a maximum of 6% of the total dough, partially replacing sweet almonds.
– glucose syrup or inverted sugar: up to a maximum of 10% of the total dough, partially replacing granulated sugar.
– honey milleflowers : in addition to the other sweeteners, in maximum amount equal to 7% of the dough.
– aromas: vanilla in berries or vanillin, essential citrus oils, almond aroma, individually or together, q.b.
– peeled candied orange peel: in maximum quantities equal to 5% of the dough.
– starch host: used as the basis for the product.
– sorbic acid: according to current regulations.
No other ingredients, additives, dyes or preservatives are allowed

Recipe

The sweet and bitter almonds, previously stripped of the peel, are finely chopped and kneaded with sugar and egg white. The zest of candied orange peel should be chopped very finely.

Portioning is done mechanically or manually, to give the product the characteristic ovalized lozenge shape. The Ricciarelli are then abundantly dusted with icing sugar and subjected to the next heat treatment.
It is optionally allowed the use of starch host on which to place the dough before cooking. Such hosties will then be kept on the product until it is available for consumption.

Cooking is done in preheated ovens at a temperature of between 150-200 degrees Celsius for 12-20 minutes.
At the end of cooking the product is left to cool down, then started to be packaged.

All processing and packaging processes must necessarily take place in the production area since only in this way the fragrance of the product is guaranteed, its characteristic softness preventing the danger of alteration and drying up of the product. Pasta.

History and curiosity

The processing of the Ricciarelli di Siena took place in the convents or in the shops of the spices, the pharmacies of the time, the only places where the spices and aromas essential to flavor and preserve food could be recovered. As a testament to this tradition, there are still ancient spices near Piazza del Campo (the historic center of the city of Siena) that preserve frescoed ceilings with gold writings in Ricciarelli, Panforti and other typical sweets these shops.

A first specific reference to the term Ricciarello is recovered from a long list of Tuscan sweets published in the “Ditirambo di S.B. in honor of Coffee and Sugar” printed in Livorno in 1814. Here we find written “of the wolf i Ricciarelli”, where the reference to the Siena origin is demonstrated by the indication of the symbol of the city, the wolf precisely.

In 1891, the first edition of Pellegrino Artusi’s seminal book “Science in cooking and the art of eating well” was published, the first example of a cookbook of the national gastronomic tradition. Recipe No. 629, dedicated to the processing of the product in question, bears the title “Ricciarelli di Siena”. The ingredients indicated in the recipe are those still in use today: “fine white sugar, sweet and bitter almonds, egg light, smell of orange peel”.
With regard to production factors, some processing techniques are also used in other typical Siena sweets: for example, the surface of the product is sprinkled with icing sugar before cooking while the base is protected. starch that, after cooking, becomes one with the ingredients.

These processing techniques are consolidated in the Siena pastry tradition and for this reason are adopted by all production companies: from artisanal to industrial.
The cultural link of the product to the territory is highlighted by the traditional presence of the “Ricciarelli di Siena” among the typical sweets of the Christmas holidays. Over time, their consumption has also extended to the other months of the year. However, the link of the product to religious celebrations and important occasions of life has always remained strong among the Sienas.