IGP branded EVO oil, what it means and other excellences with this brand.

IGP branded EVO oil, what it means and other excellences with this brand.

PGI, a European guarantee

All of Italy, and especially Tuscany, counts among its excellences numerous products destined for our tables and those around the world. However, all items are subject to strict controls that follow the goods throughout the production period and allow products to be accredited with initials and brands that add value. 

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Among the most important we find thePGI, or the protected geographical indication, acronym that according to what is written in paragraph 1 of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) no. 510/2006 indicates a mark of origin which is attributed byXNUMX-XNUMX business days to those agricultural food products for which a certain quality, reputation or other characteristic depends on the geographical origin, and whose production, processing and / or processing takes place in a geographical area determined

To obtain the PGI therefore, at least one phase of the production process must take place in a particular area. Who produces PGI must comply with the strict production rules established in the production specification, and compliance with these rules is guaranteed by a specific control body. The colors of the brand are yellow and blue. The IGP mark it is a European trademark and can be found in all member states of the union under a different acronym based on the local language.

But more specifically what are these agricultural and food products?

Among the products that can make use of the IGP mark are wines, beers, fresh meats and meat products such as sausages, ifmoorings and other types of food of animal origin including honey, eggs, wool, oils and fats, fish, molluscs, crustaceans and derivatives, spices, cereals and fruit and vegetables, essential oils, pasta, chocolate and bakery products, biscuits, confectionery and pastries, including the typical Tuscans, Ricciarelli e Panforte.

Italy is the European country with the largest number of IGP foods but we find only one of the Olive Oil.

As for the olive oil, that is the100% Italian extra virgin olive oil, only one has the marking PGI, Or the Toscano, which is produced in the provinces of Massa Carrara, Pisa, Livorno, Florence, Pistoia, Prato, Lucca, Grosseto, Arezzo and Siena. 

All other olive oils are DOP, Protected Designation of Origin. Olive oil differs from virgin olive oil because the former must be pure and have well-defined chemical and organoleptic characteristics, while olive oil, on the other hand, is a mixture composed of a refined oil (obtained with chemical) and virgin.

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Tuscany also boasts another record as regards the IGP brand

The first confectionery product for Italy to have European protection was Ricciarello, a typical Sienese dessert made from almondscup sugar and egg white. THE Ricciarelli they are made with a marzipan type paste, coarse-grained, very worked and enriched with a mixture of candied fruit and vanilla. The pasta thus obtained is baked in the oven and then takes the shape of small lozenges, slightly curled at the ends. They have the shape of a grain of rice, the wrinkled and cracked surface is coated with powdered sugar and rest on a host leaf. 

In local pastry shops they can be found all year round while in families they are prepared especially during the Christmas holidays.

Among the Christmas sweets, another Sienese was awarded the IGP mark only three years after the Ricciarellis

In Siena when it comes to Ricciarelli one cannot fail to speak of Panforte, sweet derived from Panpepato and specially modified in honor of Queen Margherita, so much so that today it is known and handed down with the name of "Panforte Margherita". The name panforte derives from the “poor” culture, but before Queen Margherita it was a dessert consumed especially by the nobles, due to the use of the very expensive melon segment inside. 

The Sienese tradition has it that the first panforte was made by a nun (Berta) who prepared a sort of focaccia by mixing honey, flour and candied fruit (orange and melon) with dried fruit (almonds) and many spices such as ginger, cinnamon , nutmeg etc, elements also present in today's recipe with the addition of a sprinkling of icing sugar on top. 

But where is it possible to taste all these homegrown delights in Siena?

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"Every time I come to Siena, even if I'm in a hurry, I can't help but go to the Nannini pastry shop, because even the area you breathe in it feels like home, parties and grandmothers intent on preparing the most succulent dishes for children and grandchildren ". 

This is just one of the many impressions collected by the patrons of the pastry shop, but I assure you that all those left by Tuscan customers do not differ from this one. All this is a source of pride for the Nannini family, and the certainty of having achieved their goal: to safeguard local flavors and traditions. There Nannini pastry shop boasts a centuries-old history and has always been committed to offering its customers gastronomic specialties that characterize the coffee break, brunch and aperitif, keeping intact the recipes and preparation methods that have been handed down in Sienese and Tuscan homes for centuries and centuries . 

Behind each of their products there is the care, study and research of the details that have made the typical products of our culinary tradition so famous and appreciated, a research that does not stop only at the exact reproduction of the recipes, but also at the identification scrupulous of the raw material. 

Italian heritage to be handed down and safeguarded

IGP products are guarantees of Italian excellence known and exported all over the world, not only for their quality but also for the stories and traditions they tell. Behind every product there are men and women committed to enhancing and rediscovering Italian treasures and culture through the culinary sublimities that characterize it and we as consumers only have to recognize the quality and hard work behind these products and help producers to make even bigger and known the IGP mark Italian in the world.

 

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