Barbier-Duval tells us in his 1879 work, L'art du confiseur moderne, that «la dragée est la partie la plus difficile des travaux du confiseur». Now as then, producing dragées is a highly specialised art which requires the greatest skill and experience. The term dragée is used to describe various types of "centre" (almond, pine nut, pistachio, cordial, candied orange and citron peel, cinnamon, aniseed, coffee, cocoa and so on) which are coated in sugar.

"Avola" dragées

 

making dragées making pralines

The difficulty lies in coating the centres with pure sugar; only by hand-mixing tiny quantities with the utmost care and dexterity is it possible to produce the tender, crisp and delicate dragées mentioned in age-old recipes. We still use the same traditional methods to coat our "centres" and produce our exquisite, slightly off-white dragées (starch is never added). The range includes: white dragées for wedding celebrations, made with "Avola" almonds from Sicily; the skin which gives the almonds their unique flavour is left intact; traditional Genoese dragées, descendants of the chamber spices mentioned in Medieval texts; aniseed dragées, said traditionally to give milk to new mothers. We also produce "pralines fondantes" (pralines), a type of sweet invented by the Duke of Plessis-Praslin's head chef, which can only be made by hand: almonds, pine nuts and pistachios are hand-toasted in a basin while sugar syrup is poured over them. Our pralines (almonds, pine nuts and pistachios coated with liquid sugar) are unique specialities which brighten up many a Christmas table.

Pietro Romanengo fu Stefano produces:

• White Avola almond dragées (unstarched) for bridal celebrations
• Traditional Genoese assortment: almonds, pine nuts, pistachios, cordials, citron, cinnamon
• Almond, pine nut and pistachio pralines (soft dragées)
• Aniseed dragées