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from The Independent & The Independent on = Sunday=20

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    Food = &=20 Drink=20
    
    > Feat= ures=20

Skye Gyngell drops in for a sophisticated sugar hit

For more than 200 years, a family-run business in Italy has been = lovingly=20 coating, rolling and chopping top-quality ingredients to produce some of = the=20 finest confectionery in the world.

Published: 10 December 2006

The first time I tasted products made by the artisan sweet maker = Romanengo,=20 was in April last year at a Slow Food event here at Petersham. Our food = sourcer=20 Wendy Fogarty had just returned from Genoa where she had visited the = Romanengo=20 family and got her hands on six jars of zucchero rosato (conserve of = roses).=20

When I placed a tiny spoonful of the fine, almost crystalline = substance on my=20 tongue I nearly burst into tears. It was a quick, intense burst of = flavour - the=20 cleanest, truest taste of a bouquet of roses imaginable. I can honestly = say that=20 I have never experienced such a pure sense of taste and smell in all my = life. It=20 made me re-think, and question, everything I thought I already knew = about=20 taste.

Last month I was given the opportunity to go to Genoa, and visit the=20 Romanengo (the full name of the company is Pietro Romanengo fu Stefano) = family=20 myself. I had been invited to attend their company's 225th anniversary=20 celebrations.

I arrived as it was getting dark - tired after a long and frustrating = day=20 trapped on the motorway - at an unassuming, turn-of-the-century building = close=20 to Genoa's port. As I walked through the entrance, I was greeted by tray = upon=20 tray filled with the most extraordinary, colourful candied fruits. = Stacked high,=20 there were trays of wild cherries, strawberries, chestnuts, quince, = figs,=20 locquats, pears, clementines, chinotto (a Slow Food presidium product,=20 particular to the region of Savona and a type of citrus fruit - though, = like=20 quince, inedible raw) plums and green almonds. They glistened like = jewels. I=20 felt completely overwhelmed.

"Feel free," said Andrea Rocco, the Romanengo family's export = director,=20 gesturing to the fruit. "Try them." And so I began to eat.

First I tried the wild cherries, and strawberries. Neither were = overly sweet,=20 they simply tasted of the fruit - just slightly more scented and = delicate. Then=20 I moved on to the chestnuts - crumbly in texture like freshly roasted = ones but=20 definitely no sweeter. I bit into a chinotto and my mouth was filled = with a=20 sharp, citrussy juice somewhere between clementine and lime. I tried the = quince,=20 green almonds, the figs and plums. Every single one tasted = extraordinary,=20 nothing like the sickly and overly sweet candied fruit that I had eaten = in the=20 past.

"It really is very simple," explained Rocco. "We use only ripe, = seasonal=20 fruit. Each piece is dragged through sugar syrup and then dried out. We = use no=20 preservatives and so they only have a shelf-life of two weeks. After = that, the=20 sugar begins to permeate the fruit and they begin to taste, like other = candied=20 products, impure, too sweet and with only the vaguest remnant of the = fruit's=20 flavour."

The Romanengo premises are like something out of Charlie and the = Chocolate=20 Factory. There's an ancient chocolate press that's been there since day = one and=20 everywhere you look are huge vats of bubbling sugar syrup. These are = where the=20 fruit gets dropped in, spun round and then taken out to drain for a = week. This=20 process is then repeated, so a sweet that keeps for a fortnight can take = up to=20 three weeks to make. It is a truly loving artisanal tradition.

And this is only the first room. The factory itself has three floors = and on=20 each are rooms filled with different types of sweets. There's = mostaccioli which=20 are shards of hand-cut cinnamon that have had sugar syrup dropped on = them for=20 two days so they look like they've been encased in frosted snow. They = work as=20 gorgeous palette cleansers. Then there's a whole array of sweets made = with=20 marzipan called marzapani, which are nuts fused with flavoured almond = paste and=20 scented with organic mint, flower or rose water. They also make a = version of=20 manna, which is produced from the sap of ash trees in Sicily and sold in = little=20 jars - it is rather like a thick maple syrup. Plus, there's a beautiful = almond=20 milk that is sold to be diluted with water and ice, and used like you = would a=20 cordial. That day I stayed there for hours. I left having tasted every = single=20 sweet, sugar-crazed and unhinged, in desperate need of something = savoury.

The Romangeno family started business when Genoa was a strong trading = port on=20 the the spice routes. The Middle Eastern influence is still evident in = the=20 locals' fondness for cinnamon, tamarind, almonds and rose flower syrups. = The=20 city itself has a long history of sweet-making and the old part of the = city is=20 today still peppered with beautiful shops, devoted to their particular = sweets.=20 The practice of dredging the fruits with sugar as a preservative started = so the=20 men on the boats could take fruit on their journeys. As the spice routes = changed, Romanengo evolved purely into a confectioners.

The family business is now run by cousins Paolo, Pietro, Giovanni = Battista=20 and Delfina Romanengo, all of whom are in their sixties or seventies. = The=20 business has two shops as well as the factory and employs just over 20 = people.=20 For a while it also had a branch in Milan but that closed down 10 years = ago.

Giovanni, who speaks no English and has never even been on an = aeroplane,=20 explains. "It's hard to predict the future of Romanengo because few = people have=20 a taste for the sweets any more," he says. "They are so pure, so = particular and=20 so of their fruit that people's taste buds are no longer simple enough = to=20 appreciate them. It is a dying tradition; people prefer mass-produced = sweets=20 now."

Traditionally, the children of Genoa would visit Romanengo after = church on a=20 Sunday and pick which sweets they wanted. Over the years many of the = sweets have=20 become associated with certain religious festivals. Cannestrelle = (hand-rolled=20 doughnuts filled with marzipan), for example, are eaten around Lent, = while dolce=20 dei morte (sweets of death) are eaten on All Saints Day.

They have had their uses in my kitchen too. At Petersham, last = summer, we=20 mixed the rose syrup with prosecco and served the crystallised rose = petals=20 dropped in the bottom of champagne glasses. I use rose syrups on melon = and parma=20 ham, and almond milk to make almond milk and apricot ice-cream. I also = do a very=20 simple vanilla ice-cream and put Romanengo's chopped candied fruits in = it.

The company has a commitment to quality and tradition that it has = never, ever=20 erred on. It never introduces new products and only a couple of recipes = have=20 died out in more than 200 years. I think there's something almost = Buddhist about=20 its principles and that's why it is so important traditionally and = historically.=20 But there is a sadness to it: you wonder how on earth it will carry on = when=20 we've all developed a taste for Cadbury's. For me it was a truly = humbling=20 experience.

For information on Romanengo, visit http://www.romanengo.com/. Skye Gyngell is head chef at = Petersham=20 Nurseries, Church Lane, off Petersham Road, Richmond, Surrey, tel: 020 = 8605=20 3627

Q&A: Skye answers your culinary queries

It was good to see your recipes for quince in 'The Sunday Review'. = I love=20 these fruits and have used them for years when I can get hold of them. = What I=20 haven't come across before is verjuice. What is it and how can I make it = or get=20 hold of some? Susan Tosoni

Verjuice is the juice of unripe grapes. It has the tartness of lemon = juice=20 and the acidity of vinegar without the harshness of either. it's a very=20 versatile ingredient, particularly useful in sauces, dressings and = desserts. I=20 know Harvey Nichols stocks it. It's not the brand I use, but it is a = nice one.=20 We also sell it at Petersham or you can get it direct from Australia = from chef=20 Maggie Beer's website at http://www.maggiebeer.com.au/.

I see mackerel are in season. I can never think what to do with = them. Any=20 ideas? L Cusp

All oily fish are in season now - sardines, mackerel, anchovy etc. = The=20 imporant thing is that they have to be spankingly fresh, or they taste = awful.=20 It's best to treat them simply. Brush first with a strong olive oil. Add = liberal=20 amounts of salt and pepper and put under a hot grill for two minutes = each side.=20 This works very well with a horseradish cream, which is made by grating = fresh=20 horseradish into cr=E8me fra=EEche along with a teaspoon of Dijon = mustard and salt=20 and black pepper. Alternatively, it's good with a salad of flat-leaf = parsley,=20 black olives and tomatoes dressed with olive oil. I also love sardines = on toast,=20 served on grilled bread with-slow roasted tomatoes. Spinach and capers = also work=20 well - anything sharp and slightly vinagery to counteract the oiliness = of the=20 fish is great.

Further to the Q&A of 26 November: there is a wonderful recipe = for beef=20 Wellington in Julia Child's 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume = 2'=20 (Knopf). She uses a brioche dough rather than puff pastry, which stops = the=20 bottom going soft. It's a fiddle but worth the effort. Janet = Lash

Thank you Janet for your contribution - enlightenment at last!

Please send your culinary questions to Skye via email on mailto:s.gyngell@independent.= co.uk=20

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