21. Tozzetto with Rocca Priora Hazelnuts
History
Tozzi alla nocchia', in Roccapriorese, are the traditional crunchy biscuits of this beautiful village in the Alban Hills, made with flour, sugar, eggs, yeast, butter (or olive oil) and, of course, hazelnuts. This cake boasts a centuries-old town tradition dating back to the 19th century, when tozzetti were a staple on wedding tables and when, at the end of the religious rite, it was customary to present the bride, also as a sign of thanks for the invitation, with cotton handkerchiefs filled with sugared almonds and tozzetti. Today, the production and consumption of this gastronomic speciality is no longer limited to large family events. For some time now, in fact, the historic bakeries of this municipality, the highest of the Castelli Romani at 768 metres above sea level, have been producing and selling them all year round. For their part, local restaurateurs are used to serving them to customers at the end of a meal, accompanied by a sweet wine. The traditional recipe calls for double baking, with the first phase dedicated to the mixing of all the ingredients and the first baking in the oven of loaves about three centimetres in diameter. Then, the most important step is to cut the "filoncini" so as to obtain small biscuits about 8-10 cm long, to be baked again to obtain the typical "biscottata" consistency and characteristic yellow colour. The tozzetto together with the cellette, a traditional local pastry made with water and flour, are the undisputed protagonists of the festival held every year in the village for the feast of Sant'Antonio Abate.
The product
Tozzetto di Rocca Priora has a yellow colour within which hazelnuts are enclosed. Its high olfactory intensity is characterised by pronounced notes of eggs and hazelnuts. The taste is harmoniously sweet with a slight salty note. Good crunchiness, chewiness and aromatic persistence.
PAOLO TUCCIO: HAZELNUT TOZZETTI FROM ROCCA PRIORA IN HIS 'TUCCIO BAR
Paolo Tuccio, owner of Bar Tuccio, says that the Rocca Priora tozzetto arrived in his pastry shop only 40 years ago: 'My recipe did not include hazelnuts, but candied fruit. It was actually softer and less characteristic pastries. Then an old lady from Rocca Priora, Luciana Vinci, who knew the traditional recipe, suggested I use hazelnuts so as not to lose this ancient recipe. Since then,' Paolo continues, 'I started experimenting, trying to balance the doses. And I finally found the perfect recipe that, with the use of Italian hazelnuts, allows me to make a traditional and much appreciated product'. The pastry chef specifies that the tozzetto is also offered by other bakeries in Rocca Priora, but each one follows and jealously guards its own recipe and adds: 'With the tozzetto, I was also at the Expo in Milan and at the Salone del Gusto in Turin, and today I can say that this biscuit is a strong point in my work. People from Roccaprio often ask for it, and thanks to the promotion done by my daughter and the De. Co., many customers come from outside to buy them, and many tourists from northern Italy request shipments of the product'. He concludes with a memory: 'Americans once came through here and after tasting them they asked for a shipment. They spent more for the transport than to buy the product, but it was definitely worth it!'.
