Cantucci and Vin Santo, Story of a Typical Italian Passion

For centuries, at the end of an important meal, perhaps Sunday or as a forerunner of Christmas or Easter celebrations, in Tuscany it is usual to pass to ​ cantucci and vin santo or vin santo and cantucci. After all, by changing the order of the addends, the sum does not change.

What is vin santo​?

Vin santo wine in one of the most famous “passito wines” and starts its gestation with the choice of the best grapes of Trebbiano and Malvasia, or possibly of Sangiovese. Then proceed with the withering and crushing. The must produced in this way is then poured into wooden containers, where the appropriate yeasts are added before starting the fermentation. The traditional preparation of vinsanto was so long and complex that when it was consumed at table it was poured into small glasses, to sip it and make it last as long as possible. The custom always wins, in fact still today the ​ vin santo in Tuscany is served in small glasses that allow only a few sips, or rather “a drop”.

And what about Cantucci?

The counterpart of the Tuscan ​sweet wine​, the cantuccio, is an oblong biscuit, about ten centimeters long, whose shape derives from the diagonal cut that is given to the loaf of dough at the end of cooking. The dough involves the use of flour, sugar, eggs, almonds and butter. Here, too, the need to make the product last longer characterizes its preparation: the dry consistency of the nook comes originally from the attempt to keep them more.

History, tradition and passion characterize these two typical products of a region that has always had much to offer and little to envy in terms of food and wine. Cantucci and vinsanto is synonymous not only with typicality and quality, but also with culture and roots of a region that is proud of its products which, though humble, are able to enchant any palate.

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