Inevitable at every wedding banquet or on the occasion of every important ceremony. Thrown when leaving the church, in the most ancient customs, to the spouses as a sign of fertility, or given as a gift by the bride at the end of the wedding banquet. Confetti have gone through history always maintaining their deep and romantic meaning.
Un almond heart and a shell of white sugar. A combination that everyone recognizes.
A Pont Canavese, a small town between the Soana Valley and the Orco Valley, the concept of the sugared almond takes on a completely different connotation (but also a form).
At a time when much of the Italian food and wine tradition is being lost and when the craftsmanship linked to the world of food, when it comes to life in an area far from the big cities, often collides with a difficult survival, a story is being told in Pont Canavese different. That of the Juries.
Small round white bon bons inextricably unite artisans, not only food and wine, territory and history.
The Giuraie, also known as granny's sugared almonds, seem at first glance to be a simple and common white sweet. Once in your mouth, you can't stop: one leads to another. There are only four ingredients: sugar, hazelnuts, flour and vanilla and the Perotti pastry shop for more than 50 years it has been producing them, in full respect of tradition.
Through two generations of pastry chefs, the Perotti family keeps alive the recipe of a little jewel based on a raw material inextricably linked to the Canavese area. Unlike the traditional candy made of almond inside, in the Jurors the hazelnut is the protagonist. Not just any hazelnut. Here we rigorously choose the "round and gentle" hazelnut typical of the Canavese and Langhe areas.
It is not so easy to trace the origin of these small Canavese sugared almonds. There is no longer any trace of written recipes, so all that remains is to listen to the words of the few artisans who hand down the techniques of making them.
The historical period that saw the birth of these bon bons could be that of the end of the second World War. The pastry chefs had an important need to solve: it was a difficult period but one of rebirth and the desire to celebrate so the young newlyweds should not lack sugared almonds. But as the Perotti family recounts, the shortage of foodstuffs including almonds during that period made the choice fall on hazelnuts, a typical product of the Canavese and Valli di Lanzo areas, which became the perfect substitute.
Another curious story of the Giuraie is linked to the technique, the confectionery has many similarities with the production of medicinal tablets made by pharmacists. As often happens in small Italian excellences, the stories intertwine between various worlds, mixing areas that are also very distant from each other, but always maintaining a marked radicalism in common in the territory.
The Perotti family with its pastry shop carries on two cornerstones: respect for tradition together with the search for original local ingredients. In this small Canavese laboratory, from the flour to the milk, from the eggs to the butter, everything comes from local realities, which have traceability and high quality as their business card.
In fact, the Giuraie are prepared in one basin. Built in copper, made by the coppersmiths of the Alto Canavese, it is a container very similar to a small concrete mixer which, heated by a boiler, is kept in continuous rotation and into which a solution of water and sugar is poured together with the hazelnuts, to which flour is added. The result is a white delicacy with a silky and irregular surface.
The Perotti family collaborates with trusted people who have been working side by side with them for decades, in a stimulating and welcoming professional environment. All the products that can be found in the pastry shop follow this line of simplicity which not only makes the visit pleasant but also leaves a sensation of unexpected lightness.
It should be noted that the pastry shop together with other local companies promotes a bookable tasting by telephone, which follows a gastronomic journey to discover the small town of Pont Canavese, traditionally offered at major events, from baptisms to confirmations.
Le Giuraie are perfect as an accompaniment to a coffee or tea on an afternoon dedicated to welcoming friends and loved ones.
About an hour from Turin, the journey is pleasant and can hold interesting surprises. The kindness, simplicity and goodness of the Perotti pastry products make it an original and highly recommended destination.
