It’s the season of giving all around the World, and the Christmas spirit can be felt in the US, in Germany, in the UK, and in Italy. All of these places have a variety of traditions when it comes to Christmas, but we are going to concentrate on a very specific one that comes straight out of Italy. Now, what tradition are we going to talk about? We’re going to talk about Panettone and Pandoro. Once these two bad boys come out, you know it’s Christmas time in Italy ( discover more about italians holidays and traditions)

what is the difference between pandoro e panettone

What is panettone?

So, what is Panettone? Panettone is a Milanese pastry, that as I’ve already said is made during the Christmas festivities. The main ingredients are flour, candied fruits (not a huuuuuge fan) and raisins.  It’s very simple, but if you want to know my personal opinion (and well you don’t have a choice, because I’m writing) I am not a huge fan, I mean if you’re into candied fruit and old-time flavors, than Panettone is right up your alley. I mean I might have said that I’m not a huge fan, but that doesn’t mean you might not want to know where to buy Panettone. In that case most supermarkets sell them, but maybe you want a fancy one to send home to your parents or the whole family, so in that case, you should find a pasticceria and have one made for you, don’t worry all the places that make them to-order will advertise it. Now for my final pieces of advice regarding Panettone, probably the most important one. How to eat Panettone? Now, you can eat panettone on its own, or you could drop some tasty Cream di Mascarpone, this is the way to eat it and also the answer to your question on how to serve Panettone Classico.

The History of Panettone

The most well know of the panettone,  describes a Milanese baker named Toni who had a beautiful daughter.

A young nobleman wanted to marry her so disguised himself as a baker, and baked this special sweet bread filled with raisins and candied fruit peels to win the father’s approval. The two young people married, and meanwhile the sweet bread made Toni’s bakery famous, and was named “pan de Toni” or, Toni’s bread.

What is the difference between Pandoro and Panettone?

Pandoro compared to its Milanese counterpart, comes from the city of Verona. As you can tell most Christmas Sweets come from up north, even though there is a great number of traditional foods form the rest of Italy, you wait and see. Now the questions regarding Pandoro are many, but really keep in mind that it’s the better version of the Christmas pastries (you need some subjectivity in blog posts). Anyway, let’s look at the ingredients, it’s simple Flour, Eggs, Butter, and Sugar nothing crazy like candied fruits.

How to eat Pandoro?

It goes down a beauty, so when you are wondering how to eat Pandoro just think a lot and that’s all you need to think when it comes to eating Pandoro. With Pandoro, you can have Mascarpone with it, I mean why not do whatever you want, but traditionally you sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the desert and make it all nice and sweet.

The History of Pandoro

The origin of pandoro has not yet been established with certainty, the versions are still contradicting.

Some people thinks the pandoro was born in the Venetian Republic in the ‘500, when they were served on the rich tables of nobles some sweet of conical shape, covered with gold leaf, called “Pan de Oro” (Golden Bread)

In recent times, panettone and pandoro have undergone a sort of “restyling”, since many other variations of the original recipes are available:  be them coverings or fillings, chocolate,  zabaione sauce,  crema pasticcera (pastry cream) may now easily accommodate people tastes, even if purists would probably dislike such tasteful variations.

So, what is the difference between Pandoro e Panettone? The candied fruits and the texture, but it’s all the same when it comes to celebrating Christmas with the ones you love. Panettone, Pandoro it’s irrelevant if you’re enjoying yourself and having a jolly good one.

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