This exquisite creation makes divine just about any chocolate fix need! Nero Nero or Double Black 99% cocoa chocolate bar from Pasticceria Muzzi with origins from Foligno in Perugia, the Umbrian region of Italy.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2012
There’s no excuse for chocolate addiction. And I’d be fibbing if I said it was because of the summer scorch in Sweden that I’m craving chocolate ice-cream since I still crave chocolate ice-cream even in the cold Nordic winters.
The more bitter than sweet of a high content cocoa chocolate bar varies from brand to brand, most a variation in taste akin to the native Indonesian black nut known as buah keluak (pangium educe). This particular chocolate bar from the well established Pasticceria Muzzi in Italy is less bitter than some other more than 90% cocoa organically produced chocolate bars, perfect for those who prefer a softer / milder taste to high content cocoa bars.
Muzzi confectionary has a long history in Italy that began in the small town of Foligno in 1795 by Mastro Tommaso di Filippo Muzzi. With plenty of fantasy and passion for the product still reflected in the Muzzi tradition of today, Tommaso di Filippo Muzzi began by producing small confetti hearts infused with star anise, a delicacy that had been a celebrated favourite of the town and perhaps even the region since the fifteenth century. Foligno is situated in central Italy in the province of Perugia, in the region of Umbria that borders the beautiful Tuscan region to its west. The town has an important railway station, Stazione di Foligno that opened in January of 1866, as part of the line between Rome and Ancona. This railway line helped set the Muzzi family’s distribution possibilities for products early on, where today, their outlet in Rome stands testament of their history in the trade.
In accordance to family tradition, generations of fathers and sons have produced candy confections of all sorts, the first born son of the family continue to this day, to be named Tommaso or Filippo.
Packaged and wrapped beautifully in a textured black envelope – a seductive invite to touch and open in itself – you’ll find the texture of this central Italian made chocolate bar in contrast to its envelope. Soft and smooth, this bar of decadence threatens to melt between the fingertips in the process of unwrapping, the beginnings of the making of this home made chocolate ice-cream.
A dash of Bailey’s coffee cream went into this Muzzi double chocolate ice-cream.
Ice-cream making is not much of an effort, taking just about fifteen minutes to prepare the chocolate custard base before freezing it over just under four hours.
This alluring Nero Nero chocolate bar was melted over a double boiler, its liquid form going straight into a combination of half and half milk and cream, ca. 200ml each. 2 whole eggs and 3 egg yolks tempered into the mixture, and stirred over low heat till the custard reduces and thickens. Coming back from Bali’s Pasar Badung in Denpasar and Kuta Pasar in Badung, I had some gula Bali or brown palm sugar from Bali at hand, to which about 50g – 80g went into this chocolate custard. A pinch of salt and a dash of Bailey’s coffee cream and nothing more.
A little mid-week indulgence.
Once the mixture thickened over the flame, it was taken off, covered in cling wrap at the top to prevent a skin from forming and cooled in the refrigerator. A couple of hours later, the custard was transferred to the freezer, where the mixture was stirred thereafter once every hour, there’s no need to bother with the ice-cream machine for this project, being much more convenient to do without.
After this, I found myself quite stocked with about half a litre of bitter dark chocolate ice-cream, a taste of the mountainous Umbrian region in Italy bordered only unto itself, as something to enjoy at least till well into the weekend.