If wine is one of the oldest products on our table, the same is true for its “cooked” version, not heated but produced starting from the must’s cooking.
There is no more popular Italian sweet recipe than mostaccioli, among the most common sweets throughout Central and Southern Italy and prepared, albeit with the significant regional variations, almost everywhere. Many local food interpretations use cooking wine, a filtered juice obtained from ripe and sugary grapes, traditionally cooked in copper pots.
Cooked wine, the drink of the Romans made with must.
We often tend to erroneously think that it is hot and flavored wine, a kind of mulled wine. The reality is that it is nothing more than a liquid obtained by the must’s prolonged cooking. The ancient practice of boiling grape was widely addressed in Pliny the Elder’s treatises on agronomy, called “Historia Naturalis,” and then again in Columella’s “De Re Rustica.” At the end of the banquet, the sweet specialty drink would be enjoyed by the convivial, while in the peasant culture, it represented one of the goods that a woman brought as a dowry. Farmers made use of cooked wine to massage children’s arms and legs so that they could grow healthy and robust, as well as sip it after a hard workday in the fields.
Let’ see how cooked wine is prepared.
Particularly widespread in Abruzzo and Marche, you can make cooked wine from the Montepulciano grapes and Sangiovese and Maceratino. Begin by boiling the must slowly (in the past made in copper pots but currently replaced by stainless steel) for about 10/12 hours. During cooking, stir continuously, thus eliminating the foam produced from time to time. Once cooked, the liquid – now concentrated – is decanted into oak barrels and left to age for at least five years. Traditionally, prepared in autumn, during harvest season, with very ripe grape rich in sugar content. Often consumed as a sweetener instead of beet sugar, cooked wine offered health benefits against seasonal ailments and a medicinal decoction when mixed with water and honey.
Its various uses are in the kitchen, but mostly in the pastry department. You will find it in mostaccioli, a specialty shared by Abruzzo, Molise, Basilicata, Umbria, Puglia, and Calabria. Also found in the Lombard variant, called mostazzit, typical of the Varese and Ticino territory. During the harvest season, farmers made Mostazzit with bread dough, honey, almonds, and grape must, used as a snack for the laborers. Over the years, the recipe has changed, and today it is made of flour, sugar, honey, cocoa, ground almonds, water and baking soda, wine, or cooked must. The name is ambiguous: it could derive from both the word mustum, must, and mustace, laurel, whose leaves are used to wrap an ancient preparation imported from Arab countries to protect it during the journey.
The main difference between cooked wine and the cooked must is minimal. It mostly lies in the consistency because cooked must is denser, similar to a syrup, and aged for a shorter period, not exceeding 24 months. It is produced and consumed throughout Italy, specifically in Abruzzo.
Sapa, the cooked must of Emilia Romagna.
Ludovico Ariosto mentioned in “Satire III,” sapa (or saba) is another example of Italian peasant culture, typical of Emilia Romagna, Marche, and Sardinia. Production again begins by boiling the must for about 8/9 hours. Whole walnuts addition to the boiling sapa prevents liquid from thickening and sticking to the cooking vessel walls.
It is stirred continuously during the entire process until it reduces by about 2/3 of the total. Once ready, it is cooled and placed in wooden barrels. Sapa was also formerly used as a sweetener for food and drinks. I pair it with cheeses, salads, and in the regional pastry shop in my kitchen to prepare sweets and biscuits in my kitchen. It is an essential ingredient in the recipe for Sabadoni. The pastry is famous for its spiritual connection, mostly consumed during the feast of Saint Anthony on January 17th and later for the Carnival week in February. Currently, Sapa is available throughout the year, in specialty shops and online markets.
Vincotto made with figs: the sweet syrup without grapes
The fig vincotto deserves a separate chapter. Widespread, especially in Puglia and Basilicata, an essential addition to local specialties such as cartellate or pettole. Although it has always been called this way, the correct name is “Cotto di Fichi,” cooked with figs, because it is a simple reduction of water and fruit, which does not require the use of the must.
The first step is to cut figs into four sections and reserve the peels. Place the fruit in a thick-based pot, fill with water slightly covering the fruit, and cook until obtaining a creamy. The second step is to filter the must through a cloth and cook again for about two hours, stirring often. Cool and store in a clean and hermetically sealed jar.
Use of cooked wine, sapa, and fig vincotto in the kitchen
In desserts, of course, such as cartellate, pettole, and mostaccioli, but also in some savory dishes, adding them to sauces or combining them with structured meat dishes and risotti. Incredibly tasty in ice cream and gelato, or stand-alone paired with cookies. It is an after-dinner indulgence, consumed carefully.
