Product Range
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920 Lygon Street Carlton North VIC 3054 (03) 9389 7000 enoteca.com.au /enotecasileno WHOLESALE DIVISION warehouse@enoteca.com.au (03) 9380 9875
Dolceria Bonajuto is Sicily’s oldest and most famous chocolate maker and produces a range of chocolates which are unique in flavour, texture and heritage. The small Bonajuto chocolate shop and production studio is located in a small, picturesque laneway in the heart of Modica, a town famous for its magnificent baroque architecture. It was in this exact spot that Francesco Bonajuto began his business in 1880. Each year thousands of chocolate lovers from all over the world will make the pilgrimage to this extraordinary and unique shop where Francesco’s descendant Pierpaolo Ruta continues the family’s proud tradition.
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What makes the chocolate of Modica so special, is that it is made according to the methods of the Aztecs, the ancient inhabitants of Mexico. The Aztecs were the first civilisation that celebrated chocolate, or ‘Xocoàtl’ – and held it in high regard because it was said to confer strength. It was also a sign of wealth. The Spanish Conquistadors who colonised the lands in the late 1500s were fascinated with the ceremonial food and took cocoa beans and the recipes back to Europe. During that period, the island of Sicily was also under Spanish rule and this mysterious exotic food from the New World was introduced into Sicily’s gastronomic culture. To this day, cocoa powder and chocolate appear in many traditional Sicilian recipes for both sweet and savoury dishes.
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Chocolate of Modica is made using a method called al freddo or cold tempered. This means the cocoa is never heated to high temperatures and is not refined and homogenized like modern chocolate. First, finest quality cocoa beans sourced from Central America are dried and roasted before being ground into a very coarse cocoa ‘flour’. This gritty cocoa mixture is heated to between 25 and 40ºC and worked to form a paste. Caster sugar is added while the cocoa is kept at the
same low temperature to prevent the sugar crystals from dissolving. From here the mixture is pushed into moulds and allowed to set. The advantage of this traditional cold method of production is that there is no addition of butter, vegetable fats, milk derivatives or lecithin. In fact, Bonajuto’s chocolate contains only cocoa, sugar and sometimes spices. Their chocolate is gluten free, dairy free, soya free and has no artificial flavourings. Suitable for vegans and vegetarians.
Bonajuto source their cocoa from certified plantations that do not use child labour, and where workers’ conditions are protected and safeguarded.
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By the time Francesco Bonajuto had opened his store in Modica, Gustav Lindt had perfected conching, the process that makes chocolate smooth. Nearly every European chocolate maker adopted it. Bonajuto didn’t. They continued to make unconched chocolate which appears rough and unrefined with a mouthfeel that is also granular and slightly gritty. However, there is no mistaking the purity and richness of the authentic, unadulterated chocolate flavour. This is not a chocolate to devour quickly, it should be savoured a little at a time in small pieces that are allowed to dissolve slowly on the tongue, allowing the complexity of flavours to be revealed. Bonajuto chocolate is the perfect accompaniment to coffee, liqueurs and grappa at the end of a meal.
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The Range
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These two chocolate bars won the Grand Prize and Gold Medal at the World Fair in Rome in 1911, and have been produced in the same method ever since.
The only ingredients are cocoa (minimum of 50%), sugar, and either vanilla bean or cinnamon. All of Dolceria Bonajuto’s pure chocolates have a uniquely grainy texture. This texture is well exemplified by these two products, because the ratio of cocoa mass to sugar crystals is close to equal.
Vanilla – 100g – Product Code: 15.660 Cinnamon – 100g – Product Code: 15.661
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Arancia Orange peel is cooked with honey and then combined with a minimum of 65% cocoa mass. Chocolate with orange was traditionally enjoyed after large feasts to aid digestion. Chocolate with Orange 50g – Product Code: 15.622
Salinae This product contains a minimum of 80% cocoa mass, mixed with sugar and .025% salt which is harvested by the lagoon on the tiny island of Mothya (Mozia), off the coast of Sicily. The salt allows the naturally savoury qualities of the cocoa to become prominent. Chocolate with the Salt of Mothya 50g – Product Code: 15.663
Pepe Bianco This 65% chocolate bar is spiced with white pepper. While it does add a mild hint of heat, the white pepper brings out the bright, citrus notes of the chocolate. Chocolate with White Pepper 50g – Product Code: 15.625
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Noce Moscata This bar has a minimum of 65% cocoa with the addition of nutmeg. The spice lends a certain warmth to the flavour of the chocolate, giving it a delicious nuttiness. Chocolate with Nutmeg 50g – Product Code: 15.627
Mascobado Muscovado cane sugar is unprocessed so much of the molasses remains in the crystals giving the chocolate a slight caramel flavour. Minimum 65% cocoa mass. Mascovado Unrefined Cane Sugar 50g – Product Code: 15.626
Fruttosio A 65% cocoa chocolate that has been sweetened only with fructose. Chocolate made with Fructose 50g – Product Code: 15.628
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Peru: 65% This bar contains 65% Peruvian Criollo cacao which is prized for its intense flavour with fruity notes, a persistent mellow richness and lack of bitterness. Peru 65% 50g – Product Code: 15.620
“...chocolate of astonishingly pure, powerful flavour...” – The New York Times
Settanta % 70% of the bar is pure cacao, the rest is sugar. The high percentage of cacao lets the full fruity, slightly wine-like flavour of the cacao really shine. It’s not quite bitter, neither is it very sweet. Like all Bonajuto chocolate, it should be consumed slowly and allowed to melt on the tongue letting the flavours develop gradually. Settanta 70% 50g – Product Code: 15.664
Cento % The 100% bar is nothing but cocoa. No sugar, no spices, only pure South American chocolate. This is not a chocolate for everyone, but for those who want to taste and understand the pure, unadultered flavour of Theobroma cacao. Cento 100% 50g – Product Code: 15.945
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920 Lygon Street Carlton North VIC 3054 (03) 9389 7000 enoteca.com.au /enotecasileno WHOLESALE DIVISION warehouse@enoteca.com.au (03) 9380 9875