Il black bread from Coimo: one of the most renowned typical products of Val Vigezzo and Val d'Ossola, between Piedmont, Lombardy and Switzerland. For Coimo, a fraction of the Municipality of Druogno, black bread is an emblem of food excellence with an ancient process, in fact it falls into the category Pat (Traditional food product). Its origins are very ancient, in fact already Romans they went to great lengths to produce a particular variety of black bread (panis ater). The one currently widespread in the Ossola Valley seems to be an ancient legacy of Christianity that began to spread in this area around the fifth century AD. Eating black bread for the neophytes of the Christian religion meant, for that time, canceling pagan customs.
Coimo's black bread
Today, just a few natural ingredients are enough to make Coimo's black bread: wholemeal rye flour with a little addition of wheat, water, salt and natural mother yeast. Rye is a cereal predisposed to cold climates, so it can grow and mature even in mountainous areas. In the past, black bread was also made with buckwheat flour, a cereal typical of the Ossola valleys. It has a rounded and flat shape as the leavening strength of the rye dough is limited, while the flavor is fragrant and decisive.
Due to its components and its traditional processing, it has a good storage capacity. The black one from Coimo is a rustic bread, with a dark brown crust and brown dough and each wheel weighs about 700/800 grams. Thanks to the presence of rye it is a product rich in fibers with antioxidant and immunostimulating properties. It also prevents the absorption in the body of some particular elements, thus managing to maintain blood levels of blood sugar and cholesterol within the normal range. Fiber also has an important regulatory effect on the lazy intestine. For a healthy diet one should consume at least 100 grams of rye bread a day to favor health and wellness.
The sweet and savory version
There are two types of black bread: the one made with 90 percent rye flour, called pan negar; and there is the Ossola bread to which walnuts and raisins are added, said crescenzin. Pan negar is a typical product produced by bakers from all over Ossola. It can well be said that it is the oldest bread in the Vigezzo Valley: once it was prepared only twice a year, for domestic use and consumption and was baked in the community ovens present in all the villages.
In Coimo there were only three ovens that no longer exist today. Crescenzin, also called cardenzin or cradenzin, sometimes includes the addition of dried figs in addition to walnuts and raisins. Excellent, therefore, for a sweet and tasty snack, suitable for children but which is generally in great demand and also appreciated by adults.
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