The nougat is an Italian invention which immediately makes a party, especially on certain convivial occasions. Apicius also talks about it in 'De re coquinaria', and Tito Livio and Marziale also write about it. Just the great Latin poet, locates the ancient nougat, in the Sannio area, an area still very famous for the production of cupedia.
In Roman times ...
The nougat for the Romans was a Dolce made with honey, almonds and egg white, a real delicacy; a "cupedia" in fact, and still today, in the Benevento area, nougat sellers are called cupetari. Moreover, many Roman sweets were made with honey, which was the greatest sweetener of the time, together with dried fruit. However, as Apicius describes it, the ancient cupedia looks more like the current crunchy than the nougat.
Many try to grab the authorship of this dessert, but its origins are certainly in Roman culture. Following the legend, cupedia, that is "The thing you want", it was more than a desire. During the war in Irpinia, the Romans were defeated. The Samnites, however, did not kill them, but made them prisoners so that they could testify to Rome the strength of these populations. The Roman prisoners, however, had decided to let themselves die of hunger. Then the Samnites resorted to an irresistible delicacy that kept them alive: nougat.
Many types of nougat
More recently, in Italy and Spain, we find the first documentable traces of this specialty since the fifteenth century, especially in Alicante. The current term, nougat, it would derive from the Latin torre, that is toast, and refers to almonds.
The nougat of Cremona
Some say that nougat was born on 25 October 1441. On this date, the marriage between Francesco Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti. To celebrate the wedding with great fanfare, the court pastry chefs created the famous cake in the shape of Torrazo; the tallest bell tower in the city presented with great fanfare. The nougat was presented in the form of a parallelepiped, the same one that will remain in the following centuries, thus reaching us. That noble marriage remained in history and with him, this delicious dessert. Probably, one of the reasons why the Cremona dessert has been so successful is the ease with which it can be preserved. At one time there were no iceboxes, refrigerators or preservatives, which is why many foods easily spoiled. A dessert made of hazelnuts dried, which today we would say, with a very long shelf life, kept very well.
Honey and flour were found in every season and they too were well preserved. The classic nougat always remains the same; traditionally as white as it was centuries ago, however, there are many varieties of this delight today. In the confectionery industry, there are soft and hard nougats. The greater consistency of the nougat mainly depends on the modalities cooking which in some cases can even reach 12 hours. There are also almond and hazelnut ones. Then there is the coating which can be white, dark, milk and many other types of chocolate. Not to be missed for purists and I would say for gourmands, the nougat festival that takes place every year in November Cremona.
