Local products: past and present

Wine, Beer, cheeses… and Canestrelli

The Balmetti have always been used for the conservation and processing of food products—originally by families and subsequently by companies operating in various sectors.

Not only wine but also beer, which was produced by the De Giacomi Brothers starting in 1862 in a brewery that is still visible today at the Balmetti. Cheeses were aged by the Egidio Torreano and Sons Company from 1929 in a Balmetto-aging cell that was revolutionary for its time. And of course, the canestrelli (wafers) of Borgofranco d’Ivrea, a typical dessert that has a very strong bond with the Balmetti families—each Borgofranco d’Ivrea family boasts a personal recipe.

A little history... The Balmetti and
the De Giacomi Brothers Brewery

In 1862 the De Giacomi brothers, owners of an important winery in Chiavenna, opened a brewery in Borgofranco and began to produce beer, first at Bio', to make use of a fast-flowing stream and subsequently at the Balmetti to make the most of the underground cold air currents—locally known as “Ore”—that come out from the slopes of the mountain.

The De Giacomi Brothers’ beer was considered to be of excellent quality, so much so, that in 1911 it was awarded the "Grand Diploma of Honor" at the International Exhibition of Industries and Labor in Turin.

In 1913, when the brewery was at its height, it had 60 employees and produced 12,000 hectoliters of beer per year. The success of the brewery lasted until 1936, the year in which, unfortunately, it closed due to financial difficulties caused by the Great Depression that began in 1929, concurrently with—among other things—protectionist legislation in favor of wine producers.

In the same period, the company was sold to the Metzger Company (SPAM), which, however, did not continue the production of beer.

Two types of beer were produced in the Borgofranco brewery:

  • Monaco type: low-temperature fermentation, generally dark in color and with a strong malt flavor;
  • Pilzen type: low-temperature fermentation, pale gold in color, and generally, with a strong hops flavor.

The Canestrelli of Borgofranco d’Ivrea
(local sweet)

The Canestrelli of Borgofranco d’Ivrea are very thin, crunchy, round wafers with an irregular shape. Their ingredients are rigorously worked by hand, shaped into a ball smaller than a hazelnut, which is then compressed between two red-hot plates. In the past, these plates were forged by hand and were heated over the fireplace. Today, electric plates are mainly used, although some do not disdain the use of the old "tools of the trade" bearing, as per tradition, the initials of the surname of the family that produces them. Cooking time is about 30 seconds which—as a popular custom dictates—"is the time needed to recite a Hail Mary". Obviously, the final size of the wafer depends on the size of the ball, but generally, the canestrelli are about 7 centimeters in diameter and 2 millimeters thick. This means that, on average, around 200 wafers can be made from a kilogram of canestrelli-mix.

The name canestrello probably derives from the typical woven wicker containers, called “canestri” (baskets), in which the wafers were placed to cool them. These sweets have been prepared since ancient times by families for holidays (patronal feast of San Maurizio, Easter, Christmas, Carnival...) and also for events such as baptisms, confirmations, weddings, or other religious and non-religious celebrations.

The origin of canestrilli can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is thought that the recipe is inspired by "nebule", a sort of sweetened wafer produced in convents and consumed for religious purposes and in theaters of the time. Subsequently, these wafers became highly appreciated and spread to the Court of Savoy where the "Nebulatores" (kitchen officials) were tasked with preparing them. In fact, it seems that the birth of the present-day recipe for the canestrelli is due to the skill of the Savoy pastry chefs. These ancient "nebule" were prepared with sugar alone, but over the years the modern canestrelli have been enriched with new ingredients. The classic canestrelli, which are produced following the traditional recipe, are cocoa-flavored. Over time, new flavors have been introduced, chocolate-hazelnut, hazelnut, vanilla, pistachio, lemon, and orange.

Each family jealously guards its own particular recipe, each of which contains an individual secret ingredient.

Today the Canestrello of Borgofranco d’Ivrea are considered an expression of Italian cultural heritage and are included on the official government list of Traditional Agri-food Products (P.A.T.) of Piedmont.