Tasting Turin
Turin/Torino is famous for a lot of wonderful flavours, probably the most popular of which is Bicerin, a hot drink made with chocolate, coffee and steamed cream. Almost every establishment you visit will make it slightly differently and will tell you that they like to keep their recipe a secret, but this hot delicacy is not to be missed by any visiting chocolate lover.
The Bicerin drink shown with chocolate pasta.
We tried the traditional version at Caffe Al Bicerin in the Piazza della Consolata. This establishment was founded in 1763, and claims to have invented the drink. They do a great job at it, as I found their Bicerin to be less sweet and less heavy than those sampled at other places. You can even buy chocolate pasta here! We tried a trendy new variation of the Bicerin called the Espressone Chocolate Mousse at Lavazza Espression on Via Garibaldi. It was a real taste treat that is eaten with a spoon as it’s ultra thick and super smooth. (Travel secret: if you take your Espresso or coffee drinks standing, establishments charge you much less than if you sit down. Many coffee bars only charge 1 euro for an espresso served to a standing customer.) You choose!
The modern version of espresso at Lavazza Espression.
Continuing our exploration of Torino’s sweet scene, we stopped to enjoy another variation of the Bicerin at Gertosio Pasticceria, a business originally founded in 1880 by master chocolate maker, Pietro Viola. In 1961 the Gertosio family took it over and now have a father, mother, son and daughter-in-law team bringing taste sensations to everyone who walks through their welcoming doors. The Gertosios offer the il Sabaudo, a delicious drink of hot chocolate, coffee, crushed nuts and whipped cream. All I can say is … Wow! Truly decadent. They have plenty of amazing chocolate creations to take away. You’ll find them featured my book, Chocolatour. Details at https://chocolatour.net/book.
Pretty much every chocolate maker in Torino offers the city’s special creation: the Gianduiotto, three-cornered chocolates made of cocoa and hazelnuts. They are a bit sweet for my liking, but very smooth and creamy.
Torino’s famous gianduiotto chocolates are seen in windows everywhere
Cioccolato Peyrano offers a Torte Peyrano that is to die for: a dense dark chocolate cake made with hazelnuts and orange jam and covered with a layer of thin dark chocolate. A 600-gram Peyrano cake is pricey at 29 euros, but worth every cent. The flavour is truly out of this world. But don’t take my word for it, plan a trip to Torino!
For those of you who would like to go on a small group tour to Turin and northern Italy, this will be of interest. My friend Roxanne Browning of Exotic Chocolate Tasting in New York will be leading a group of chocolate and wine lovers to this taste-tempting region in 2019. Details on Roxanne’s site.
You know how much I love sweets. A visit to Turin to taste all chocolate creations would be wonderful. I found it very interesting that expresso and coffee drinks are cheaper if you stand. Thanks for another interesting post.
Thanks, Bev. With your Italian heritage and your love of sweets, a visit to Turin would be a 5-star choice for you. 🙂
Doreen, your chocolate review in Torino is spot on. The Bicerin is a classic, it has to be a one of the most decedent drinks. The atmosphere of the beautiful city while sipping this delight adds to the experience. The hills in the countryside are covered with wineries and hazelnut trees. The combination of chocolate and hazelnut lead to the Gianduiotto in the 1800’s. Now made by many local chocolate makers and chocolatiers. The city is a royal city, once ruled by the house of Savoy for 800 years and the first capital of Italy. the French influence is found in the culture and food. If you have been to the big cities in Italy, a visit to region of Piedmont will stay with you for a lifetime. Doreen has been there and she knows how special it is. I’ve been there a couple of times and now offering just 12 travelers a exclusive trip on Oct 2019 during harvest season of the wine, truffles and to explore fine dining and the taste of the city that brought us modern chocolate. As NY’s chocolate sommelier, I will be leading chocolate and wine pairings and visits to two famous chocolate makers and see how they create their bars and confections and of course taste!
Awesome, Roxanne. Thx for sharing the info about your tour here. I hope some chocolate lovers join you on this decadent tour.
Just wanted to post an update to let Bicerin lovers know that they can enjoy that magnificent flavour in the form of a chocolate bar right here in North America! San Francisco-based TCHO Chocolate has a Mokaccino bar that won it a Silver prize in 2012 for the “Best Milk Chocolate in the Americas” category. The bar really does capture the flavour of blending strong coffee with chocolate and cream. It’s one of my new favourites!
Doreen,
I enjoyed reading your post about Bicerin. I have enjoyed it on my travels to Italy and am always surprised that more people don’t enjoy it outside the country! Thanks for telling more people about it and I look forward to reading more about your chocolate adventures and replying to your posts on my blog at http://www.montblancgourmet.com/blog.
Cheers
Michael
Thanks, Michael. I’m sure we’ll share many more tasty travel tales together.
Thanks, Heather. You were actually an inspiration to me when I began blogging. Hard to believe it will be a year next month (that’s over on my original blog at:
http://doreenisthewizardofwords.blogspot.com.)
Hope you’ll drop in there again, too!
Take me with you?!
Excellent post, I’ve bookmarked your blog.
Thanks for the support over at WTBG!
Thanks, Esther, for your enthusiasm. I’m glad you’re enjoying the journey.
I’ll have to re-watch the movie, Chocolat. I haven’t seen it since it first came out. I just remember scenes of molten chocolate dripping everywhere. Now that’s bliss!
And thanks to Deborah, for the terrific video link to all things Italy! I’ll have to spend some time perusing them. glad you enjoyed my post. Be sure to drop back again soon for the post on Tuscany.
Virginia wrote: “nuts were added to stretch the beans, much like chicory is added to stretch coffee, but with a much tastier result.”
Oh, bliss!
Doreen, what an awesome trip! I’m positively greeeeen! Even though, we have nice chocolate shops and great coffee places here in Vancouver. I guess it’s the adventure; sounds so exciting!
Being such a connoisseur you must have seen the movie “La Chocolat” a few years back. When I saw that movie, I knew I was missing out… 🙁
Esther
Yummy post. Turin is an off-the-beaten path gem full of history and culture, which you capture so nicely. Love the caffes and the chocolate. We have a video of Turin’s caffes here:
http://www.webvisionitaly.com/category.php?id=273&ref_genre=&ref_item=336
Looking forward to your next post Doreen!
I haven’t searched it out, Marg, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the chocolate pasta is available here. I’ll let you know if I find it. I won’t be posting recipes on the blog, but will include a few in the book.
Thanks for chiming in again, Virginia. Yes, we certainly did eat our share of chocolate in Turin! My favourite pic is the one of you with the chipmunk cheeks (filled with so much chocolate, you couldn’t swallow!) And yes, I’ll definitely be featuring Mariella in the book. She was amazing – and kind enough to send me a cake all the way from Turin!
I do believe we tasted more chocolate in Turin then any other place. The hazelnut chocolates that Doreen mentions came about a result of Napoleon’s trade restrictions on cocoa beans – the nuts were added to stretch the beans, much like chicory is added to stretch coffee, but with a much tastier result. I really admired the woman we met from Naples who bought the Peyrano family business. She’s using new products such as the torte that Doreen mentions (agreed, out of this world) to shake up the century old patriarchal business and quite possibly Turin itself. It’s fiesty Napoli vs traditional Turin: may the best woman win!
Chocolate pasta. I’ve died and gone to heaven. Why isn’t this available in North America?
Will you be posting recipes for folks to make an attempt at recreating these wonders?
Marg
Thanks so much, Veronica! I’m glad my enthusiasm is shining thru!
Hope to see you again here in 2 weeks when I’ll tempt you with the tastes of Pistoia!
Doreen I almost want to climb into the email and press send to transmit myself over to Turin to be there tasteing all this with you. Thank you for sharing. That book is going to whizz off the shelves when it comes out
Veronica