Colombino di Manduria

History and origin

The colombino is a small pastry typical of Manduria, in the province of Taranto. No official document records its origin, but the accounts gathered place its birth in the 1950s.

Legend has it that in 1953 a pastry cook, travelling every day from Taranto to Lecce for work, had to stop in Manduria because his vehicle broke down. The long wait led him to ask about pastry shops to take over in town, and he found that the bar of the historic Teatro Candeloro was looking for a new manager. That was the beginning of his family's story in Manduria, and of a light, soft and crumbly pastry.

The colombino was probably created for the patron saint's feast of Saint Gregory the Great on 3 September and for the main holidays. Today the Slow Food Presidium protects the few pastry cooks who keep the authentic recipe.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Colombino di Manduria

Area and method of production

The Presidium's production area is the municipality of Manduria. Member pastry cooks undertake to use local ingredients: almonds, oranges, milk, butter, eggs and flour for the dough, and apricot jam for decoration, come from local farmers, livestock breeders and processors who work with respect for the environment.

The preparation brings together several elements of pastry-making. Two layers of puff pastry enclose a filling of orange-scented almond paste and custard. The pastry is then covered with a soft meringue glaze of sugar, egg white and lemon, and finished with the outline of a little dove drawn in apricot jam.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Colombino di Manduria

How to recognise it

The colombino is shaped like a small truncated-cone tartlet. It is recognised at once by its soft white meringue top, on which stands the apricot-jam decoration in the shape of a little dove that gives it its name.

When cut it reveals the two layers of flaky pastry and the filling, where orange-scented almond paste meets custard. The result is a pastry that is light, soft and crumbly all at once, in which orange scents the almond paste.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Colombino di Manduria

In the kitchen

Born for festivities, the colombino is still the sweet for special occasions: it is made for the feast of Saint Gregory the Great and the main holidays, and today also every Sunday.

The classic pairing is a glass of Primitivo di Manduria Dolce Naturale, the sweet wine of the same land, which comes from the same area as the pastry. Local almonds, oranges and apricots make the colombino a small portrait of the flavours of Manduria.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Colombino di Manduria

Where to taste it

The colombino is found in Manduria, in the province of Taranto, the only municipality in the Presidium's production area. Here the few pastry shops that keep the recipe make it all year round, and Sunday is the day it is easiest to find freshly made.

The most meaningful time to taste it is the patron saint's feast of Saint Gregory the Great on 3 September, the occasion for which, according to tradition, the pastry was created. A visit to Manduria is also a chance to pair it with Primitivo di Manduria Dolce Naturale, the wine the source names as its classic companion.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Colombino di Manduria

Protection

• Slow Food Presidium — colombino-di-manduria (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Colombino di Manduria)

When

• Traditionally eaten: all year round (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Colombino di Manduria)

Where

Puglia