Tell Modica and you think about chocolate!

A pairing, that between the Iblean city and the food of the gods, which has distant origins, when in XVI Second I Spanish dominators introduced in the County of Modica, then the most important feudal state Sicily, the precious bean of the Americas.

The processing it was the one learned from Aztec, cold, using the metate, the stone mill. But unlike the Indigenous people, who consumed liquid cocoa, sugar was introduced into the Sicilian recipe: thus was born the famous chocolate bar. With a unique feature, which sets it apart from what we're used toiModica chocolate does not contain cocoa butter and the sugar granules remain separate, giving the chocolate a crumbly consistency.

The delicacy was the Festive dessert of noble Modica families and thus it has been passed down to this day before becoming a confectionery product of international fameSince 2003, Modica chocolate has boasted a protected geographical indication (PGI) Consortium for the protection of, product recognition Protected Geographical Indication and it's a festival, Eurochocolate, which to December for three days, it transforms Modica into an open-air pastry shop, a destination for visitors from all over the world.

Nowadays, stone grinders are no longer used, but modern machinery, but the characteristic of Modica chocolate remains the same, a gritty and crumbly consistency achieved through simple cold processing, no more than 40 degrees, without conching, so as to keep the sugar separate in grains from the cocoa.

The most famous shop in Modica is the’Antica Dolceria Bonajuto, the first to make Modica chocolate a brand. In the summer, resign yourself to queuing to taste one of the many Flavoured tablets to citrus fruits, or spices, cinnamon, pepper, marjoram, or salt in the beautiful shop-museum reviewed by New York Times.

Bonajuto was the first, and after him came the boom: along Corso Umberto and throughout the historic centre, there are dozens of artisan chocolate shops or small factories. You're spoiled for choice, and your taste buds will be too!