The story of Panna Cotta

One of the easier dessert in Italy with a different twist.

May 05, 2025

Hi to everyone!!

In Italy April was full of events: easter, the liberation day on 25 and the 1 May was the “festa dei lavoratori” (labor day), so I spent a lot of time at work because the shops in Italy are ALWAYS open, yes for real and no we aren’t payed enough.

I spent my free time in the garden and relaxing to avoid burnout.

So I spend two lovely easters one with my coworkers at work, basically everyone brought something, and after work I had the second with my fam we had an aperitif/aperitivo and dinner with my fam.

How we started the morning of Easter in the store

Sorry for the half tart but I didn't have time to take the photo 😅

I took care of the aperitivo and I asked to my mum to make a panna cotta for dessert but not a normal panna cotta a “fusion confusion*” panna cotta with carambar.

But let’s start with order what is a Panna Cotta? And where it’s born? Who was the first who thought I could transform liquid cream in a delicious dessert?

It is believed the Panna Cotta have been born in the early 1900s, apparently Panna Cotta was born in Piedmont in the zone of Langhe, in Italy known for wine and truffles, dairy was abundant.

Farmers would use fresh cream daily and sought ways to preserve or transform it.

I’m always a little bit envious when I read about fresh cream, because I spent all my childhood listening my dad who told me how freaking good was the cream of the milk.

He spent all the summers in Tuscany helping his uncles bringing the cows to pasture, and they made cheese (before u start being envious of me, they stopped making cheeses way before I born), he told me that when u boil the fresh milk the really fresh milk the one u milk directly from the cow, a thick cream is created through boiling and everyone get crazy for this cream because it’s delicious.

After yrs I listened other people saying the same thing, unluckily my dad is gone 27yrs ago even if for my heart and soul it seems yesterday, but I add this because in my mind he is smiling or maybe even laughing because I added his cream story.

Now let go back to the Langhe, the farmers looked for ways to preserve the cream so some would cook it and add flour or eggs to it to thicken it, creating more of a custard-like consistency.

All this first until all these early versions were called panna cotta (cooked cream), because the cream was cooked.

One day... an Hungarian woman living in Piedmont she also tried with the creation of panna cotta, introducing the use of gelatin derived from fish bones — a technique known in Central Europe, so she created the first Panna Cotta how we know today (THANK U).

This method slowly spread throughout the country, think that even Giacomo Leopardi the famous poet, philosopher and writer wrote in a letter to his father saying that in Bologna he had tasted a dessert made with cream and honey, from the description it seems to have been one of the many versions of panna cotta that had diffused in those times.

And now.. the recipe!

Panna Cotta

How u already know the Italian recipes are always EASY u haven’t to be a chef to cook Italian food.

This is also one of the few recipe that u can more or less flavour how u want, there are version with: strawberries, mint, coconut, matcha, rum, rosemary etc. the only rules to respect is.. Respect the flavours!

Ingredients:

500 ml heavy cream

80 gr sugar (about 1/3 cup)

7 gr powdered gelatin or 8gr gelatin sheets

Optional: 1 vanilla pod (but I suggest u to add it).

Pudding molds, but you can also use small jars or bowls.

Directions:

First we have to soak the gelatin sheets in cold water.

In a saucepan over medium heat pour the cream, sugar and vanilla or your favorite flavoring, mix everything and let the cream heat.

When it is close to boiling, squeeze the gelatin sheets and add them to the cream and mix until the sheets have dissolved.

If you use powdered gelatin the process becomes much quicker.

Pour cream mixture into individual ramekins, with this quantity u should be able to fill 6 ramekins or if u prefer you can also pour all the mixture into a larger mold.

Let them cool and when they are cold cover and put them in the fridge to firm up, it will take at least 4 hours.

The panna cotta is ready to be served, u can also add fresh fruit or chocolate or carmel sauce on top.

Those are two vesions I found in one of my fav Pub the Wild Rover.

The Carambar version

Last summer we went in Normandy one of my new fav location and one of the places where I would love to live (I have a long list of place where I would love to live 😂).

We went in this enchanted B&B that took a piece of my heart the “Le Moulin de la Castellerie” ❤️😍💕, one of the most beautiful B&B where I felt like inside a fairytail, the owners were simply lovely and even if they talked only in French we found a way to talk, Italian and in particular the slang of Bologna it’s very similar to French.

Yes I bring with me the lego minifigure even on holiday.

Here the breakfast change everyday and yes everyday it’s delicious, imagine waking up and finding this breakfast 😍😍🤤🤤🤤🤤

One morning we met one of the three daughters of the owners her name is Emily and that morning they made for us the Cake with Carambars one of the recipes of her childhood, what I loved more was seeing the eyes sparlking during the descripion of the cake I understood how important is for her this cake.

This is also the power of food in a sec can transport us to our memories or in a far country.

So before returning in Italy ( it was a real going back to real life) I stopped in a supermarket to buy to boxes of the famous carambar one for us and one for my mum who used this candy in all the ways possible she added it on apples and also in the coffe, she made the cake and the panna cotta.

The panna cotta for me was a revelation because it was so delicious!

So now I will share with u the recipe.

Carambar Panna Cotta

The method it’s the same of the classic Panna Cotta

500 ml heavy cream

30 gr sugar