18-11-2014
Simone Sabaini also launched the La Qualità della Vita range, six bars with specific properties (for instance, “Giovinezza” is antioxidant because it contains açaí berries, dog rose, red orange, grape extract and green tea extract; “Sesso” is aphrodisiacal, with maca, damiana and cola buts…). An idea which he launched one year and a half ago and today represents 30% of the production, and growing
This is one of the many stories in which cultures overlap, in Sicily. The foreigner, this time, is Simone Sabaini from Verona, 40: a decade ago he was working in finance, then he gave up and began to work for Altromercato, taking care of cocoa productions in Venezuela and Ecuador. In 2011 he arrived in Modica and created Sabadì, an establishment dedicated to “the day that does not exist”. His goal was producing a typical local chocolate, actually, no: because that delicacy is less and less craveable, with too much production and who cares if quality disappears.
Sabaini pulls the bull by its horns: in his opinion the problem is based on the very production system of Modica chocolate, «because of how it is produced, its aromas fade too rapidly». Therefore it is necessary to find alternative ways, inventing special machines, «applying technology to a traditional process» so that this can take place at a lower temperature. Modica chocolate, he explains, was conceived for a rapid consumption, not for a long preservation; the cocoa butter molecules are unstable, when processed at the usual temperature, and after two or three weeks from production the bonds are broken. The visual effect: the fat, white part emerges on the surface. The textural effect: cocoa separates itself from the sugar, the chocolate tends to crumble. The aromatic effect: the cocoa flavour disappears, the sugar one prevails. A disaster. Sabaini: «Here in Modica they say that these are peculiar characteristics of the chocolate. In my opinion, this is a big failure», which the production system he invented neutralises.
One of Simone Padoan’s pizzas with Sabadì chocolate: grated on a beef and spinach tartare, with Prime Uve spirit
Today it has the fame of a “gourmand chocolate”, you can buy it at Selfridges in London and a bit everywhere at Eataly. Not in Modica: here Sabaini didn’t want any point of sale, only a modest laboratory on the ground floor of a palace, packed with machines, three employees and a turnover that this year should reach 500K euros, 35% abroad. Needless to say, he uses the best cocoa of the Nacional fino de aroma Arriba SSS variety from Ecuador, bought from small producers united in a co-op.
Only high quality raw materials (photo credits Passera)
An outdoor trip or a journey to the other side of the planet? One thing is for sure: the destination is delicious, by Carlo Passera
by
journalist born in 1974, for many years he has covered politics, mostly, and food in his free time. Today he does exactly the opposite and this makes him very happy. As soon as he can, he dives into travels and good food. Identità Golose's editor in chief