The recipe that does not come from afar

The first written recipe for zuppa inglese is contained in the most widely read Italian cookbook ever, “La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene”, by Pellegrino Artusi, published in 1891. From this we are informed that, at the end of the 19th century, zuppa inglese was widespread in at least three Italian regions – Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany and Marche – but also that in Emilia and Romagna it was already known since the 18th century.

So England has nothing to do with it? Its origins are not entirely clear and several regions, not only Italian, claim the invention of this cake.

We know, however, that in England, already in the 1600s, trifle was widespread, a dessert that could be regarded as the forerunner of zuppa inglese.

It is a dessert made of pastry moistened with sweet wine, enriched with fruit and covered with cream.

This dessert might have arrived in Italy, on Renaissance tables, at the end of the 17th century, thanks to the marriage of James II, the last sovereign of the dynasty, with Maria Beatrice d’Este of the Duchies of Modena and Reggio.

It then spread to Romagna with the name “zuppa inglese” (English soup) to recall its inspiration and also to Italianize its original name: Trifle in English means “foolishness” just as, in Italian, “zuppa” is also synonymous with “guazzabuglio”.

Depending on the country, the base of zuppa inglese is essentially a leftover of other desserts: the Romagna doughnut in Ravenna, chopped Savoiardi biscuits or sponge cake elsewhere.

A unique and characteristic ingredient of zuppa inglese is alchermes, an intense red liqueur composed of pure alcohol, sugar, water, cochineal (whose dried and powdered body provides a red substance used in the preparation), orange peel, rose water and numerous spices, such as cinnamon, carnation, vanilla, cardamom and aniseed flowers.

The name derives both from the Arabic Al-qirmiz, which means “cochineal” (literally “the worm”), and from the term “crimson”, a shade of intense red that characterises this liqueur.

Alchermes arrived in Italy in medieval times with Marco Polo and the reopening of trade with the Arab populations.

It then began to spread on the tables of the nobility during the reign of the Medici, who were very fond of it and renamed it the “elixir of long life”.