Panettone: Do You Hate It or Love It?

[gulfporter]

The mini ones arrived last month to my local Walgreens Drug Store.  They are $1.29 each.  Perfect size to go with my morning coffee.

 

How much do I love panettone???  

 

We get $10 store coupons for every vaccine we get (for free, thank you Medicare).  We've had a total of 4 vax between us. 

 

I have used used all the $40 store credits on panettone.   

 

My husband hates panettone.  

 

 

[Kim Shook]

We love it.  Fresh, we tear off hunks and eat it with butter.  A few days old, we slice it, toast it and slather it with butter.  After Xmas - when they go on sale -  we buy a couple to slice and freeze and make into French toast.  This last may be my favorite way to enjoy it.  I'm not a fan of fruitcake, but candied fruit in an enriched dough?  Yes, please.

[ElsieD]

I've never had one.

[gulfporter]

14 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

We love it.  Fresh, we tear off hunks and eat it with butter.  A few days old, we slice it, toast it and slather it with butter.  After Xmas - when they go on sale -  we buy a couple to slice and freeze and make into French toast.  This last may be my favorite way to enjoy it.  I'm not a fan of fruitcake, but candied fruit in an enriched dough?  Yes, please.

Wow.....making into French toast.  You are a genius!  

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

Look forward to this every season.

Best eaten toasted when fresh or made into the best french toast.

 

[heidih]

There is another topic here somewhere here I posted being in line behind a gorgeous tall slender woman and her hub pushing a cart packed with pennetone - Rite Aide maybe. I tilted my head in wonder and he said - she loves it..  The new diet ;

[ElsieD]

Anyone here who makes it?

[Katie Meadow]

Here's my two cents about panettone. Most of them are too sweet and contain plasticky neon fruit. Also many sit on shelves for weeks and are stale. Once in a while a really good one pops out of the xmas murk and it is plain and delicate and delicious. And yes, very nice toasted. So, love it when it is really good, but usually it isn't worth writing home about.

[ElsieD]

11 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

Here's my two cents about panettone. Most of them are too sweet and contain plasticky neon fruit. Also many sit on shelves for weeks and are stale. Once in a while a really good one pops out of the xmas murk and it is plain and delicate and delicious. And yes, very nice toasted. So, love it when it is really good, but usually it isn't worth writing home about.

 

The freshness is something that has prevented me from buying one.  I see rows and rows of them and while I actually would like to try one, I can never get myself to stop wondering how long they have been sitting there.

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

5 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

The freshness is something that has prevented me from buying one.  I see rows and rows of them and while I actually would like to try one, I can never get myself to stop wondering how long they have been sitting there.

 

At some point you just have to, excuse the expression, pull the trigger.

The best strategy is to ask any friends, of Italian heritage, what they buy.

Otherwise online or other ratings.

 

 

[MaryIsobel]

I used to get one or two pannetones as corporate gifts. The ones I received were decently fresh, but I always sliced them and toasted them.

Edited October 11, 2023 by MaryIsobel (log)

[liuzhou]

I've tried to like it but, while I don't hate it, I just always feel disappointed. Nothing special.

 

When I was living in Italy 40 years ago, I tried it in Milan, its birthplace. Again, my reaction was "OK. So what?"

[BeeZee]

My Sicilian BIL had bought one several years ago for our holiday get-together, warmed in the oven before serving. I am sure it was an authentic imported brand (I remember a box, so not from a bakery) and it was good. I don’t think it had dried fruit (there are different flavors). The ones we see in the local drugstore/grocery are mostly preservative-laden dreck. Like a lot of other traditional foods, it’s beneficial to sample “real deal” versions to evaluate.

[Kim Shook]

I guess I like dreck.  Oh, well.  I'm ok with that. 🙄

[lemniscate]

Make croutons out of it.   I don't like it in the cake form but I really like it as croutons.

[AlaMoi]

panettone is a bit like German Christmas stollen.

there's good ones, and there's a lot of not so good ones . . .

[Margaret Pilgrim]

A friend has for years extolled the virtues of Panettone by Roy , which were $50 a pop.   A little rich for me. 

I see that this year they are $95.

 

Enjoy!

[AlaMoi]

hmmm, looking at the pix of Roy's - there zero comma negative zilch comparison to what one finds in the supermarket!

[cdh]

Marc Vetri has been instagramming his panettone experiments... see, e.g. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyQrR8nO_h1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

[Deephaven]

I love it.

On 10/10/2023 at 6:45 PM, gulfporter said:

Wow.....making into French toast.  You are a genius!  

It makes REALLY good french toast.

On 10/10/2023 at 7:31 PM, ElsieD said:

Anyone here who makes it?

I've contemplated making Josh Weissman's a few time, but haven't yet.  Might change after reading the Marc Vetri link above.

[Katie Meadow]

Yes, it makes good French toast...ok, Italian French toast. Like French toast made with brioche bread it doesn't need a long soak. No doubt kids would love that, even if the panettone was full of neon fruit. Or maybe  because of it. 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Like many mass produced things, glaceed fruit has been cheapened to what Katie rightly calls Neon Fruit.    The real thing, from small producers is a different animal.    True to flavor and color of the original fruit, delicious, and expensive even at the source.     Besides the fancy food halls of the grand magazins in Paris, wonderful stuff can be found at Paris' Christian Constant.    Yes, those stoplight red thing are glaceed chilis!

[Kerry Beal]

On 10/10/2023 at 8:31 PM, ElsieD said:

Anyone here who makes it?

@Alleguede does. During the development stage we got pannatone from all over the place. We went to Rulli, visited with him and toured the kitchen. I paid an outrageous price for a couple of Roy loaves that I brought back from the states. By far the best was one we got in Italy - Simone DeFeo - Rodney wanted to go and do a course with him.

 

I'm going to recommend that if you are down in the area closer to the holiday that you let me know and I'll get one of Rodney's for you. It really is one of the best in Toronto - Blog TO

Edited October 15, 2023 by Kerry Beal (log)

[ElsieD]

17 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

@Alleguede does. 

Does he ship?

[Kerry Beal]

Just now, ElsieD said:

Does he ship?

Yes he does.