An Italian MP has urged the European Parliament to intervene and impose a geographical protection on a traditional chocolate produced in the province of Modica in Sicily, southern Italy.
If the Italian Parliament approves the request of the MP, as adopted by the European Parliament since 1992 to regulate the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products, then Modica’s chocolate would get the EU's Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), becoming the first protected sweet in the world.
Modica’s chocolate is produced with ancient 16th-century secret recipe with a simple technique developed by the Aztec tribe, a native of the Americas.
The recipes of cocoa products have moved to Sicily by Spanish explorers who have returned from their missions to conquer the new world with various foods and introduced them for the first time to the Sicilian Europeans who were under Spanish rule.
This process of chocolate industry is known as "cold chocolates" with a cooking temperature of less than 40 degrees Celsius, noting that the percentage of cocoa ranges from 70 to 80 percent.
Usually, it comes in different flavors like vanilla, hot pepper, salt, mint, ginger, and citrus. It is a great product for food lovers. It is very different from the traditional milk chocolate, making it a preference for dieters.
