What is the True History of Tiramisu?

Tiramisu is one of the world’s most beloved Italian desserts. And like many iconic dishes, the origins are heavily debated. Here is the tiramisu history, its influences, and origin stories.

What is Tiramisu?

Translating to “pick-me-up”, tiramisu is an Italian dessert made from egg yolks mixed with sugar, mascarpone mixed with a little marsala wine, biscuits soaked in coffee (the pick-me-up part), and dusted with cocoa powder.

Compared to cannoli, it is more recent in Italian food history with the first written recipe found in cookbooks in the 1960s – though there have been similar versions of desserts with ladyfingers and custard decades prior. It was in the 1980s that the dessert surged in popularity around the world.

Early Tiramisu Inspiration

Prior to the original recipe, there were a few versions that possibly inspired tiramisu. One such dessert is Tuscany’s zuppa inglese which is neither soup nor English. Rather, is a cake of ladyfingers or sponge cake soaked in local liquor with alternating layers of chocolate and custard.

Up in Turin in the Piedmont region, there was a similar dessert invented for the Count of Cavour. It soon arrived in the Emilia-Romagna region where the famous cookbook author Pellegrino Artusi included the recipe in his 1891 cookbook. The main difference to tiramisu is that this recipe replaced mascarpone with butter.

Tiramisu History and Its Debated Origins

There are two prominent origin stories that are still debated to this day. The first comes from the Veneto region of Italy where it was called “tiremesu”. The dessert was created in the 1960s by Chef Linguanotto in the restaurant Le Beccherie. The story goes the chef intended to make ice cream but dropped in mascarpone and that delicious mistake made food history.

The other origin story comes from the nearby Friuli Venezia Giulia region in the town of Udine. There is written evidence of the first document recipe from 1959 – though it was been noted that earlier recipes used butter and whipped cream in place of mascarpone. This tiramisu was first called “tirimisu” and it originated from a hotel restaurant in Tolmezzo called Roma. Because of the handwritten recipe, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Resources named tiramisu as a Friulian dessert in 2017.

Because of its regional debate, both histories are accepted and known in Italy. The main importance is that it is Italian and loved around the world.

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