What Copertura Panormus is
Copertura Panormus is a traditional cocoa coating for gelato shops and pastry kitchens: cocoa and skimmed milk worked into a solid product, ready to be melted when needed. It is neither a table chocolate nor a ready-to-use liquid topping: it is a lab semi-finished product that has to be brought to temperature before use. It melts at 30°C, in the microwave or in a bain-marie, until fluid and glossy. Poured over freshly churned gelato, it sets on contact with the cold in seconds into a thin, crisp, even shell: that is the effect behind stracciatella and many display-case decorations.
Stracciatella: Bergamo, 1961
The flavour this coating recreates was born in Bergamo in 1961, at the gelateria La Marianna, run by Enrico Panattoni. The idea was as simple as it was clever: pour hot, liquid dark chocolate into freshly churned cream gelato, while it was still turning in the batch freezer. The cold of the gelato set the chocolate instantly, shattering it into thin, irregular flakes rather than one solid block. Those flakes, the stracciature, gave the flavour its name: stracciatella, from the verb stracciare, to tear. La Marianna still stands in Bergamo today, run by the Panattoni family, and is recognised as the place where this classic of Italian gelato was born.
Panormus, the ancient name of Palermo
Panormus is the name Greeks and Romans knew Palermo by, and the one this product line takes its commercial name from. It comes from the Greek pan-hormos, all harbour: the two rivers Kemonia and Papireto flanked the ancient city and formed a large, sheltered natural anchorage, which the Greeks chose to record in the very name of the place. The Romans kept the name, latinising it into Panormus. Before that, the city had already carried other, Phoenician names; afterwards came Arabic and Norman ones, down to today's Palermo. Panormus remains the classical name, tied to the harbour and to the city's oldest history.
The producer: from liqueur to gelato, since 1959
Behind this coating is a long-established Palermo company, founded in 1959. It did not start with gelato: it produced spirits and liqueurs for the bars of the city, where the bar was the centre of social life. The turning point came with semi-finished products for gelato, starting with a flavour conceived as a liqueur, zuppa inglese, and then with one of the first balanced gelato bases, Dariloy. From there the company changed trade and devoted itself entirely to the sector, becoming one of the historic houses of Sicilian gelato. Over sixty years later, that double origin, between distillery and lab, is still audible in its products.
How to use it in gelato and pastry work
The dosage is left to the user's judgement, according to the coating thickness wanted. Before use it is brought to 30°C, melted in the microwave or in a bain-marie until fluid. It is poured over freshly churned gelato to create the stracciatella effect, or used to coat cones, tubs, plates and soft serve; it works just as well in pastry work to glaze and decorate cakes, ice cream sticks and cones, where it sets quickly into a glossy, crisp finish. It can also be customised with a dedicated flavouring, for taste variants beyond the classic cocoa.
Format, storage and allergens
The format is the practical 5.5 kg bucket with a lid, built for daily kitchen use: easy to handle and to store, resealable between uses. EAN 8021977012270. Store in a cool, dry place away from direct heat sources and strong odours; it is best left to cool down fully and resealed straight after use. ALLERGENS: contains milk, present as skimmed milk among the ingredients alongside cocoa. This is a semi-finished product for professional use, intended for gelato shops and pastry kitchens, not for direct consumption as is.
