Potato gnocchi are a tradition.
The very famous potato gnocchi, prepared throughout Italy, are a perfect first course to season with your favorite sauce. Their unmistakable taste recalls the genuine food of our culinary history. Gnocchi are found in 16th-century recipe books, but their preparation and ingredients differed from the modern version. The earliest gnocchi involved a mixture of bread crumbs, milk, and almonds, and then there were “malfatti,” introducing the use of flour, water, and eggs. However, for potato gnocchi, we must wait until the mid-18th century. The origin is debated, but a story recounts that it was thanks to a French pharmacist, Antoine Permentier, who was imprisoned in Germany during the Seven Years’ War and fed only potatoes (at that time, a food used for animals). Once released, he aimed to enhance the flavor of the potato and managed to bring it to the court of Louis XVI. Probably from an error in the preparation of mashed potatoes, our beloved potato gnocchi emerged, now recognized in all Italian regions as a traditional dish.
