Torta Bianca – White Tart (Redon, 1998)

Torta Bianca – White Tart (Maestro Martino → Redon, 1998)

“The Feast in the House of Levi” (detail), Paolo Veronese — banquet context for Renaissance tortes.

Torta bianca (“white tart”) was a dish of status and symbolism. Appearing in Maestro Martino’s Libro de arte coquinaria (c. 1465), it used fresh white cheese, egg whites, sugar, butter, and milk — baked gently, then perfumed with rosewater and sprinkled with sugar. In Renaissance Italy, white foods carried associations of purity, refinement, and health. By Scappi’s time (1570), torte bianche included versions with provatura (fresh stretched-curd cheese) or ricotta blended with Parmigiano.

How this post is structured

Below: (a) Martino’s original Italian text, (b) a literal English translation, (c) Redon’s modern adaptation summary, then a modern tested recipe. Afterward you’ll find 🥕 dietary notes, 📖 menu placement, substitutions, historical notes, cross-links, sources, labels, schema, and ⚖ humoral theory.

Original & Translated Recipes

Maestro Martino (c. 1465) — Italian

Per fare torta biancha. Togli del bono cascio frescho, et biancho, et pistalo molto bene nel mortaro, et metigli del zuccaro, et qualche quarta parte di butiro; et se vi mettessi un poco di lardo tanto meglio serà; poi mettivi alquanti chiari d’ova, et un poco di latte; et mettile sopra lo fuoco piano, et mescola spesso col cocchiaro. Et quando sarà ben mescolato, impastalo con fior di farina, et fa’ la torta cum lo crusto di sopra et di sotto. Et ponila a cocere in lo testo, o al forno, cum fuoco lento di sopra et di sotto; et quando serà cotta, gettagli di sopra un poco di zuccaro et acqua rosata; et serà bona.

Modern English (literal)

To make a white tart. Take good fresh white cheese and pound it very well in a mortar; add sugar and about a quarter part of butter (a little lard is even better); then some egg whites and a little milk. Set it over a gentle fire, stirring often. When well mixed, work it with fine flour, and make the tart with a crust above and below. Bake with gentle heat above and below; when cooked, sprinkle with sugar and rosewater, and it will be good.

Modern Adaptation (Redon)

A baked pie shell filled with a mixture of cream cheese, egg whites, sugar, butter, and milk. Baked until pale, finished with sugar, rosewater, and candied cherries.

Modern Recipe

Crust

• 1 ¾ cups (220 g) flour (half stone-ground white, half whole wheat)
• 9 Tbsp (125 g) cold butter (or 7 Tbsp butter + 2 Tbsp lard)
• Pinch fine salt
• 2–4 Tbsp cold water

Filling

• 10 oz (285 g) cream cheese, softened (see ricotta/provatura substitutions)
• 6 egg whites
• Scant ⅔ cup (120–130 g) sugar
• 9 Tbsp (125 g) softened butter
• 1 cup (240 ml) milk or light cream
• Pinch salt
• Optional: ½ tsp ground ginger

Topping

• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp rosewater
• Candied cherries (optional)

Method

1. Make the crust: Rub butter (and lard if using) into flour/salt until sandy. Add cold water until dough just comes together. Chill 1–2 hrs.
2. Blind bake: Roll into a 9″ tart pan. Line with foil & weights. Bake 15 min at 375°F (190°C), remove weights and bake 5 min more.
3. Mix the filling: Beat cream cheese, sugar, butter, and salt until smooth. Lightly whisk egg whites, add, then stir in milk until thick cream consistency.
4. Bake: Pour into crust. Bake ~55–65 min at 375°F until just set and pale. Do not over-brown.
5. Finish: While warm, sprinkle with sugar and rosewater; garnish with candied cherries.

🥕 Dietary Notes

• Vegetarian (if butter-only; not if using lard)
• Contains dairy & eggs
• Gluten-free with GF tart shell
• Dairy-free fasting-day variant: almond milk + ground almonds to replace dairy (attested in other white dishes)

Humoral Theory

This tart is chiefly Cold & Moist (white cheese, milk, egg whites). Rosewater is neutral; sugar provides gentle warmth. Warming spices like ginger or cinnamon could be added to balance. Its whiteness linked to purity and cleansing, making it a temperate, restorative dish suitable even for the convalescent.

Why this course?

This tart straddles sweet and savory. In banquet planning, it could appear as a second-course remove (balancing roasts) or in the final sweets service. Its whiteness and perfume made it a striking late-table dish.

Historical & Culinary Notes

Which cheeses did they use?

Martino’s cascio frescho et biancho could mean fresh ricotta, giuncata, tuma/primosale, stracchino, or marzolino. Scappi later specifies provatura (buffalo-milk mozzarella kin) and ricotta + Parmigiano. All were considered “white” cheeses suitable for refined tables.

Modern Substitutes

• Cream cheese: Easy modern stand-in for Martino’s “fresh white cheese.” Smooth and creamy, though heavier than ricotta.
• Ricotta (whole milk, drained): Closest in texture and taste to period fresh cheeses. Drain overnight for a firmer tart.
• Mozzarella (fresh, buffalo or cow’s milk): Substitute for provatura. Use well-drained, then purée until smooth.
• Mascarpone: Richer and sweeter; makes a custard-like filling. Use less butter to balance the fat.
• Stracchino or Crescenza: Soft, spreadable cow’s milk cheeses available in some specialty shops; very close to Renaissance versions.
• Yogurt cheese (labneh): A modern fresh cheese option if ricotta isn’t available; tangier but works well with rosewater.
• Dairy-free option: Silken tofu blended with almond milk + 2–3 Tbsp extra sugar; not historical, but captures the light, pale texture for modern restrictions.
• Fragrance: Rosewater is classic; orange-flower water is also period-authentic.Topping: Candied citron, quince paste, or an egg-white sugar glaze are all attested period options.

Why “white” foods?

Renaissance: Purity, temperance, convalescence (biancomangiare).
17th c. France: White sauces (béchamel, velouté) as haute cuisine markers.
Victorian era: White sugar as luxury (wedding cakes).
Industrial modernity: Roller-milled white flour = “pure/modern.”

The Significance of Color

Renaissance: White dishes like biancomangiare and torta bianca signaled purity, temperance, and gentle nourishment; they were thought suitable even for convalescents. Their paleness was fashionable on elite tables.

For mourners, blacke, for the religious, white,
Which is a sign of conscience pure and free.
The greene agrees with them in hpe that live,
And eeke [also] to youth this colour wee doe give.
The yelowe next, unto the covetous wighte [person],
And unto those whom jelousie doth fret.
The man refus'd, in tannye [tawny] doth delite [delight].
— Geoffrey Whitney, Choice of Emblemes (1585)

Whitney’s emblem-poem captures how colors were read symbolically in Renaissance culture: black for mourning, white for purity, green for youth and hope, yellow for envy and greed, tawny for rejection. White foods echoed these associations, underscoring moral and aesthetic values as well as taste.

For a deeper dive into the symbolism of color in cookery, see our companion post: Medieval Cooking Basics: The Importance of Color.

Served alongside

Feast menus paired white cheese tortes with sweetmeats (candied fruits, marzipan), darioles, herb pies, ravioli, and fresh fruit/Parmigiano in late courses.

 Sources

• Maestro Martino da Como. Libro de arte coquinaria (c. 1465). Ed. & facsimiles via Italophiles / Marburg transcription.
• Bartolomeo Scappi. Opera dell’arte del cucinare. Venice, 1570. (English trans. Terence Scully, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008).
• Redon, Odile, Françoise Sabban, and Silvano Serventi. The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
• Scully, Terence. Early French Cookery: Sources, History, Original Recipes and Modern Adaptations. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998.
• Whitney, Geoffrey. A Choice of Emblemes. Leiden: 1585. (color symbolism stanza cited in “White Foods” section).
• Medieval Cooking Basics: The Importance of Color (Give It Forth blog, 2025).

🏷 Labels

Medieval Finger Food; Confections and Dessert; Appetizer; Feast Planning; Period Techniques; Historical Reference; Medieval; Renaissance

📖 This recipe is part of the Ceilidh 2001 – Fourteenth-Century Italian Feast .
Explore all dishes from this reconstructed 14th-century Italian banquet.