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

Diriola – Maestro Martino’s Renaissance Custard Tart with Rosewater & Cinnamon

Diriola – Maestro Martino’s Custard Tart (Libro de arte Coquinaria)

“The Feast in the House of Levi” (detail), Paolo Veronese. Used here as period context for Renaissance custard tarts like Martino’s diriola.

Maestro Martino da Como (c. 1465) was one of the most influential cooks of the Renaissance. His Libro de arte Coquinaria includes Diriola, a delicate custard tart scented with cinnamon and rosewater. The dish straddles the line between medieval spiced creams and the refined Renaissance custards we’d recognize today. Redon, Sabban, and Serventi’s The Medieval Kitchen (1998) provides a modern adaptation faithful to Martino’s cues.

Original Recipe (Martino, c.1465)

Italian (15th c.)

“…un poca d’acqua rosata, et volta bene collo cocchiaro. Et quando sarà fornita di prendere, sera cotta. Et nota che non vole cocere troppo et vole tremare como una ionchata.

Per la Quadragesima: Habbi del lacte de le amandole con del zuccharo, et dell’acqua rosata, et de la canella. Et per fare che si prenda gli mettirai un pocha di farina d’amitto, observando in le altre cose l’ordine del capitolo sopra ditto.”

Translation

“…add a little rosewater and stir it well with a spoon. When it begins to set, it is cooked. Note that it should not be over-baked; it should quiver like a junket.

For Lent: take almond milk with sugar, rosewater, and cinnamon. To make it set, add a little starch flour, following the same method as above.”

Comfits – Medieval Candied Spices & Seeds (A Sweet Treat from the Past)

Comfits—candied spices & seeds—served as sweet digestives and table decoration in late medieval & Renaissance feasts.

Comfits – Medieval Candied Spices & Seeds (How to Make Historic Comfits)

Please note this correction: gum arabic and gum tragacanth are not the same substance. I originally conflated them—mea culpa, and thank you to the reader who flagged it.

Baronial 12th Night Comfits

Comfits were often served at the end of a feast as a digestive, to perfume the breath, and to decorate subtlety dishes and table settings. Aromatic seeds such as anise, fennel, or caraway were built up with repeated coats of sugar syrup—sometimes tinted with beet, spinach, or saffron. Almonds, ginger, and cinnamon splinters appear in later sources as well. You can still buy descendants of these sweets today (think Jordan almonds and pastilles), but handmade comfits are more delicate and—yes—tastier.

Medieval Finger Food: These bite-sized nibbles are perfect for our Medieval Finger Food series.