What are the origins of ribollita

Tuscan cuisine has a rich and long tradition, thanks to which it presents delicious recipes prepared with simple and genuine ingredients. One of the most popular and appreciated specialties of the region is undoubtedly ribollita, the soup par excellence of Tuscan tradition.

As famous as the Florentine steak, it is prepared with poor but particularly tasty ingredients of the earth: beans (borlotti, toscanelli or cannellini), black cabbage (that has “taken the ice,” i.e., gone through one or more winter frosts), Savoy cabbage, potatoes, onions, carrots and stale Tuscan bread.

This is a perfect dish for warming up during cold and gloomy days. It is typically wintery not only because it should be served warm but also because its main ingredient, kale, only gives its best with the first frosts, that is, it gains vigor, crispness in the leaves and more intense flavor.

The name ribollita refers to the preparation process rather than the ingredients because it must be reheated at least twice, and the more it is “reboiled,” the better and tastier it becomes. Traditionally it is cooked in large quantities and then eaten reheated in the following days. And it is this reheating several times that differentiates it from a simple bread soup.

Its origins are very old: already in the Middle Ages in some areas of Tuscany a soup was prepared that can be considered the direct ancestor of today’s ribollita. In those days feudal lords had the custom of having their meat served on slices of unleavened bread that were not eaten but offered to servants, who reused them to enrich their soups prepared with other leftovers and ingredients readily available in the countryside. This soup was prepared in large quantities on Fridays, when for religious reasons no meat was eaten, and then reheated and consumed for several days.

With the passage of time, ribollita turned from a poor recipe into one of the symbols of Tuscan cuisine. Despite its ancient origins, in gastronomy texts it was not immediately called ribollita. In the 1910 book “L’arte cucinaria in Italia” by Alberto Cougnet, the habit of reheating the soup several times is described, but it was not until 1931 with the Touring Club’s “La Guida Gastronomica d’Italia” that the definition of ribollita that we know today arrived: “Florentine-style bean soup left to cool and simmered with the addition of new oil“. In 2001 the recipe was also certified by the prestigious Accademia Italiana della Cucina.