Tiramisu is a coffee-flavoured dessert loved around the world. Its creator, Ado Campeol, recently passed away at the age of 93 on 30 October 2021, so today we look back at the origins of this dessert.
What Is Tiramisu?
Tiramisu is a coffee-flavoured dessert from Italy. It is made from crisp ladyfinger biscuits (biscotto savoiardi) dipped briefly in espresso, then layered with a mixture of eggs, sugar and mascarpone beaten together, and finished with cocoa powder.
The Origin of Tiramisu
Many people assume this dessert comes from Japan because the name sounds Japanese, but it is actually an Italian dessert created by Ado Campeol, owner of the restaurant Le Beccherie in Treviso, north-west of Venice near the Adriatic coast in northern Italy. He is celebrated as "the father of tiramisu".
Tiramisu was born in the late 1960s or early 1970s. It came about when Roberto Linguanotto, the chef at Le Beccherie and co-creator of the dessert, made a mistake while preparing vanilla ice cream: he dropped mascarpone cheese into a bowl of eggs and sugar, and the two got mixed together.
When he tasted it, he found the flavour delightful, so he told Ado Campeol and his wife. The couple then refined the dessert further, adding sponge cake soaked in coffee and a dusting of cocoa, and it eventually became "tiramisu". In 1972 it was put on the menu at their restaurant.
Since then, chefs at other restaurants have developed their own versions, making tiramisu a world-famous dessert to this day. Traditional tiramisu has a short list of ingredients: ladyfinger biscuits, egg yolks, sugar, coffee, mascarpone, cocoa powder and sometimes liqueur.
What Does Tiramisu Mean?
The word tiramisu is Italian and comes from the Treviso dialect phrase "tireme su", meaning "pick me up". The idea is that eating this dessert lifts your spirits and gives you a boost of energy.
