Perhaps not everyone knows that a few days have passed since the feast of St. George, celebrated by the Ambrosian calendar on April 23 each year. Well, today we would like to tell you how that feast day is linked to the tradition of pan de mej, one of Milan’s typical sweets – next to the much more famous Panettone!
A sweet bread with a crumbly texture, an irresistible buttery flavor and a typical golden color, given by the cornmeal used today to prepare it… the origins of pan de mej (also known as pan meino or pan dei poveri) are lost in the city’s history. Anancient legend has it that, following the victory of the troops of the lord of Milan Luchino Visconti over the brigand Vione Squilletti, the Milanese celebrated the liberation from Vione’s abuse by offering the Visconti soldiers panera (milk cream) and pan de mej, a cake that was then prepared with a recipe made from millet, a very poor cereal. At the very site of the battle that took place on April 23, 1339, later renamed Morivione, there appeared the effigy of St. George, the knightly saint whom medieval iconography always immortalized in the act of defeating a monstrous dragon to save a beautiful princess…
In remembrance of the elderberry flowers given by the saint to the maiden, perhaps, it is traditional to add to the pan de mej also the so-called panigada: dried petals of elderberry, a plant that, precisely at the end of April, sometimes begins to bloom.
Even in more recent times, in Milan, St. George’s Day had a special value: since the saint was the patron saint of milkmen, April 23 was dedicated to the renewal of milk supply contracts between herdsmen and milkmen.
On that occasion, freshly baked pan de mej was eaten, along with a cup of liquid cream given by the milkmen to celebrate the renewed agreement with the herdsmen. It was an auspicious gesture, a gesture of devotion to the saint and a tribute to an ingredient-milk-so important to the sustenance of the Milanese population!
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