Publication of an application for registration pursuant to Article 6(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin

(2003/C 131/12)

This publication confers the right to object to the application pursuant to Articles 7 and 12(d) of the abovementioned Regulation. Any objection to this application must be submitted via the competent authority in a Member State, in a WTO member country or in a third country recognised in accordance with Article 12(3) within a time limit of six months from the date of this publication. The arguments for publication are set out below, in particular under 4.6, and are considered to justify the application within the meaning of Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92.

COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 2081/92

APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION: ARTICLE 5

PDO ( ) PGI (X)

National application No: 106

1. Responsible department in the Member State Name: Subdirección General de Denominaciones de Calidad y Relaciones Interprofesionales y Contractuales

Dirección General de Alimentación

Subsecretaría de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación

Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación

Address: Paseo de la Infanta Isabel, 1 E-28071 Madrid

Tel. (34) 913 47 53 94

Fax (34) 913 47 54 10

2. Applicant group 2.1. Name: Associació de Forners i Pastissers de Balears

2.2. Address: Josep Darder Metge, 28 (Ent. A), E-07008 Palma de Mallorca

Tel. (34) 971 27 61 45

Fax (34) 971 27 61 61

2.3. Composition: producer/processor (X) other ( ).

3. Type of product: Bread, pastry, cakes, confectionery, biscuits and other baker's wares - Class 2.4.

4. Specification

(Summary of requirements under Article 4(2))

4.1. Name: Ensaimada de Mallorca or Ensaimada mallorquina.

4.2. Description: Product made of sweetened, fermented and baked dough, itself made of strong flour, water, sugar, eggs, yeast and lard.

The Protected Geographical Indication covers the following types of ensaimada:

- Ensaimada de Mallorca made of strong flour, water, sugar, eggs, yeast and lard, without any filling. Weight from 60 to 2000 g. Has a moisture content of 10-20 % m/m and a fat content of 20-45 % m/m,

- Ensaimada de Mallorca de cabello de ángel, made from the same ingredients as above, but containing "angel hair", i.e. cooked pumpkin pulp and sugar. Weight from 100 to 3000 g. Has a moisture content of 15-35 % m/m and a fat content of 15-40 % m/m.

The product is spiral-shaped, with two or more clockwise turns. The surface is wavy and golden. The crust is firm, crunchy and brittle; the inside is soft, does not crumble, is fairly dense and inelastic, with the layers of puff pastry readily visible inside, is sweet and smells of baked dough. The base has a characteristic smoothness. In the case of the ensaimadas de Mallorca de cabello de ángel the "angel hair" filaments can be seen inside the paste.

Both types of ensaimada may, after being produced, be sprinkled with powdered icing sugar, giving the crust a whitish colour.

4.3. Geographical area: The production area of ensaimadas de Mallorca covers every district, municipality and locality of the Island of Mallorca, which is part of the Comunitat Autònoma de les Illes Balears.

4.4. Proof of origin: Firms engaged in the production of ensaimadas de Mallorca must be entered in a special register.

The inspection body will draw up a monitoring plan for registered firms that covers both the manufacture, packing and labelling of the product and the requirements applicable to the premises concerned. A numbered back label controlled and issued by the inspection body is proof that ensaimadas bearing the PGI satisfy the requirements laid down in the specifications.

4.5. Method of production: The process used for manufacturing ensaimadas de Mallorca comprises each of the following operations, in the order shown:

(a) dough: the ingredients and proportions are as follows:

- strong flour (45-55 % (m/m))

- water (18-20 % (m/m))

- sugar (16-20 % (m/m))

- eggs (6-10 % (m/m))

- yeast (4-6 % (m/m));

(b) rolling: the dough is rolled to obtain a thin paste, which is then covered in lard and stretched into a thin film;

(c) shaping: the thin dough is rolled into a cylinder and then into a spiral of at least two turns;

(d) fermentation: after shaping, the dough must be allowed to ferment for 12 hours at least in special cabinets or chambers;

(e) baking of the fermented dough to produce ensaimadas with the physical and chemical and organoleptic characteristics of the traditional product.

In the case of ensaimadas de Mallorca de cabello de ángel the filling must be added after rolling but before shaping. There must be at least 40 g of cabello de ángel filling per 100 g of dough.

After being produced, the ensaimadas must, until marketing, be stored under suitable conditions in terms of conservation and hygiene and in such a way as to preserve their chemical and organoleptic characteristics. The product must be marketed whole, packed in cardboard boxes with an octagonal or circular base, or wrapped in material that provides suitable protection.

Manufacture, storage, packing and labelling must take place on premises registered with the PGI inspection body.

4.6. Link (a) Historical

The ensaimada de Mallorca is a traditional Mallorcan confectionery, having been produced and consumed uninterruptedly on the island since ancient times.

The first written references to the product date back to the seventeenth century when, although wheat flour was used mainly for breadmaking, ensaimadas de Mallorca were produced in connection with feasts and celebrations.

From the eighteenth century onwards the consumption of ensaimadas de Mallorca became widespread among the upper and middle classes, habitually accompanying an afternoon cup of drinking chocolate. During the eighteenth century, ensaimadas de Mallorca continued to be consumed at feasts and celebrations and were also offered as gifts.

In the nineteenth century the popularity of the ensaimadas de Mallorca spread beyond the Island of Mallorca. Numerous works - recipe books, manuals on pastrymaking and travel guides - describe how it is made and/or refer to it as a typical Mallorcan product.

In 1869-91 Luis Salvador of Habsburg, Archduke of Austria, conducted detailed research into Mallorcan traditions. The resulting work, Die Balearen in Wort und Bild geschildert (The Balearics in words and pictures), contains numerous references to the ensaimada de Mallorca, describing it as a typical Mallorcan pastry, which the upper and middle classes ate at breakfast, in the afternoon or as a dessert.

The first audiovisual document on the ensaimada de Mallorca was a film shot in the 1930s which was aimed at increasing its popularity and sales outside the island. It shows how ensaimadas are made - following a manufacturing process almost identical to the current one - and shipped to mainland Spain in their traditional cardboard packs.

The historical references show that, as well as being part of Mallorca's cultural and historical heritage, the ensaimada de Mallorca is without doubt of major significance in the context of pastry and confectionery production on the Island and has preserved intact all its traditional characteristics.

(b) Social and human

The ensaimada de Mallorca is a craft trade product, the experience of the manufacturer being essential to guaranteeing the organoleptic characteristics of the product.

Mallorca boasts a long-standing tradition in terms of pastrymaking and confectionery, with a guild dating back to the fourteenth century. This is also reflected in the age of the ovens/kilns used, of which 5 % are more than 300 years old, 10 % more than 200 years old and 35 % around 150 years old.

This is underpinned by the fact that around 90 % of all the ovens/kilns on the Island belong to small family firms and 25 % of them are owned by fifth-generation businesses.

The ensaimada de Mallorca is the confectionery with which Mallorca is identified and has thus earned a great deal of recognition, in particular internationally, in connection with tourism on the Island.

4.7. Inspection body Name: Dirección General de Agricultura (Govern de les Illes Balears)

Address: C/ Foners, 10

E-07006 Palma de Mallorca

Illes Balears

Tel. (34) 971 17 61 00

Fax (34) 971 17 61 56

The Dirección General de Agricultura, the body which, within the Comunitat Autònoma de les Illes Balears, is responsible for designations of quality is provisionally in charge of control until the ensaimada de Mallorca PGI Regulatory Council can meet Standard EN-45011.

4.8. Labelling: The words "Indicación Geográfica Protegida Ensaimada de Mallorca" must appear on the labels, including the back label.

The packaging in which ensaimadas covered by the PGI are marketed shall feature a numbered non-reusable back label or quality label, issued by the Regulatory Council and kept in the workshop where production takes place.

The producers' own labels must show, in clear characters, the PGI Registration number plus the particulars required under the legislation applicable.

4.9. National requirements - Law No 25/1970 of 2 December 1970 (Estatuto de la viña, del vino y de los alcoholes),

- Decree No 835/1972 of 28 March 1972 (Reglamento de la Ley 25/1970),

- Order of 25 January 1994 specifying the link between Spanish legislation and Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs),

- Royal Decree No 1643/1999 of 22 October 1999 on the procedure for processing applications for entry in the Community register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications).

EC No: ES/00277/03.02.14.

Date of receipt of the full application: 14 February 2003.