Archive for 'Products & Specialities'

Wine is often the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Italy, and it has indeed been a chief export of Italy for thousands of years. Italy and wine are almost inseparable, but what is to be done with what is left over from wine production? Many wine-makers used the remains as compost to fertilize the vineyards the next year, and some pressed them into disks to be used like charcoal to heat the fires for distillation of brandy. All good and productive uses for what appeared to be little more than refuse after squeezing out the lifeblood of the grapes. However, grappa was created one fateful day and the Italians have used it ever since as a 'digestivo', a drink to aid in digestion after meals.

Regional cuisines can develop for a myriad of reasons: types of food grown in the area, wealth of the area, or simple preference. Areas of great wealth are able to import exotic spices or ingredients and incorporate them over time into the normal meals of the area.

Regions with bland ingredients tend to more, and often hotter spices than regions with more rich and flavorful ingredients. The area now known as Tuscany has been populated since at least 1,000 B.C., though the exact history of the ancient Etruscan settlements there are unknown. Tuscany has had over three thousand years to refine the cultivation of its local ingredients and its own style of cuisine.

Tuscan cuisine is the epitome of rich ingredients. Often forgoing thick and heavy sauces or heavily spiced dishes, Tuscan cooks let “the food do the talking”. The region is well known for its hearty soups, olive oil, fine wines, delicious cheeses, unsalted breads and flavorful meats. Each and every element of the Tuscan kitchen has been refined over time to near perfection. The best way to ensure a delicious meal is to begin with the freshest ingredients of the highest possible quality.

Wine has been a part of life on the Italian peninsula for millennia, even before the Greeks brought the techniques for cultivation, the Etruscans made their wine from wild grapes that grew throughout the hills and mountains. The Greeks brought the knowledge of how to raise the grapes and also refine both the grapes and the wine itself. Carthage, in Northern Africa, was well known for its wine-making skills and after Rome sacked and destroyed the city, the Italian wine-makers began to excel in the trade. There was even a point during the Roman Empire that making wine outside Italy was illegal.

When visiting Italy for the first time, many people are surprised when they walk into a pizzeria and see true Italian pizza. You won't find thick, greasy, deep-dish American pizza in Italy. Italian pizza will have a thin and flexible crust with very little sauce and few toppings in comparison to American-style pizza. However, the pizza is flavorful, delicious and considerably healthier. A stop in a small pizzeria will provide you with a perfect lunch or afternoon snack during your trek through Italy.

While no one disputes that pizza is an Italian creation, it seems odd that two of the main ingredients are foreign to the peninsula.

The mozzarella di bufala that is often used in pizzerias comes not from cows milk but the water buffalo introduced from India. The other main ingredient in pizza is tomato, which wasn’t used in cooking until the nineteenth century. They were brought over in the sixteenth century from America but were considered poisonous by most. We have the peasants of Naples to thank for first attempting to use the ‘poisonous’ fruit on a pizza.

In the near future, 2007 may be a prized vintage for Italian wine. The temperatures this summer have been warm, and the grapes are nearing the earliest harvest in decades. Vineyards across the peninsula are looking for help they were not expecting to need for several more weeks.

The grapes are ripe almost 20 days early in some areas and though it's a smaller harvest than many years, the grapes are dark, sweet, and rich in flavor. This heat coupled with the lack of rain has produced a very intense grape by not diluting the natural sugars.