L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 34 L'Italo-Americano LA BUONA TAVOLA RECIPES COOKING TIPS SEASONAL DISHES THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2018 T uscany: oil, wine and DOP saffron! Italy is home to the best saffron in the world, produced in the valleys between Abruzzo and Tuscany Saffron is an ancient plant, al- ready mentioned in Medieval Ita- lian documents, although in those centuries it did come from the Middle East. It was so precious to be used as bargaining chip, just like cattle and land. In Italy, the commerce of the "golden spice" developed espe- cially along the roads running th- rough Tuscany and, more specifi- cally, on those coming from Rome, once walked and threaded by thou- sands of pilgrims. Saffron is extremely expensive, about 3000 euro a Kilo, because even today it can only be picked by hand and the right pistils need to be selected by man: only the gol- den crimson ones can be used and 200 of them are necessary to pro- duce one single gram of this pre- cious spice. From the North to South of Italy, the recipes and products con- taining saffron are many. Among them the Piacentinu Ennese DOP, a Sicilian pecorino, Tuscany's own saffron honey and, of course, the mythical risotto alla Milanese. All this bears witness to the fact saffron doesn't simply have a gastronomic value, but also cultural and envi- ronmental importance. The prize for best saffron in the world goes to that originating from L'Aquila, in the Abruzzo region of Italy, whereas that from Tuscany's San Gimignano has received DOP recognition. Sugared almond (…confetti): an old, sweet tradition These bite sized candies have been symbol of good luck for more than 2000 years. Once upon a time, honey was used to coat almonds, pistachios or cardamom seeds, but with the coming of sugar in 700 AD, the confetto gets the look we all know and love today. The first sugared almonds fac- tory opened in Sulmona (Abruzzo) in 1492: it still is today the undi- scussed leader in the production of high quality confetti which hold a PAT denomination (prodotto agroalimentare Italiano). The almonds come either from Sicily (more specifically from Avola) or from Apulia (from An- dria): both varieties are flat, per- fectly oval and grown organically, following traditional methods. The thinner and brittler the confetto is, the better! Even symbolically, sugared al- monds have an interesting story to tell: always given in uneven numbers, the union between sugar and almonds embodies the indi- visibility of the newly wedded couple. The color, of course, tells us about the event to celebrate: five white confetti mean fertility, longevity, health, wealth and hap- Saffron is used in plenty of Italian recipes, including that of the famous risotto alla Milanese VARINIA CAPPELLETTI Italian Food Culture A Culinary Journey by L'Italo-Americano The Crete Senesi area is famous for its black truffles piness; girls's confetti are pink, to symbolize the red hues of blood and fertility, whereas boys' are blue to recall the color of the sky and, by association, the child's fu- ture high moral standards. In Sicily, the once popular ri- tual of throwing sugared almonds during weddings was called sciarra, that is, fight, to represent the mayhem caused by the people running around to pick them up from the ground. Old Fashioned steam loco- motives, truffles and the lunar lands of Crete Senesi Travelling one of those old fa- shioned steam trains is already a pretty unique experience, bound to bring us back in time. And when these small convoys run th- rough the wonderful lands of Crete Senesi to reach the capital of white truffles, San Giovanni D'Asso, the trip turns into a bona fine praise to good food. The lands of white truffles are discovered by travelling the route that from Siena heads south towards, as said, San Giovanni d'Asso, a medieval bo- rough where, every year, the Sagra del Tartufo "Marzuolo" (tuber al- bidum pico) takes place. The tar- tufo marzuolo is very special, be- cause it grows between January and April. Dogs are the essential protago- nists of truffle searching: they get trained to find them and received morsels of truffle mortadella as a treat when they do so. Crete Senesi's white truffles, the search of which is allowed between September and Decem- ber, is no less delicious than its better known cousins of Piedmont and Umbria, so much so that in the 1980s an association for its protection and promotion was created. The association conceived a traceability protocol based on Crete Senesi's truffles's DNA, with the aim to forbid its use in the production of processed pro- ducts.

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