Abruzzo - Cuisine

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Info about the regional cuisine

So what can be said about the Italian cuisine that hasn’t been said hundreds of times before? Abruzzo however could be described as a “healthy area” which of course influences the cuisine and produce. The people of Abruzzo, as well as the visitors, enjoy food that arrives directly from the pristine and uncontaminated mountains, lakes, hills and coast. For those who would like to combine a visit to Abruzzo with the chance to purchase some traditional produce, there are oils, cheeses, wines, processed meats, honeys, liqueurs and many other delicacies. In the local restaurants not only the pasta, fish and meat but also the fruit, vegetables and mushrooms are fresh and in abundance. There are a number of chefs from Abruzzo who work all over Italy and even abroad marking how important fine food is for this region.

Abruzzo has always been a land of great rural and pastoral traditions and offers its visitors a wide selection of flavours and aromas. Woods, pastures and fertile hills, carefully cared for by people, yield unforgettable food and drinks.

Città slow - Slow City Movement

Abruzzo boasts several towns which are members of the Cittàslow, slow city movement, Penne being one of them where the offices of Abruzzo Properties are situated.

These small towns are considered jewels of modern day Italian living, at the forefront of a young but growing movement, Cittàslow. All over the country, councils are queuing up to climb on to this very Italian bandwagon, and so far, fifty or more (maximum population 50,000) have made the commitment to resist Americanisation and to 'go slow'. No car alarms, no neon signs, no McDonald's!

It's a spin-off of the anti-fast-food movement, Slow Food, founded in 1986: Italy's way of thumbing a nose at multi-national fast foods, hot dogs and fat-friendly meals. Today the organisation spans 50 countries and has a membership of over 70,000. Fast times call for slow food, and food tastes best when its grown organically, harvested locally and eaten in season. Slow Food believers celebrate meals prepared with love and consumed at leisure - as in Italy, where life grinds to a magnificent halt in the middle of the day.

Cittàslow not only resists the globalisation of food and culture but positively applauds the values of diversity. It is not a reactionary movement but a forward-looking one, both cherishing and preserving local traditions and at the same time encouraging the best of new technology.

Radical in it's quiet way, Cittàslow provides a counter-balance to our culture of haste - to cities besieged by car, noise and air pollution, to skipped lunches and the 60 hour week. London and Rome throb to a different beat, but how right it seems that pedestrian areas are being enlarged, parking removed from historic centres, eco-friendly architecture sponsored. Every council speaks up for recycling, every town square rejoices in it's farmers' market, and there is a real effort to boost rural economy. Tourism is profiting too, as wealthy globe-trotters are happy to pay good money to escape life in the fast lane and relearn the slow.

More information can be found at www.cittaslow.stratos.it

DOC wines

Properties Around Italy - Abruzzo Wine Popular all over Europe, the DOC wines of Abruzzo (white, red and rose) have in recent years won many international awards and prizes and are served in the best restaurants all over the world. The traditional vines are Trebbiano for the whites and Montepulciano for the reds. Recently, others have started to be grown, such as Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Aglianico, Sangiovese and Pinot. A reference point for wine-lovers is the Enoteca Regionale d’Abruzzo, based in Ortona at Palazzo Corvo (Corso Matteotti, Ortona.

“Centerbe” and other liqueurs

Properties Around Italy - Centerba Among the spirits produced from the mountain herbs of Abruzzo, the most famous if the extra-strong (72%) centerbe (hundred herbs) of Tocco da Casauria, at the foot of the Majella. Other spirits include genzianella, nocino and ratafia, made with sour cherries. Aurum, a spirit made from fine wines flavoured with citrus fruit, is produced and many local variations of amaro.

Extra-virgin olive oil

Properties Around Italy - Extra virgin Olive Oil The unmistakable shape of olive trees are a familiar sight on the gently rolling hills in the provinces of Teramo, Pescara and Chieti. The DOC extra virgin oil that is produced in these area is just as good as any of the best Italian oils. Olio santo, traditionally home-made, but which now can be found in restaurants, might be a little bit of a surprise for “first-timers”; it is a first press oil in which hot chillies are left to marinate.

The valley of pasta

Properties Around Italy - Pasta Abruzzo is home to one of the Italian capitals of pasta production: Fara San Martino, a village at the foot of the eastern slope of the Majella. There the presence of the extra-pure mountain water has allowed, since ancient times, a thriving specialised industry that now exports all over the world. It is possible to buy excellent fresh pasta, such as the well known maccheroni alla chitarra, ricotta cheese ravioli and scrippelle.

Processed and cold meats

Properties Around Italy - Assorted Meats The processing of pork, widespread activity in the region, has lead to the creation of a wide range of hams, sausages and salamis, such as the tasty liver sausage which is often preserved in oil. Typical products include: smoked ham from Introducqua and Cansano; mortadella (a seasoned cold meat) from Campotosto, also known as coglioni di mulo (mule balls); the sausage of Torano and Guilmi; and the soft ventricina, produced on the mountains near Teramo and Chieti.

Pecorino, caprino and cacao marcetto

Properties Around Italy - Cheese The most common form of breeding in Abruzzo is sheep breeding, therefore the important role in regional gastronomy of pecorino (ewe’s milk cheese, either fresh or seasoned) and sheep ricotta, is in abundance.

At the foot of the Gran Sasso, it is possible to taste cacao (or pecorino) marcetto. Farindola is the centre for the production of caprino or capruzzo (goats cheese). A mix of cow and sheep milk is used to produce caciotta, sometimes flavoured with hot chilly. Cow milk (occasionally mixed with goat milk) is used to prepare the traditional scamorza, that many people in Abruzzo call mozzarella. It can be eaten raw, grilled or baked. On the main plateaux, especially in the area of Rivisondoli and Pescocostanzo, excellent caciocavallo and dairy products such as trecce, bocconcini and fiordilatte are produced. Finally, in the Chieti area, it is possible to taste burrelle or manteche.

Cherries, grapes and the soft fruits

Properties Around Italy - Wine Grapes The fertile soil of the Abruzzo hills yields excellent fruit, such as the cherries fran Raiano and Giuliano Teatino and the grapes from Tollo and Ortona. There are also excellent soft fruits including strawberries, bilberries, blackberries and raspberries.

Red garlic from Sulmona and vegetables

Properties Around Italy - Garlic Reclaimed at great cost during the 19th century, the Fucino basin is good land for growing potatoes, carrots, fennel, radish and other vegetables sold throughout Italy. The poor mountain fields produce barley and the excellent lentils from Santo Stefano di Sessanio. Emmer, a cereal grain, is grown on the mountains of L’Aquila.

Red garlic has been grown for ages in Sulmona. This is a unique product in Italy due to its red colour, richness in essential oils and the fact that it is the only ecotype in Italy to produce floral scapes. Numerous spontaneous vegetables used in cooking are, for example, the Marsican orapi, a tasty wild asparagus used to prepare omelettes and pasta. Boletus mushrooms are also excellent, especially those collected in the woods of Monti della Laga as well as the chestnuts from the Laga and the Roveto valley. The Cupello artichoke is a typical vegetable grown in the hills.

Truffles

Properties Around Italy - Truffles The best known of the 28 varieties of truffle found in Abruzzo is the black truffle (although shite truffles can also be found). The best places to pick these are the Marsica and the Teramo area. Besides being used in cooking, these precious tubers are part of the preparation of flavoured sausages, oils and cheeses.

Saffron

Properties Around Italy - Saffron The Navelli plateau, between the Gran Sasso and Sirente massifs, is the heart of one of the most interesting traditional crops of Abruzzo. Saffron is collected from the stigmas of Crocus sativus at Navellik, Civitaretenga, Caporciano, San Pio delle Camere and Prata d’Ansidonia. The majority of this saffron is sent to northern Italy where it is the basic ingredient for Milanese risotto.

Honey

Properties Around Italy - Honey Excellent and delicious smelling honey is produced almost all over Abruzzo. Some of the varieties available are those scented with thyme, chestnuts and acacias. The bee-keepers of Abruzzo produce superb propolis and royal jelly.

Delicacies from Abruzzo

Properties Around Italy - Ferratelle Some of the famous home-made delicacies are sweet pizza, cagiunitti filled with jam, pine nuts and walnuts, figs with almonds and bay, sise delle monache (a type of biscuit), cicerchiata with pieces of candied fruit and honey and almond sweet meat, which is available at fair stalls. In many houses it is common to find the so-called ferro (huge iron tongs to put on the fire). It is used to cook the traditional ferratelle (also known as pizzelle, neole or cancellate) over an open flame.

Sweet Pastries

The traditional sweet pastries of Abruzzo (mostaccioli, caggiunitti, ferratelle or neole, cicerchiata, zeppole and taralli) were once exclusively home-made but now they tend to be bought in bakeries and pastry houses. The confetti (sugared almonds) from Sulmond, the chocolate nougat from L’Aquila and the nougat with dried figs from Chieti are among the best commercially produced sweets.

Maccheroni, sagnacce and scrippelle

Properties Around Italy - Spaghetti Bolognese The excellent durum wheat from the hills and the crystal clear water of the mountains make pasta one of the highlights of regional cuisine. Among home-made pasta, the most famous is macceroni alla chitarra. Well-known sauces in the region include: ragu all’abruzzese, made with beef, port, mutton and duck; lamb sauce with pecorino and pig’s throat bacon; and sugo alla macellara. A speciality of the Teramo area is scrippelle, an Abruzzo version of crepes that can be eaten either as it is or in broth. On the coast, shellfish is used for spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti with a clam sauce) and other specialities.

Vegetables and legumes from the Abruzzo mountains and hills are used to make tasty chicory, cabbage, broad bean and chick-pea soups. On 1st May, it is tradition in Teramo to eat virtu, soup that takes ages to prepare using seven types of dried pulses, seven fresh vegetables, seven types of pasta and pork rind.

Arrosticini, agnello incaporchiato and stews

Properties Around Italy - Arrosticini Meat is a staple of the Abruzzo diet, as might be expected in a land with a long animal-breeding tradition. Lamb and mutton, either grilled or baked are famous. Arrosticini, thin mutton skewers grilled over charcoal, are very common among farmers and shepherds and are a current favourite at tasty picnics. Lamb dishes include agnello incaporchiato with roast potatoes, lamb tripe and matassine, or torcinelli, which are prepared with lamb offal and bacon wrapped in offal grease and cooked on the spit, or wrapped in lettuce leaves and stewed (mazarelle). There is also an excellent stew known as pecora alla cottora in the L’Aquilla area and pecora alla callara in the Teramo area. The excellent pastures mean the beef, veal, rabbit and pork are excellent, too.

Marine cuisine

Properties Around Italy - Marine Cuisine The excellent fresh fish from the Adriatic is the basis for the coastal cuisine of Abruzzo. Pilchards and anchovies are used to make pasta dishes and timbales, or just fried in the pan. There is an enormous variety of fish in coastal restaurants including cray fish, lobster and prawns. Brodetto is typical of the region. This tasty soup is made with shellfish (mussels, clams and tellins) scampi, cuttlefish, cod, red mullet, haddock, grey mullet, sole and smooth hound, and is prepared slightly differently on the northern and southern coasts. On the northern coast, the brodetto alla pescarese is made by cooking different fish for different lengths of time, with red mullet and cod being the last fish to be added. In brodetto alla vastese, all of the ingredients are cooked at the same time in a terracotta pot. For both recipies the basic ingredients are olive oil, tomato, garlic and chilly. On the Chieti coast, people are proud of their scapece, fried fish preserved in vinegar after being sprinkled with saffron from Navelli.

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