The foodie's journal

Cold cuts and sausages are part of our country’s farming tradition. Meat was a precious good and wasting it was out of the question. Making cold cuts and sausages was a way to preserve meat in a natural way and salting, drying and aging techniques evolved over time, until they became an actual art form.

Capers are the flower buds of the Capparis Spinosa plant. It is a bushy shrub which blossoms between the months of May and September. It hardly reaches a height of 50 cm and it has small and dark leaves, as well as big and white flowers. You can eat everything from this plant: buds - i.e. capers -, fruits called caper berries, as well as caper leaves. 

If one decides to open an online food shop, the first thing to ask oneself should be: why should people buy foodstuffs on an e-commerce rather than in their trusted delicatessen or in the supermarket? 

We must admit that we are pretty obsessed with the whole culinary journey thing, but it is one of things we love the most about Italian cuisine: each Italian region - and sometimes even province - has its own products and flavours. And we had to dedicate one of our journeys to one of the most delicious and typical food products of Italy. 

All Tuscan people like myself would probably agree with me, when I say that cold cut platters are my favourite starter dish, but they are much more than that. They can be served in a summertime buffet or can be enjoyed during an informal dinner. However, it goes without saying that the cold cuts that you choose for your platter must be delicious, genuine and of high quality. 

‘Nduja from Calabria is definitely addictive; I am sure of it. One taste and you’re in love, because ‘Nduja salami spread is spicy but aromatic, it is creamy, it can enhance the flavour of many dishes and it takes you all the way to Calabria, whenever you feel like it. Even a dish as simple as ‘Nduja salami spread on a toasted slice of bread will satisfy your senses - and your palate.

PDO Strachitunt is an incredible cheese from Bergamo, from the Taleggio Valley. It is one of my favourite Italian blue cheeses: it is made from raw cow’s milk and has a soft and raw paste.  Although its name may sound similar to more famous cheeses such as Stracchino or Taleggio, the Strachitunt deserves its own place of honour.

What is lacking in an Italian smoked trout as compared to a Norwegian or Scottish smoked salmon? The answer is nothing, we can assure you. Yes, salmon has a distinctive flavour, which could probably be perceived as oilier to the palate, and its quality and processing methods differ depending on the country of production. However, the trout has become a worthy competitor, especially thanks to the incredible work carried out by Friultrota and by the Pighin family.

The PDO Salame di Varzi is an excellent Italian cold cut which obtained the Protected Designation of Origin seal back in 1996. A great value of this salami lies in the fact that it is still produced in artisan cured meat factories which are almost entirely run by families. This goes to show how much this product is still respected and protected and consequently, how it managed to preserve its original genuine flavour over the course of time.

The region Sardinia is home to the greatest production of Italian Pecorino cheese in Europe. Why is this cheese so widespread? Probably because pastoralism has been practiced in Sardinia for thousands of years. Nowadays, Sardinian cheeses are exported and much beloved all over the world. We have particularly appreciated the work of an excellent dairy farm in Sardinia: Argiolas cheese.

Raw milk means milk which does not undergo any heat treatment prior to becoming cheese. According to Slow Food, cheeses made from this type of milk, i.e. raw milk Italian cheeses, are the only ones that preserve an invisible bacterial biodiversity, a great treasure that makes these culinary products truly unique.

In Italy rice is rarely seen as a side dish; it is an actual ingredient used in both traditional and more innovative dishes. Timbales, risotto, supplì stuffed rice balls, rice meatballs, rice salads…The Italian regional culinary tradition features plenty of recipes with rice. Nowadays we can find many rice cultivars on the market and luckily, the general public is getting to know many rice companies. Let’s plunge into the world of Italian rice.