Gina Stipo, Author at attheitaliantable.com

August 1, 2011 by Gina Stipo Leave a Comment

Ancient Salt Flats of Italy

I recently went to visit the oldest remaining salt flat on the mainland of Italy, Cervia in Emilia Romagna. Up on the east coast, sandwiched between the ancient town of Ravenna with its amazing Byzantine mosaics and the chic beach town of Rimini with its discos and crowded beaches, Cervia is a quiet marsh that has been used for salt production since the Etruscan times.

Less than 800 yards inland, the salt flats produce a beautiful, sweet white salt (sale dolce) that is hand raked and evaporated in the full sun of the summer. From June to September, water from the sea is fed by canals into large, shallow flats, and allowed to concentrate until it is more than 75% saltier than seawater. Only one of the original 150 salt flats holds to the traditional methods, but it is still possible to see the locals raking and drying the salt in the sun. You can purchase sacks of this moist, sweet salt at the visitors center or by ordering online from Salina di Cervia.

Salt is getting a bad rap these days, and unjustly so. It is the only mineral that we eat and it’s the one ingredient that is common among all the cuisines of the world. Salt is crucial to our survival and has been the source of unrest and wars throughout our history.
Sea salt is a whole food made not of just sodium chloride but of a myriad of minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium, and trace minerals like selenium, boron and iodine. When salt is processed (kosher, table salt) all the other minerals are taken out and just sodium chloride remains. An anti-caking agent is then added. Industrially processed salt can lead to a state of imbalance in the body, which in turns leads to disease.
If you’re as interested in salt as I am, check out the salt guru, Mark Bitterman, on his salt blog: www.saltnews.com. He also has a fabulous book called “Salted: A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral”. Another good read on the history of salt is Mark Kurlansky’s “SALT”.
For your own visit to the salt flats, contact the visitors center below:
Parco della Salina di Cervia
Via Salara, 6
Cervia (Ravenna)
Tel. +39 0544.971765
www.salinadicervia.it

June 28, 2011 by Gina Stipo

Making Nocino – Italian Walnut Liquor

Nocino is a walnut liquor found all over Italy but originating in Emilia Romagna, where so many good Italian foods and wines originate. Used as a digestive after a meal, it’s spicy, slightly bitter and sweet: the spiciness comes naturally from the green nuts, the bitterness of the walnuts is what aids digestion and the sweetness from added sugar makes it all palatable. These contradictory flavors work together to intrique the tastebuds and make it one of the most popular homemade liquors in Italy.

Traditionally, Italians say you must pick the green walnuts on June 24, the feast of St John the Baptist;

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June 27, 2011 by Gina Stipo

Mulberries and Silk

Crostata — Tuscan jam tart made with mulberry jam

It’s mulberry season in Tuscany! One of my favorite fruits, I remember picking them as a child when visiting my mother’s family in the Midwest and was thrilled to see so many here in Tuscany. There’s something so satisfying about actually picking fruit off the tree and eating it right away, or taking the fruits of your labors home to make jams to enjoy another day. Mulberries aren’t much revered or appreciated, and they’re kind of a mess to have in your yard because the berries drop and stain, but like all wild berries they’re filled with good vitamins and minerals and are a welcome harbinger of summertime abundance.

The Tuscan countryside is covered with mulberry trees, a leftover from one of the most important industries of the Middle Ages: silk weaving. Italian silk was legendary. From the Middle Ages until the late 19^th century, Florence, Lucca and Siena were amoung the major [Read more…]