Month: June 2018

Food and Wine in Calabria: legend and history

14.6.2018

LEGEND AND HISTORY

A legend tells that the Greek athlete Milo of Croton was able to drink 10 liters (2.6 US gal) of Ciró wine each day.  True or false, this story recalls the ancient tradition of a region, Calabria, in the very middle of Mediterranean basin to be devoted to winemaking.

History, instead, tells that this land was first cultivated by the Oenotrians, and then by the ancient Greeks. Does this tradition say that the wine is still made in the same way today as it was in Milo’s time?

A problem hard to solve. Anyway, the Italic tribes, inhabiting the region, were colonized by the Greeks, who, coming to the area, brought the art of winemaking. Greeks called the area Enotria that meant “land where the vine is cultivated high above the earth.”

Nowadays, a lot of wine is produced in Calabria, the DOC wine called Cirò is the most known, even if there are other DOC’s that produce wine, only Cirò has ancient roots. It was used, according to a legend, to produce Cremissa, in a Greek colony known today as Cirò Marina, a beverage offered as a toast to the gods by the Olympic champions of ancient Greece.

Today, there are about a dozen producers of Cirò, bottling about 30,000 hectoliters per year. In the past, there are records from the 4th century B.C. which indicate a vineyard in the area of Cirò Marina, and there is a group of people living today called the Grecanici who allegedly trace their roots back to Odysseus and the survivors of the Trojan War.

The DOC Cirò is located along the Ionian coast, this wine is made also a Bianco (White), and Rosato (Rosè), but it is the Rosso (Red) that is most famous; the latter is made with at least 95% of the wine coming from Gaglioppo grapes, plus  5% of Trebbiano or Greco Bianco grapes.

The very ancient grape is, therefore, Gaglioppo, which is indigenous to the territory of Calabria.

It recalls all the scents of this central Mediterranean land of food and wine, all the aromas of Ionian Sea, due to the close proximity of vineyards to the seacoast, and all the marine fragrances both of the mesoclimatic land of Calabria and of its fertile soil volcanic.

 

A HISTORICAL REMINISCENCE OF MANY PEOPLES

Calabria and its wines can tell the more ancient history of Mediterranean, and especially Cirò wine has been subject to many influences over the centuries.

History of Calabria wine is all stretched between two extremes (the Greek roots and the 20th century revival). In fact, at first, the ancient Greeks cultivated the first wine-bearing vines, and then the wines for many centuries were famous in other European countries, until French regions in 1500 such as Bordeaux invaded the closer both geographically and culturally key markets of London and Amsterdam. In the late 19th century, the phylloxera epidemic wasted Calabria’s vineyards and its wine industry disappeared, until his revival  in the 20th century.

In the middle of this long history, there are many steps where Calabrian wine (especially Cirò) seems a sort a recapitulation of life and culture of many peoples. In the Imperial Age, Calabrian wines were among the most sought-after and were praised by Virgil and the Elder Pliny.

After the advent of Christianity and the formation of the monastic structures, viniculture played a key role in the advancement and consolidation of Calabrian civilization and economy. In fact, a great care was devoted for the vineyards and the production of wine by the religious practices and Christian rituals.

On the other side, the peoples of the Middle Ages and of 1500s are well represented by the quality of local production attested to by numerous documents and reports (for example the appreciations by Pope Paul III and his cupbearer Sante Lancerio).

The medieval history of wine is condensed in the practice to use “palmenti”, very large stone troughs carved in the rock and used for treading grapes. These tools are testimony to the great vinicultural activity that took place over the middle age.

Life and its food and wine had a painful interruption in 1800, the traces of rural life became weak after the great waves of emigration that were brought by the  dissolution of Bourbon Kingdom and by the unification of Italy. The ancient and consolidated tradition universe of wine was lost, and then happened the abandonment of cultivated lands and the marginalization of a production, which nevertheless retained its quality characteristics.

Only in 1970s, farmers and producers dedicated again themselves to the revival of native grapes, saving the cultural heritage of Calabria. Everyone could say today that Calabrian wine is the real historical reminiscence of many peoples of the past.

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Colors and design of Mediterranean dishes

2.6.2018

The Authentic Mediterranean food of Calabria has a specific design, a certain number of five Colors you will eat routinely.

Here are the five colors you will eat on a regular basis, also enhancing your health!

Our country Italy, and our region (Calabria) will make you consume vegetables and fruits from 5 color families, so that you’ll be getting a broad range of vitamins, antioxidants and phytochemicals that can enhance your health and protect you from disease.

We will now provide guidance on the Calabrian foods that are best for Body Ecology and to improve your Health.

 

1. RED

The Nutrients of red are those red grapes, which specifically have a powerful antioxidant known as resveratrol, which has anti-inflammatory properties and may help lower your risk for heart disease and cancer.

In Calabria you can find some great options for red foods to eat, and the dishes coming out has a really beautiful design:

  • Red onions of Tropea
  • Radicchio
  • Pomegranate
  • Radishes
  • Red bell pepper
  • Red chili pepper

Further you can add:

  • Pink grapefruit
  • Red grapes (from Cirò Marina)
  • Red apples
  • Tomatoes (From Lametia Terme)

All the great nutrients inside the afore-mentioned red fruits and vegetables include lycopene found in watermelon, pink grapefruit and tomatoes. Lycopene is known for fighting prostate cancer and may be one of the reasons the Mediterranean diet is so healthy.

 

2. YELLOW & ORANGE

In the plateau of Sila are some of the yellow and orange foods that you can eat as part of your Body Ecology program:

  • Lemons of Reggio Calabria
  • Yellow summer squash
  • Yellow pepper
  • Corn
  • Carrots of Lametia
  • Pumpkin

We recommend also to add these to your diet, which will realize a magnificent design for every “mise en place” of dishes:

  • Sweet potatoes of Sila
  • Yellow apples of the same plateau
  • Yellow beets

Inside such Yellow and orange fruits and vegetables you will find a powerful nutritional punch, given that they are all rich in beta carotene, vitamin A and vitamin C, powerful antioxidants that neutralize the free radicals that roam around your body and damage your cells. researches also link high consumption of specific carotenoids like beta-cryptoxanthin, which is found in orange and yellow foods, to a lower risk for developing inflammatory arthritis.

Further this diet will neutralize free radicals, which are thought to be responsible for artherosclerosis and heart disease, cataracts, blood vessel damage, inflammatory diseases and arthritis, asthma and even cancer.

 

3. GREEN

The Nutrients of green vegetables are phytochemicals that improve your health and offer plenty of fiber.

In Calabria you will find many vegetables rich of sulfurous compounds that help your liver detoxify harmful cancer-causing substances, prevent macular degeneration, and protect women from ovarian cancer.

Other component of green vegetables and fruits is potassium, which is great for you heart. Most local greens (green peppers and green fruits, excepting limes) are especially rich in phytonutrients.

Main vegetables and fruits are:

  • Green leaf lettuce
  • Spinach
  • Romaine lettuce
  • Zucchini
  • Asparagus
  • Cucumbers
  • Artichoke
  • Limes
  • Bergamot

 

4. BLUE & PURPLE

The Nutrients of Calabrian Blue and purple vegetables and fruits are some of the most important and most overlooked. Many of these blue and purple foods are rich in the phytonutrient anthocyanin, another type of flavonoid that is great for fighting the damage that daily living does to your cells.

You can think, for example, to local grapes.

Further, we can list the following blue and purple foods you can eat as part of your Body Ecology program:

  • Purple cabbage
  • Black currants
  • Purple asparagus
  • Blueberries

They are all protective against some cancers, and good for urinary tract health and maintaining memory function.

 

5. WHITE

In Calabria we have, on the white list, onions and garlic, which are considered super foods for their amazing health benefits.

Onions and garlic are both members of the Allium family, they can lower blood sugar and have amazing anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. Further, onions are a great prebiotic, given that they feed the probiotics in your intestines.

We can list:

  • Cauliflower
  • Onions
  • Daikon radish
  • Jicama
  • Garlic
  • Annona (an exotic fruit, in the above picture, growing near Reggio Calabria).

 

DESIGN OF CALABRIAN FOOD COLORS

All those Colors can add a delightful visual appeal to eating healthy foods. The design of your dishes will be wonderful. Further, following this rainbow, including fruits and vegetables that are green, red, yellow, orange, white, blue and purple, you’ll be getting plenty of vital nutrients that enhance your health.