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12.7.2019

“FINOCCHIU I TIMPA”.

The expression in Calabrian dialect to designate wild fennel, growing in the meadows and on the sweet hills of the region, is “Finocchiu i Timpa” (literally “Fennel of mountain peak”). The word “timpa” means, indeed, round mountain peak with cliff walls.
The Plant, originating from the Mediterranean regions with gravelly soils, is a perennial herb with a sweet and intense aroma!

Since ancient times it has been used as a food and medicinal plant for its digestive, reconstituting and aromatic properties. The parts used are the new shoots and the seeds.
The new shoots are used for the preparation of soups; the raw seeds for flavoring sausages and vegetables in general and for preparing a stimulating and digestive liqueur.

In the seeds, in fact, the highest concentration of anethole, aromatic compound, of which the whole plant is rich, is contained.

HISTORY

It seems that in ancient Rome the fennel was used to cover the bad smells and tastes of not very fresh foods and that from this cooking trick the term «infinocchiare» was born, that is to deceive, cheat.

Further, the plant was well known and appreciated by the Greeks and widespread also in the East. These ancient peoples considered it a very precious plant for its thousand uses.

GASTRONOMY

In Calabria properties of fennel have been known for millennia and it is still widely used both in the kitchen and in phytotherapy, the greatest use is in the kitchen for drinks, teas and the “rosolio” (a liqueur).
Various decoctions aromatize the cured meats the first courses and the meats in general.

This demonstrates that this humble plant, to the reach of everybody, In short is one of the many gifts of this beautiful region, Calabria.

8.7.2019

RICE WITH BERGAMOT OF LOCRI

Near one of the main city of Calabria (Reggio Calabria), in Locri’s restaurants and hotels tourists love Rice Flavored With Bergamot.

This fantastic dish makes tourists go crazy just like the linguine pasta with Genoese pesto (which is universally a must of the Ligurian and then Italian cuisine).

In 2015 this bergamot rice was the Italian dish preferred by foreign tourists, who visited the “Bel Paese”. This is what emerges from a study carried out by a famous Italian hotel chain. The dish, obtained with the juice of the citrus fruit, called Bergamot, gained the winner position, in comparison with dishes much more known and noble, conquering the top of the top ten, also in the challenge with the internationally known Bologna’s lasagna and with Tuscan crostini with livers.

The salient feature of such dish is that the rice spreads the ineffable perfume, smell and taste of Bergamot coming from Reggio Calabria, the city whose geographic area is the only to cultivate the best Bergamot of the World.

This fruit intensively cultivated herein and in the lower Jonio is an authentic richness of the Region (the so called “green gold”).

Particularly, the fruit is currently cultivated on an area of around 1,500 hectares, with an average production of 100,000 kilos of essence.

Experts say that such crops, according to the 2016 trend, have satisfied all producers goal, letting foreign tourists discover the Italian culinary specialties always respecting balance and taste, focusing on the pleasantness and on authentic rediscovery of the flavors of Calabrian land.

A SUCCESS FOR CALABRIA AND MEDITERRANEAN DIET

The ten dishes that competed for the preferences of over 1,000 tourists, who came to Italy in the last year, ranged from the first to the side dishes, to the most appetizing and delicious appetizers and they saw the Calabrian and Ligurian specialties in their head with 18% of preferences on an equal footing.

Pesto and rice with bergamot, a sort of Calabria-Liguria tandem, have received a plenty of votes by French, German and Spanish tourists.

However, according to the study, also the “farfalle (a type of pasta) with bergamot scent” have literally conquered tourists in Italy on vacation or for business; they were very popular, according to the study.

Conclusively, this is a very clear success for the characteristic citrus of Reggio Calabria and its province – whose use ranges from gastronomy (from pastry to the production of drinks and liqueurs) to perfumes, thanks to its essence, which is fundamental for the water of Cologne.