Salento, part I: produce, products and little food shops.

In the next few days I’ll be posting my notes on my recent vacation. As a start I’d like to cover some not very gourmet aspect of our stay there, but still incredibly satisfying ones for our taste buds. The part of Puglia we stayed in is the southern end of the region, called Salento. Our really simple country house (a few pics here) was in the middle of an olive garden, very close to Santa Maria di Leuca, the southernmost tip of Puglia. Apart the pleasure of walking around old, beautiful olive trees, we had a few treats in our front yard. After living for quite a few years in Northern Europe I had forgotten how great it is to have a fig tree available in September. Whenever we felt like we just had to stretch an arm and pick a ripe, plump and deliciously sweet fig. We also had a huge amount of prickly pear cactuses around, though we had to think for a while before coming up with a method for picking them without piercing or fingers.

Puglia in general, and this part of it in particular, are not exactly foodie destinations, although this is slowly changing. Tips for good eating spots and shops are scarce and you never really know what you’re going to get. As usual, the best way to taste worthy products is to ask a local. In a couple of days we had managed to find a great baker, a delicious fresh pasta shop and an equally good cheese maker. Shops like these will never appear on travel guides: they offer very few products, look rather unfashionable, and make absolutely no effort to get some publicity. Therefore, in case anyone reading this blog should be planning a trip to Salento, let me be your personal “good food” scout.

- Bread. Bakeries are not something hard to come by in Italy but a good thing is to look out for “Forno a Legna”, wood-burning ovens, signs. Using this principle we found the baker we bought our bread from almost every day from. Mr Vitali’s Forno a Legna, in the small town of Patu’ (via Giovanni XIII), makes only five kinds of bread but all excellent. Schiacciate are a pita-like pocket bread used to test the oven’s temperature, and as you can expect they’re great for stuffing and carrying with you on the beach. Two great breads to snack on are Puccia and Pane condito, both with tomato and onion pieces added to the dough, and differing only for the olives (with tooth breaking seeds left in) in the Puccia and the squash in the Pane condito. Friselle, hard bagel sized rings made with either wheat or whole grain barley flour, were one of the most sold items: softened in water they’re great to serve a tomato salad on. Even the simple bread, made like the other breads from semolina flour, was fantastic, crunchy crust, nice irregular crumb, with the pleasant smoky aroma of the wood noticeable but not too strong.

- Fresh Pasta. Salento’s fresh pasta is not of the egg noodle type, rather fresh semolina based kinds. We bought some once at the local Sidis supermarket but our landlord soon convinced us to give a local shop a try. L’Orecchietta (Corso Italia 169, Morciano di Leuca) prepares the classic local pasta shapes, all hand made and of great quality, plus a few stuffed pastas, OK but not really that special. I had a little chat with the owner who kindly explained to me the difference between orecchiette (the ones you see above), cavatelli (orecchiette that have not been “turned around), minchiarieddi (short maccheroni like pasta shaped using a knitting needle) and also the use of preparing pasta maritata, married pasta, i.e. orecchiette and cavatelli (or minchiarieddi) together, so called because it unites the female to the male (just think of the pasta shapes… I don’t have to draw you a picture do I?)

- Cheese. As for bread and pasta you won’t find incredible choice of local cheeses simply because there’s only a limited number of traditional ones. Which is far from saying they’re boring. There’s many mozzarella like cheeses, made with cow instead of buffalo milk, tasty Pecorino of different ripening stages, but the two gems of Salento’s cheeses are cacioricotta and ricotta skant (aka ricotta forte). Cacioricotta is an ewe’s milk cheese (sometimes ewe and goat) made with a particular procedure that collects both the clotted cheese proteins normally used for cheese and the lactoalbumin, which would end up in ricotta. The cheese has a fresh, creamy and slightly acidic taste and can be either eaten in slices or grated on pasta. Ricotta forte is a special fermented ricotta, with a very strong taste, and is often used in pasta dishes, for example together with orecchiette and tomato sauce. Some find the smell too strong, I just love it. A very good brand for all these cheeses is Aia Vecchia, which can be found in quite a few local supermarkets. We also tried the nice cheeses made from a small producer in Salve (Rocco Caldo, Via Roma 4).

I wouldn’t know where to start on greengrocers, every single one of them had great local produce and I still dream of those fantastic cherry tomatoes for 1 euro a kilo. I hound interesting that one particular item seemed to be sold only in these shops: snails.

As far as I understand these, smaller than the French ones, are snails that have “hibernated” because of the summer’s heat, sealing their shells with those white discs called locally panna. For this reason they don’t need to be treated beforehand and they can be cooked straightaway after washing and removing the seal.

Next: Fish market galore…

Comments

[Miles Efron]

Amazing! I saw a Cacioricotta in my local (Texas, USA) grocery. Will have try it out.

I'm curious, is Puglia where pugliese bread is from, or is that Apulia?

[Alberto]

Miles, sorry for the confusion: Puglia is Apulia, I only tend to use the proper Italian name for places. And clearly that's where pugliese bread comes from, though that is a modern re-interpretation of the traditional Pane di Altamura, a sourdough bread BTW. Altamura is to the North of where I was, closer to the Region's capital Bari.

[Iaia]

Alberto, I'm in Puglia (fortunately) very often for work, and I think that there are LOTS of wonderful restaurants ! Near Lecce there is Cavallino, a little town full of typical restaurants and bristo-like places, for example. Sure it's difficult for non-local to find out great surprises (expecially fodd shops), but I think that Puglia is one of the richiest food Italian regions !

[Alberto]

Iaia, my comment on Puglia not being a foodie destination was meant in a slightly different way. I know there's many great eating out places, I was BTW at Osteria del Pozzo Vecchio in Cavallino, and a post on that is on its way.

The fact is that compared to regions like Sicilia and Campania, Puglia is still relatively unknown, at least outside Italy. Its best products are still well kept secrets and there's no big effort to make these well known to a wider public. Also all those nice restaurants we're talking about serve mainly local traditional food, apart one or two, like Poeta Contadino in Alberobello which is considered one of the best places in Southern Italy. That kind of food something I love but not necessairly something that attracts the attention of more sophisticated gourmets out there.

But you're right: I should have written that it deserves to be a foodie destination although it is not yet one.

[Marco Bianco]

I've been going to puglia for the last 4 years visiting friends and family in Barletta and Foggia. I just love the food. I always go in early September when the grapes are just ready to be harvested. I love the lighter red wines of Castel del Monte, which contain the Troia and Montepulicano grapes. Also go to Andria and try the buratta cheese made at IL BAFFONE.

Marco Bianco
Phoenix, Arizona USA

[lunarossa]

Well, I'm living in Puglia at the moment and I find it to be rich and plentiful region when it comes to food. There are quite a few local wines and olive oil that deserve to be sampled. Culinary speaking (and I have tried only 4 or 5 restaurants) is very much like the rest of the Italy, but they certainly like their sea food and pepperoncino! Everything is fresh and delicious, albeit simple. And that is the beauty of it – the food of peasants and fishermen. Perfect if you ask me.
At home I often make one of the local specialities: orecchiette con cima di rape or little ears pasta with turnip greens – broccoli-like vegetable that is abundantly used throughout the winter. Delicious!

[Alberto]

Lunarossa, definitely agree about Puglia being plentyful. By saying it is not a foodie destination I only meant that it is still miles away from other Italian regions when it comes to promoting its typical products. Your comment about seafood and chilies makes me curious: in a which part of Puglia are you living in? Just wondering since in Salento the cuisine is defintiely more connected to the land and chilies are used pretty sparingly.
I don't really get what you mean with "Culinary speaking... is very much like the rest of the Italy." To me there are really strong gastronomic differences inside Italy, and also moving outside of trattoria food, so maybe I'm missing the point or looking at too much detail (I am Italian after all!)

[lunarossa]

I live in Brindisi (but I’m not Italian). I go to the market practically every day. The selection of veggies and fish here is quite good and what’s more important to me it changes with seasons. OK, it is still possible to find aubergines, for example, in January but there are mountains of fennel, courgettes or artichokes when they are in season locally. You can even buy them on the street corners from nonno’s of the back of an old battered “Ape”. Often I talk to women on the market or my neighbours how to prepare particular veggie or fish or piece of meat I bought that day and “little bit of pepperoncino” gets mentioned. I’m sorry if I offended you in any way saying that the prepared food is the same as in the rest of Italy (I get rather clumsy with my English sometimes). What I meant was that all the produce typically associated (how very foreign of me!) and used more or less in Italian kitchens are present in numerous forms and combinations but purchased and prepared daily and simply. And I’m still learning, collecting recipes from Italy, from foodblogs like yours, ordering cookbooks from Amazon which is how I found out that polenta is more popular in the north, and that people from Naples are known as “mangiafoglie”(wink!).

[Alberto]

Lunarossa, absolutely no offence taken! You have to excuse me if I sounded too serious or angry: I was just curious to know what thoughts were behind your comment on Italian food and phrased it way too roughly. While the idea of "daily and simply prepared" food is definitely a good description of what Italian, and especially Southern Italian, food is most of the time, I would encourage you not to see this as the only way Italian food can be. Festive foods or even Sunday Lunch dishes can be quite complex and often require lengthy preparations which cannot be afforder during the working week. Also, if somewhat more sofisticated restaurant food stimulates your curiosity, do try a few good restaurants (there are a few in your area, if you want I can give you the info per email): you'll get a chance to see how those simple dishes can be turned into intriguing gastronomic creations. That said, traditional Pugliese dishes like "fave e cicorie" are something that would make a creative cook envious: simple, intriguing and timeless.

BTW I love the Ape sellers too :-).

[Pia Hellgren-Brooks]

Hi!
Puglia is in Umbria, right? it says in the article that it's not necessarily foodie heaven. But I was under the impression that Umbrfia is famous for its truffles, which certainly makes it a heaven for foodies?

[Alberto]

Hi Pia. Puglia is actually a Region on its own. It comprises what you would call the heel of the Italian "boot". So sadly no truffles there. On the other hand, don't get my comment wrong: I find Puglia has loads of great food to offer, only the offer should be improved, organized and advertised better. As an Italain, when I see the amount of gastronomic treasures we have and how badly we need to improve our communication skills with those visiting our country I get a bit angry ;-).