|
Il Forteto
IL Forteto is a Tuscan agricultural cooperative that makes a wide line of sheep's and cow's milk cheese. The cooperative dates to 1977 and still has almost all of its original members. It was established by a group of disaffected young Italians, some only 19 or 20 years old at the time, with the assistance of a philanthropist from Milan. The idealistic young people settled on agriculture as the basis for their cooperative, although they knew nothing about farming, and they proceeded to build a communal lifestyle, starting with 40 sheep, three cows and three pigs. Today, they operate a large, modern dairy and are one of Italy's biggest producers of Pecorino Toscano.
Tuscany
Toscana, famous for its art, architecture, rolling hills, and smooth beaches, is the cradle of the Renaissance. It is this popular destination that gave us da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Puccini. It's no surprise then that Toscana is the birthplace of Italy's most artful and elegant cuisine. Tuscan cooking is often described as una cucina povera, "a kitchen without frills." Characteristic of all Tuscan food is the high quality of the ingredients and the wide use of herbs, including thyme, sage, rosemary, tarragon, fennel and chile pepper. Oil and bread dominate this uncomplicated cuisine. Vegetables, whether they're grilled, roasted, or raw, are always dressed in the region's peppery olive oil. And no Tuscan meal would be complete without bread (always unsalted). Tuscans keep fat at a distance and the spit or the grill close by. Meats -- beef, chicken, and rabbit -- are usually roasted with rosemary or fennel or grilled. Most are accompanied by a lemon wedge, the Tuscan idea of a sauce. Along the coast, dishes are based on fish, with baby eel, caught at the mouth of the Arno, a specialty found only in Tuscany. The simplicity that is so typical of the Tuscan countryside was certainly not observed by the Medicis, who designed elaborate banquets and opulent menus. But these excesses were the domain of the court and nobility; locals ignored the excesses and continued eating local vegetables and beans, incorporating those into Tuscany's famous thick soups. Olive oil is so pervasive in Tuscan cooking that it's even used in sweets, such as the local favorite, castagnaccio, a cake made with chestnut flour, fennel, raisins, and pine nuts. Generally, desserts are as simple as Tuscans' other foods. A common after-dinner treat is biscotti dipped into a glass of amber-colored Vin Santo. Siena is home to panforte ("strong bread"), a rich, flat cake invented during the Crusades to sustain the troops. Tuscan wines are dominated by the local sangiovese grape, the backbone of the classic Chianti and full, deep Brunello.
|
