Home > The Tastes of Tradition > Fish, vegetables and sweets
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Fish, vegetables and sweets The meat is excellent, but the fantastic quality of the fresh fish of the Adriatic cannot be ignored, which finds it’s perfect culinary expression in the local “brodetto” (fish soup). Completing the rich range of Abruzzo agricultural products, is the fruit. Especially a rare variety of large mountain cherries, which grow in Raiano and Giuliano Teatino, together with some very juicy grapes from Tollo and Ortona. One of Italy’s most unique products is red garlic, which has been grown in Sulmona for centuries; particularly tasty and appreciated on the market. It’s also a strong medicine, thanks to its active enzymes and hormones. Its uniqueness comes from its red colour and the wealth of essential oils it contains, which give it an intense aroma and a very pungent taste. Red garlic is also the only ecotype in Italy to produce floral scape and is registered in the National Variety Register at the Department of Agriculture. Among the many spontaneous vegetables used in cooking, the “Orapi della Marsica”, a tasty wild asparagus used in the preparation of pasta dishes and omelettes and the Cupello artichoke both deserve to be mentioned. Also native to Abruzzo is the excellent and fragrant honey; produced almost everywhere, in natural and in many spiced varieties. Last but not least, there is a variety of exquisite traditional cakes. The most appreciated and well known are “Ferratelle” or “Neole”, the “Cicerchiata” (fried pastry ball cake with honey and almond coating), the “Pepatelli” from Teramo (fine bran cookies, with almonds and honey, but quite spicy); the “sise delle monache” (triangular pieces of sponge cake with confectioner’s cream) and “bocconotti frentani” (almonds and chocolate) which come from Guardiagrele. Sulmona is famous for its fine “Confetti” (sugared almonds) and L’Aquila for its soft nougat candy, with extra plain chocolate and its varieties of “Croccante” (lemon-spiced hard nougat). In addition, there is also The “Parrozzo”, which represents the most characteristic of the Abruzzo cakes. Abruzzo also boasts a tradition in typical liquors. “Centerba”, a strong digestive (70°), made by infusing a variety of medicinal herbs in alcohol for at least one month, “Vino cotto”, “Genzianella”, “ Nocino” and ”Ratafià” (made from sour black cherries fermented in the sun). |
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