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GASTRONOMY AND LOCAL PRODUCTS
A tour in the Pratomagno is also a tour to discover the real
flavours, which often have been forgotten today.
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A
complete visit in the Pratomagno can not exclude some stops at
the restaurants and inns where you find delicious dishes. The privileged
relationship between man and his land is underscored in the dishes
which are prepared with care and with products from the land or the
forest. The main actor is the chestnut which since ancient times has
been used in the local cuisine as it was easy to find in the clean
forests of the Pratomagno.
The chestnuts can be conserved in coffee, in Vin Santo or in
red wine after having being roasted and peeled over a wooden fire.
After 15 days over the chestnut wood fire the fruit is dried and peeled
warm. The chestnuts are then selected and further on conserved as
"dry chestnuts", or used as flour or delicious creams. A
peculiarity of the chestnut flour of the Pratomagno is that the chestnuts
before being grind, are roasted to preserve their nutritive characteristics
and to give the flour its nut colour. Sometimes the old way of grinding
is still used with stone or water mills. With the excellent chestnuts
of the Pratomagno the inhabitants prepare the castagnaccio or creams
to use for sweets.
Another product of the gastronomy of the Pratomagno is the
"zolfino bean", which is one of the seven typical
Italian products which is disappearing. Refined, delicious, expensive,
selected and even copied as other famous brand products made in Italy,
the zolfino bean has survived the law of the market, which does not
pay attention to the taste and the quality of the food, thanks to
some farmers who have continued to produce it for family use. Today,
thanks to the increasing interest in the real cuisine, the bean has
conquered a vaster sector of consumers, though still being a very
selected product. Victim of the supermarket culture, where the products
are big, beautiful and bright, the zolfino bean is no longer present
on the table though it is actually a gourmet product.
Today we are able to discover the zolfino bean with its characteristics:
the yellow peel, the colour of the sulphur, so thin that it melts
in the mouth, the pulp is thick and creamy and can be used for the
traditional dishes of Tuscany such as the ribollita and the bottled
beans. These dishes had to be made with less aromatic beans as it
was impossible to find the zolfino bean which gave the right flavour.
The area where the zolfino bean grows is around the Valdarno
side of the Pratomagno, and the cultivated land is not bigger than
400 hectares which gives around 300 tons/year of beans, which is no
longer enough to satisfy the market. The bean is collected in August
and September, so if you want to try this bean you better come during
these months.
Apart from the chestnut and the bean, the Pratomagno is also
famous for its excellent prosciutto (ham) from both pig and wild boar,
the tasty sauces for the home-made pasta and the excellent vegetables.
The vegetables are preserved in the local extra virgin olive oil,
or are used to prepare sauces which are then preserved in glass-bottles
to keep the freshness. It is definitely worth to buy some products
to be able to discover the real flavours of the Pratomagno at home.
Meat-lovers will not be disappointed in the Pratomagno as it
features a vast selection from wild meat to pork and beef, grilled,
made in oven or stewed in tomato sauce. Chicken and hare are roasted
or stewed, and are also used to prepare sauces for the pasta. The
liver is used to make delicious crostini (toasted bread with liver
topping).
The fishes from the rivers of the Pratomagno will end up in the dish.
Once the fish was often salted or smoked to be conserved but today
the trout, roach, barbel and eel are fried , cooked or stewed. The
bread is delicious and prepared according to the local tradition.
The old bread (2 days old) is often used in the dishes such as the
minestra di pane (soup with bread) panzanella alla Castiglionese (bread
salad). |
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