The saffron routes are endless. After flavoring the most unusual foods, from pecorino to honey to liqueurs and beer; enriched cosmetics with its anti-aging virtues and given good humor (it contains the same active ingredient as Prozac, fluoxetine), the most precious spice amazes us with a new look: the saffron® ingot. The idea is of a young entrepreneur from Brescia, Matteo Bertoli, which has patented small rectangular "bricks", of 20 grams each, made from the finest saffron and liquid cocoa butter: the ingots, in fact, that already from the name allude to preciousness and are enclosed in elegant packages like jewels. After all, the purple spice is also called red gold and its value can exceed that of the noble metal (on average 20-35 euros per gram or more, gold is worth about 36).
Derived from purple flower of the Crocus sativus, saffron is enclosed in pistils, gently separated by hand from the corolla, and then dried: they are needed 150,000 flowersi for every kilo of spicy powder, so precious. Iran is the first producerand to the world (around 95%) but small crops of excellence are also found in Italy, which boasts well 3 Dop (the Saffron of Sardinia, that of L'Aquila and that of San Gimignano in Tuscany) and plots throughout the peninsula.
Right from the local saffron the is born ingot. Matteo Bertoli, artistic studies but family agricultural traditions, decides to revive abandoned fields. The clayey nature of the soil, unsuitable for cereals, pushes it towards the cultivation of saffron, which others in Lombardy have started. The experiment works: the harvest is of excellent quality "but, as Matteo explains, to market the spice an idea was needed, which went beyond the sachets and the pistils and was also of immediate use, without having to dilute the saffron in water" . And here is the intuition of mix the spice with liquid cocoa butter, then lowered into a mold.
Such as it's used so the ingot? It goes grated on finished dishes, in large flakes or in thin curls, perhaps also on the table for a spectacular effect: with its soft consistency it blends with the most diverse foods and lights them with spicy and elegant glow, without covering its flavors. "Gestures are reminiscent of truffles and bottarga, other gems of Made in Italy," adds Matteo. "But the ingot can be used on any plate, from risotto to pasta, from egg to fish, to desserts and to cocktail, as we experimented with the star chef Giuliana Germiniasi and the bartender Marco Loda ".
Here's one recipe and two cocktail (designed by Marco Loda) to try
Avocado toast with fried egg and saffron
1. Toast 2 slices of bread. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium-low heat pan. Gently break 2 eggs into the pan and cook them until the albumis have firmed, leaving the yolk soft; remove them from the fire.
2. Private 1 medium avocado of the rind and divide it into 2 equal parts. With a fork, crush each portion on a slice of toasted bread.
3. Season the avocado with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 1 of olive oil, salt, a few grains of fresh pepper and chopped chilli pepper to taste.
4. Cover each avocado toast with the egg by placing it on the more cooked side, season with salt and complete grating over 1/4 of ingot of Matteo Bertoli saffron. Serve immediately.
Aromatic laboratory
1. Pour into the Boston shaker glass filled with ice a mixture of Bitter Campari and Rabarbaro Zucca in a ratio of 2 to 1.
2. Stir vigorously and strain into a flute-like glass previously edged with a mixture of 3 equal parts of white beet sugar, Maldon salt and pure licorice crystals.
3. Add 3 cl of passion fruit soda and saffron. To prepare it, dissolve 0.5 g of Matteo Bertoli saffron in 500 ml of lukewarm water, let it cool and add 200 ml of natural passion fruit juice. Pour it all into the 1 l siphon, carbonate with the appropriate cartridge and let it cool in the refrigerator before using (duration of the mixture 24 hours).
Fat infused Martini
1. Prepare 1 l of your favorite Martini by diluting it with a percentage of natural mineral water not exceeding 15%.
2. Meanwhile melt 200 g of Matteo Bertoli saffron® in a bain-marie. Then transfer it into a glass bottle, with an airtight cap, of 1 l capacity and begin to cool the walls first with cold water then in water and ice, until the previously melted ingot has completely solidified adhering to the bottle walls.
3. Pour your favorite Martini into the bottle and let it sit in the refrigerator for a minimum of 10 days. Serve very cold directly in iced Martini cups.
Marina Cella
April 2019
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