Tag: beautiful

Citrus, a beautiful fruit story (and much more!) – Italian Cuisine

An entrepreneurial project born from the idea of a mother and daughter after a moment of crisis. Citrus enhances Italian and seasonal fruit and vegetables, also communicating the importance of prevention through nutrition

The one of Citrus it's a good story. A story of failure and rebirth, of complicity between a mother and a daughter, a story of strength, perseverance and entrepreneurial creativity by two women. But above all Citrus means Italian fruit and vegetables is Seasonal, minor varieties rediscovered and precious for health, ethical and controlled supply chain crops, social agriculture, support for scientific research, sustainable packaging.

A difficult moment transformed into an opportunity

The project was born in Cesena in 2015 from the experience in the fruit and vegetable sector of Paola Pappalardo and from the passion of the daughter Marianna Palella for marketing, communication and graphics, but in reality it all begins much earlier, when the family business does not stand up to the economic crisis of 2008. "We are born from the desire to transform a difficult moment into an opportunity – says Marianna – When we lost everything, my mom and I started talking a lot, in long phone calls of self-criticism and reflection. Unbeknownst to us, those chats were brainstorming where we looked for ideas for innovate a sector, the fruit and vegetable sector, which has always remained the same and to communicate in a new way the importance of consuming fruit and vegetables".

The rediscovery of the verdello lemon

The first intuition was to enhance the lemons of Sicily throughout the year, offering them not treated on the surface and in theirs three different blooms. One of these is the green lemon, a summer lemon, small and green in color, little known and, indeed, often confused with an unripe fruit or a lime. "The absurdity is that in Sicily the verdello was left to rot on the plants because the sale did not cover the production costs, preferring instead a foreign lemon which, in counter season, offers large and yellow citrus fruits ”. Immediately then, Paola and Marianna find in Umberto Veronesi Foundation an ideal partner for their project: "We did not want to limit ourselves to saying to consume fruit and vegetables: through our products we immediately wanted to sensitize consumers about a healthier food culture. Our citrus fruits are in no way treated on the surface so that they can be grated and enjoy the precious molecule in peace. D-Limonene contained in the peel ".

Bergamot enters a supermarket for the first time

The verdello lemon of Citrus the Italian Garden accompanied by this educational communication was so successful in supermarkets that it was decided to expand the range of products: "By pure chance, during one of our production trips, we came across the Calabrian bergamot, a wonderful citrus fruit that immediately made us fall in love with its intense fragrance and multiple beneficial properties. The bergamot, also known as the green gold of Calabria, it had never been marketed in supermarkets (there was not even a code to identify it!). We thus began to rediscover it, enhancing its rich presence in flavonoids, which promote the cardiovascular system and the regulation of cholesterol. With this operation we have contributed in our small way to favoring the economic development of the territory ".

Support for producers and research

Citrus l'Orto Italiano products come from ethical and controlled supply chains that operate respecting the environment using farming methods such as integrated pest management, organic, zero residue (new entry is the line of legumes and cereals). The producers are gathered under the Agricultural cooperative The Leaves which allows Citrus to support the social agriculture project, capable of generating and redistributing value along the entire supply chain, starting from a fair remuneration of the production base.

Since its birth Citrus has decided to spontaneously donate gods funds to support scientific research promoted by the Umberto Veronesi Foundation: in 4 years of activity, 32 researchers were financed through one-year scholarships. "A special initiative of which we are exclusive partners is Lemons for Research that this year in just two weeks, despite the Covid-19 emergency, has allowed us to raise 240 thousand euros for scientific research ".

Smart and sustainable peaches

The latest product launched by Citrus is the yellow pulp peaches and the nuts peaches nectarines proposals in a smart and sustainable packaging, ideal to carry with you in your bag or backpack: "This product combines the practicality and sustainability of the tasteful packaging by offering the fruits at the right degree of ripeness, ready to be eaten. The packaging is environmentally friendly and made only of FSC certified paper. Being a project that starts from the Earth, we cannot but love and respect it ”.

The peaches of Citrus the Italian Garden

Looking to the future, generational exchange and positivity: the ingredients of success

“We represent a market niche, but in our own small way we hope to make our contribution to the issues of prevention through food, environmental sustainability, fair pay to farmers. Consumers are changing and are increasingly sensitive, curious and informed, perhaps when we started this journey few were aware of it.

If we are here today I have to thank my mom for giving me confidence and space to act even if he did not always fully share my ideas and for giving me the opportunity to make mistakes, only to rush to remedy them. My message is from don't let yourself down, but to accept situations, even the most difficult ones, because from a moment of crisis, as is also the one we are experiencing now, many beautiful stories can be born, like ours! ".

the most beautiful "kiosk" on the beach in Italy – Italian Cuisine

A destination for gourmets from all over the world and a pop place where you can buy croissants in costume, have lunch for € 12, have an aperitif or dinner with "divine susci". The democratic dream of chef Moreno Cedroni turns 20, and that's why it's really so special

Algida ice cream, coffee drunk in costume, bottles of fresh water. The Clandestino Susci Bar by Moreno Cedroni it is one of the most photographed restaurants in Italy, one of the most evocative, the place to eat the "Italian-style susci", a place that deserves a Michelin star with low hands for cooking, but which remains first and foremost a beach bar , the free one.

The free beach

There Portonovo bay, along the Conero, in the Marche, is the Ancona beach, who arrive by motorbike with a towel under their arm, tupperware with rice salad inside and compete for places in the shade under the Clandestino, which in addition to being a kiosk also becomes a public space, such as a saving umbrella and screen.

This wonderful social experiment, as well as gastronomic and entrepreneurial, now turns 20: many have passed since the song Clandestino of Manu Chao it was the catchphrase of the summer. It was the July 10, 2000 and the Clandestine opened the doors to his first guests, it was the dawn of the new millennium, and much has changed since then (so that everything would remain the same).

It takes 10 minutes to serve you a fried and undercooked amberjack on the table, but it took 20 years of experience to make it

Il Clandestino has become a symbol of the beauties of Italy, gourmet destination for international customers, invariably mentioned in the services on the most spectacular restaurants, it marked the "reform" of a dish now famous as sushi, which has become the hands of chef Moreno Cedroni, susci. Here i was born seafood sandwiches (yes, those you see everywhere) and to book you have to move well in advance. Not for this, however, the Clandestine has become, like many other similar places, a stranger to his land, elitist and gradually more and more inaccessible to its historical customers and people in the area. He did not become an illegal immigrant, but remained a proud citizen.

The secret of the Clandestine

The secret is in being able to live different lives, from the morning with the gourmet breakfasts (for € 12), for the lunch on the beach with the mythical Shrimp hot dog, Sandwich with white tuna or the one with cod (12 € with side dish). The aperitif is equally popular: drinks + tapas for € 10, with games like mortadella and champagne. The crowded day beach is depopulated as the sunset approaches, the costumed girls who buy croissants give way to gentlemen in shirts and we find ourselves at dinner time alone, in silence, suspended on the sea and with the horizon that turns blue from pink, then orange, in a play of light that goes beyond the normal concept of romance.

The magical dinner

At dinner you can, but also not, make a complete tasting menu, of different courses, but which I would not dare define the bistrot of the Madonnina del Pescatore, two Michelin stars in nearby Senigallia, where it all began. At lunch the formula is that of the bistro, but at dinner the kitchen follows its own line dedicated to sea fish and which has seen history and literature intertwine, the imaginary myths of fairy tales with those that really existed in the fifties.
By 2020 the susci is divine, alias inspired by the gods of ancient Greece. Cedroni like Zeus, on Monte Conero as on Monte Olimpo, play with the myths of Dionysus or Aphrodite for a surprising dinner that starts from a Icicle of mead, myrtle, chews, evaporated vermouth and chinotto and goes through a Scallop, elder puree, quinoa, burnt parsley. Pure fine dining, with a lot of raw for an "Italian style" that was born to talk to us, indeed to speak even to Moreno's mother (as she writes in one of her many books), for gastronomically intelligible to everyone; in years when raw fish was still viewed with suspicion. Without lemon, oil or soy in which to drown the flavor, but a continuous study of each type of pulp, consistency, fatness and combination in a Mediterranean key. You can enjoy dinner without puzzling too much, but fascinated by the dishes more than by the view, and at dessert time you are immersed in the darkness and you only hear the surf of the waves. The kitchen? Very small, that of a kiosk on the beach with two micro environments where magic is performed. To direct it all, Massimo Franzin, together with a team of guys dressed in white, smiling like few others, who manage to interpret a professional service, but super relaxed and spontaneous.

It all seems easy now, but to get this far took two decades, a storm, maintenance work and a lot of perseverance. It is not a new opening, after all there are no big news and then you just end up talking about how beautiful the place is or being heard "already heard": the dishes would be equally good even if eaten in front of a white wall and of places like that there are actually few, maybe none. It takes 10 minutes to serve you a fried and undercooked amberjack on the table, but it took 20 years of experience to make it.

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How to make beautiful eco-friendly origami with the KitKat wrapper – Italian Cuisine

A new version of the snack debuts in Japan, with white chocolate and ocean salt: here are the instructions to transform the wrapping into turtles and dolphins (respecting the environment)

The Japanese obsession with the KitKat it is well known all over the world. Anyone who has had the opportunity to visit the country of the Rising Sun was impressed by the incredible popularity of the home-made snack Nestlé, available in dozens of different variations, ranging from the edition to matcha tea to that flavored with cherry blossoms. From great power, however, derive great responsibilities, as Spider-Man rightly reminds us since the dawn of time: and this is how Nestlé decided to take the field against the potential pollution of theenvironment precisely due to the wraps of his KitKat. First by replacing plastic packaging with a more sustainable paper material, and now with a special initiative that winks at the art of origami, reminding us of the importance of respecting our seas.

In fact, a new edition of the snack has appeared in the stores in Tokyo and its surroundings, christened Ocean Salt. Topped with white chocolate bar and added sea salt to give the right contrast between sweet and savory. But also with a very special packaging, with some of the inhabitants of the sea and that can be folded and folded on itself to give life to a series of nice origami.

On the official portal of KitKat Japan then you can find the instructions – developed by the artist Fumiaki Shingu – to be followed step by step to create one sea turtle, to a seal, to a dolphin or, again, to a manta ray. All with the aim of reminding aspiring origami masters that even an apparently harmless snack wrapper can become a real problem for nature and animals. And that it is therefore better to enhance it, transforming it into a small work of art in paper. Or, alternatively, recycling it properly.

An entrepreneurial project born from the idea of ​​a mother and daughter after a moment of crisis. Citrus enhances Italian and seasonal fruit and vegetables, also communicating the importance of prevention through nutrition