Tag: bergamot

Risotto with bergamot, the fragrant recipe that is good for you – Italian Cuisine


It is the right time to prepare a good bergamot risotto and we are ready to explain why! Here is our fragrant recipe with beneficial properties

The bergamot it has a shape similar to that of orange, but its skin is bright yellow and its scent is very intense. In Calabria, where it finds its natural habitat, it is called "green gold". And in fact, bergamot is really precious, thanks to its properties, such as the high content of flavonoids who work on regulating the cholesterol and as potentials anticancer.

The best time to enjoy bergamot is from October up to half April, that's why we decided to prepare a recipe right now that will make it the absolute protagonist.

Risotto with bergamot: recipe

To prepare the bergamot risotto we will need its peel. For this we used bergamot from Citrus, absolutely untreated after harvest, so that it can also be eaten with the zest, rich in beneficial properties.

Ingredients

600 g Vegetable broth
240 g Arborio Superfine Rice
50 g Castelmagno
1 Untreated Bergamot
Butter
Onion
pepper
salt

Method
Chop a quarter of an onion and sauté it in a pan with a knob of butter. When the onion has taken on a transparent color, add the rice and toast it for a couple of minutes.
Sprinkle with the hot broth and add a pinch of salt. Stir until the rice has absorbed all the liquids.
At this point, keep adding broth and stirring until the rice is completely cooked. This will take approximately 18 minutes.
Remove the risotto from the heat and stir in the Castelmagno and finely grated Bergamot peel.

Citrus, the Italian Garden

Citrus is the Italian company, founded by Marianna Palella and from Paola Pappalardo, Which focuses on Italian varieties considered "minor", but which hide valuable nutritional benefits. Always fresh fruit and vegetables arrive on our tables only after a rigorous control of the supply chain.

Marianna Palella, CEO of Citrus, stated that "bergamot is one of the brand's symbolic products which, after being rediscovered 5 years ago by Citrus, has gone from being considered" niche "to being extremely appreciated and in demand at national. All this, of course, by means of an efficient and innovative ethical chain that follows all the steps, from collection to distribution. "

Risotto with castelmagno and bergamot recipe – Italian Cuisine

Risotto with castelmagno and bergamot recipe


  • 350 g Carnaroli rice
  • 130 g castelmagno cheese
  • 150 g toasted walnuts and pine nuts
  • 1 bergamot
  • butter
  • vegetable broth
  • dry white wine

toast the rice in a knob of butter for 3-4 minutes, then blend it with a splash of white wine.
Take cook by pouring the boiling broth a little at a time, about 1 liter, in 13-15 minutes. Stir in 50 g of butter and 100 g of castelmagno.
serve the risotto, completing with toasted walnuts and pine nuts, another crumbled castelmagno and a little grated bergamot zest.
To know: if you don't find bergamot, replace it with lime.

The revenge of the Bergamot of Reggio Calabria – Italian Cuisine

The revenge of the Bergamot of Reggio Calabria


A production that is in crisis in the seventies also because of the construction industry that eats all the soils of the Bergamot. But then, from below, comes the rebirth and today for its healthy and organoleptic characteristics it is much loved in the kitchen

We really risked losing it. Then, a revolution started from below, animated above all by Ezio Pizzi, current president of the Consortium for the Protection of the Bergamot of Reggio Calabria, which has set fire to the minds of the Bergamotticultori and has made possible the rebirth of this citrus fruit. But not only: returning to the cultivation of bergamot has taken land away from construction and inaugurated a new season also in the kitchen.

The bergamot in Calabria

Its origins are still uncertain. According to some sources it seems to come from China, according to others it is instead the result of the encounter with citrus fruits from Turkey. What is certain is that it is a cross between grapefruit, lemon and lime, or lime and that there are mainly three cultivars: fantastic, which is the most widespread and profitable; femminello, which is similar; is castagnaro, which due to its fluctuating yield has almost disappeared. Despite not knowing with certainty its origin, over the years it has spread to the province of Reggio Calabria, where it has found its ideal climate especially in those marvelous 120 kilometers of Ionian coast, including the one that has been defined the most beautiful kilometer in Italy, in Aspromonte.

The bergamot crisis

It was in the 1970s, with the building boom and the obsession with brick, that the production of bergamot entered a seemingly incurable crisis: it was the period in which the crops were only pieces of land taken from the buildings and in which the production of bergamot it is not a profitable activity like building, even more so on the sea. Furthermore, at the time, bergamot did not even have a food destination: it was used, in fact, only as an essential oil in the cosmetics and, once the juice has been extracted, as animal feed. But these are the years in which even the farms are severely arrested, as they are part of the general abandonment of work in the countryside, and of the growing emigration to the north. To further aggravate the situation is a sentence that declares it even carcinogenic, probably as a targeted action to feed and incentivize the building market. As a matter of fact, of the 3 thousand hectares cultivated in the fifties, of bergamot there are only a few thousand.

The rebirth of bergamot

With the new century, the destiny of the Calabrian citrus is revived, in particular thanks to the work of Ezio Pizzi who promotes the union of the various remaining bergamotticoltori. «I could not accept that such a unique product suffered harassment from multinationals and other categories. We absolutely had to go back to believing, to join and re-evaluate our bergamot . Thus was born, from the bottom of the note, the Consortium for the Protection of the Bergamot of Reggio Calabria, which also became the second in Europe to obtain PDO recognition (after lavender). Today there are about 600 producers and 486 companies, from the smallest of about 10 hectares, to the largest of 40, like that of the president. From this moment on, it is also decided that to enhance the product the price can only increase, without ever decreasing; but above all it starts to be used also in the kitchen. And this is where the real turning point comes.

The turning point in the kitchen

The change of direction takes place following the result of some analyzes, which reveal how much the principles present in the pulp inhibit the formation of cholesterol in the blood. It is with this news that the interest in the kitchen is turned on, so above all for health reasons, with continuous cooking shows on possible uses. Here the bergamot proves to be excellent for marinate fish and meat without altering the flavor, as it is perfect to contain the strong taste of game or, again, thanks to its bitterness that well balances the sugars, it depopulated in confectionery in desserts, cakes, ice creams, juices, jams, honey, candies, soft drinks, liqueurs (bergamino). But the best of it is given as an element of novelty in haute cuisine: it is appropriate to mention the Sibari risotto with asparagus cream and bergamot prawn tartare prepared by chef Giuseppe Romano of the ME Restaurant in Vibo Marina, a profound connoisseur and active promoter of the products of his own land (acquired); as well as his wife Eleonora Marcello enhances it perfectly in desserts.

Waiting for the recognition as Unesco Heritage, for the very high nutritional, social and cultural value of this product, the president Ezio Pizzi concludes as follows: «If every Italian consumed at least one bergamot a year, we would double the production, thus giving more work in a difficult area such as Aspromonte and the province of Reggio Calabria .

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