Tag: seasoned

How are natural olives seasoned? – Italian Cuisine

Olives are an inevitable food in the pantry, an ingredient to enrich many dishes or the typical aperitif-saver. Here's how to prepare and season them at home

Let's face it: there cannot be an aperitif without it olives. One leads to another, like cherries. For this reason, it is good to always have them at home, to be served with chips, to whet the appetite.
And then an olive is never just an olive. The other day, in fact, I was at the market and there were so many varieties on the benches, and above all, all seasoned in a different and tasty way: spicy, garlic, parsley …
So, after buying some to have the stock in the pantry, I thought I'd make them at home. Here's how I did it. Below is the procedure for making the olives in brine and some advice on which ones aromas or spices use to dress them, while in our gallery I reveal some more curiosities about this fruit with a thousand beneficial nutritional properties.

Brine: debittering

If you buy or collect natural olives, you cannot eat them directly, as they have a bitter taste. So first go deamarizzate. There are two procedures. The first provides immersion in water: the olives must be covered completely and left in the liquid for two weeks, taking care to change the water twice a day. The second one instead, foresees the use of the sodium hydroxide: dip the olives, only after adding the soda to the water. Leave them covered with a cotton cloth for about 10 hours. Once ready, remove them and wash them at least 4 times with running water to remove the soda from the surface.

Brine: the process

After having oligarchized the olives, proceed with the brine, which includes 3 steps. The doses are intended for 1 kg of olives. Boil 1.5 liters of water with the addition of 120 grams of salt. Let the water cool, pour it into a container with a cap and immerse the olives. Close but without sealing, so as to let the fermentation gases out. Store the jar in the dark for a month. After a month, repeat the water boiling process, but this time adding 150 grams of salt. While the water is boiling, drain the olives from the first brine. Pour the second brine into the jar, dip the olives, close without sealing and place in the dark for another month. Finally, the third and last brine is identical as the procedure to the first two, only that it is less loaded with salt: only 90 g per 1.5 lt of water. The olives will be ready for consumption one month after this brine.

Seasoned olives: crushed Sicilian

Olives are good this way, natural, but they are even better seasoned. Such as? For example crushed, or rather large and fleshy olives crushed precisely with a meat tenderizer (or with a stone, according to the Sicilian tradition), first passed in brine and then rinsed, flavored with vinegar, garlic, chilli, oregano, parsley, bay leaves and fennel seeds and then preserved in oil, ready for use.

Olives seasoned with vegetables

Also from Sicily, this other seasoning variant arrives: after having passed the olives in brine, let them dry on a cloth for a few hours. Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables with which to season them: cut the onions into small cubes, clean the celery of their filaments and cut them into slices and cut the carrots into slices. Take a glass jar, where you put the olives together with the vegetables, cover with plenty of olive oil and two tablespoons of white vinegar, then add salt and pepper to taste. Serve as an aperitif or appetizer.

Olives seasoned with Roman

For this version, you need black olives, olive oil, salt and orange peel. Pass the black olives under water, then let them dry on a cloth. Chop the orange peels and dip them in a bowl with extra virgin olive oil, to which the dry olives are added later. Season with salt, leave to rest in the fridge for 12 hours, then serve on the table.

Olives with herbs or chilli

Do you like the spicy taste? Season them with the chili pepper like this: wash the olives, put them in a baking dish and dress them with a little oil. Add a few cloves of garlic and a bit of crumbled pepper. Stir and set aside in the fridge. After a few hours, they will be ready to be served. Do you prefer a decidedly less strong flavor? Repeat the process, but add only the parsley or oregano, for a fresher taste.

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Red, seasoned, hot: inimitable Tabasco – Italian Cuisine

And the spicy sauce most famous in the world. And even the one with the most attempts at imitation: it's 150 years that the Tabasco is (unnecessarily) copied. That is since, just after the end of the Civil War, in sunny Louisiana, Edmund McIlhenny tries to grow Capsicum frutescens seeds from the Mexican region of Tabasco Mexico, which were given to him by a traveler passing. Passionate about food, there sowing in the grounds around his Avery island house which, despite its name, is not surrounded by the sea but by swampy waters. But then the outbreak of civil war American forces him to flee. When he returns, years later, he finds the lands covered by chili Peppers in bloom. And the production is so abundant from push to make it a spicy sauce, using only two other "domestic" ingredients: the vinegar and the salt from the mines brought as a dowry by his wife. The recipe pleases, and much, to the point that it becomes famous throughout the Louisiana and so the enterprising McIlhenny decides to patent it and produce its large scale. within three years the Tabasco crosses the Atlantic and arrives in Europe. A great one success, immediate. But McIlhenny could never have imagined that, at the beginning of the third millennium, his sauce would have been sold as well 185 countries and labeled in 22 different languages?

From Louisiana with flavor
Today again Avery Island is the heart of Tabasco production, carried out by the descendants of McIlhenny (we are in the fifth generation of the family) using the recipe developed in the distant 1868 and the same three ingredients. They are the same members as family to select the best plants, whose seeds are treated, dried and stored in a vault, because they represent the "treasure" and the future of thecompany. The seeds are grown in greenhouse and only the best are transplanted to the fields. And when they begin to bear fruit, a member of the McIlhenny family inspects the peppers, evaluating them color and consistency. In fact one of the "secrets" of the goodness of the Tabasco it is the ability to identify the time of picking peppers, which occurs only when they are ripe at the right point, red and perfect. The control it is done in the traditional way: that is using a special stick with the shade of red that the berries must have. And only those that have the same color as the "petit bâton rouge"Can be collected, strictly by hand. The peppers must be processed within a few hours of harvesting. Indeed, on the same day they come collected, are transported to the factory where they are crushed and placed in white oak barrels together with a small amount of salt. As the first phase of fermentation is active, in the barrels holes are created and a layer of salt is placed on the lid so that the vapors and gases can escape but without being able to infiltrate theair (or external contamination).

For the Tabasco it takes time (three years)
The Tabasco is not a fast sauce, in fact it is really slow: the peppers must "Seasoned" for three years because just so long macerating succeed to concentrate and develop all their intense and incomparable taste. And, in fact, the fermentation they undergo to give the Tabasco the flavor and texture that it is feature. After 36 months, the barrels are opened and inspected: if the content exceeds the maturity test, it is mixed with quality white vinegar and left to rest for another four weeks, during which it is cured with attention. In the end the sauce it is filtered and subjected to a final quality control. Only the one that exceeds it becomes Tabasco: it is packaged in the classic red bottle cap fromlabel diamond-shaped and shipped throughout world.

Very hot experiences offered
Over the years at the Tabasco "original" other four versions have been added, which are distinguished by the recipe but, also, by the different degree of spiciness. Most mild (600-1200 Shu- Scoville heat units) is the green Tabasco, prepared with chillies jalapenos. For its fresh but intense taste, it is ideal with fish, vegetables and White meat and it is also inevitable in the classics of Mexican cuisine, such as burrito, tacos and guacamole. Climbing up the spicy scale, we meet Garlic (1200-1800 Shu), the Chipotle (1500-2500) and the classic Rojo (2500-5000). At the top, for those who love strong emotions, there is the Tabasco Habanero (5000-8000) in which these famous chillies very hot they mix with the sweet notes of mango, banana and papaya, and with the spicy touch of ginger and black pepper, giving the recipes a caribbean really special touch.

Ever tried it in ceviche?
Any ideas to enhance the Tabasco? Use it to give a hot touch to meat and grilled fish, fried eggs and potatoes boil, and also to vegetable creams and soups. Add it to the mayonnaise in the filling of the sandwiches or even put it on the pizza, instead of the spicy oil. Seafood and crustaceans marry very well with the spicy notes of Tabasco, to try on ceviche and tuna tartare, and on oysters. And then there is the whole world of mixology, the art of creating i cocktail selecting the ingredients and mixing them with creativity. Bartenders know that this famous hot sauce is essential in many recipes. Unthinkable to imagine a Bloody Mary or a Prairie Oyster without the warm touch of Tabasco. Seafood and shellfish go very well with the spicy notes of Tabasco to try on ceviche and tartare di tuna fish, or cuttlefish seasoned with a sweet and sour honey-based sauce e Tabasco and the very successful combination of Oysters and Tabasco just a few drops of sauce to give this union a spicy thrill.

Manuela Soressi
October 2019

Cheeses: better fresh or seasoned? – Italian Cuisine

In addition to the different taste and texture, each variety has its own nutritional characteristics and brings different benefits. Find out what to choose with the help of a nutritionist

The cheese has always been a main food of the Mediterranean gastronomic tradition. Fruit of ancient rural traditions, besides being a real excellence of our table, consumed in the right quantities ensures many benefits. It is an excellent source of calcium and vitamin D, important for combating bone fragility and the risk of osteoporosis. Moreover, it brings so many noble proteins, indispensable for the health of the muscles and for the correct functioning of the organism in general. He then has good doses of vitamin A, useful for eyesight and skin. There are different types and finding your way around is not easy. Besides the different taste and texture, each variety has its nutritional characteristics. For example, is it better to choose fresh or seasoned cheeses? Let's see with the help of the doctor Valentina Schirò, nutritionist biologist specialized in food science, what are the differences and how to exploit them at the table to the advantage of line and health.

Seasoned they have more protein

Both fresh and seasoned cheeses are good sources of high biological value proteins, that is rich in all nine essential amino acids useful for muscle building. «Compared to the fresh ones, however, the cheeses matured, in particular those based on cow's milk, contain them in greater quantities. Furthermore, they are more rich in vitamins and minerals, ”explains nutritionist Valentina Schirò. They then have another advantage. Grana, parmesan, pecorino and other mature cheeses can also be eaten by those who are lactose intolerant. In fact, with the maturing process, lactose, the sugar naturally contained in milk is present in fresh ones, is reduced enough to be present in small traces. Compared to the fresh ones, the seasoned ones have more fat and salt, which when consumed in excess promote high and overweight pressure. The advice is not to abuse it, eating them twice a week and limiting it to a portion of 50 grams .

Fresh they have less fat and calories

Ricotta, stracchino and other fresh cheeses compared to the seasoned ones provide a lower caloric intake and are more suitable for those on a diet provided, however, that they are consumed in the right quantities. «You can eat a maximum of twice a week limiting yourself to a portion of 100 grams for ricotta and 80 grams for all the others. One of their advantages is that they are composed of 80% water and provide less calories and sometimes less fat, as in the case of ricotta or primosale .

How to combine them at the table

To avoid the risk of getting fat, the advice "is to always read the information on the label, focusing in particular on the content of fat and sodium (salt), preferring the varieties that contain smaller quantities and eating them at most a couple of times a week and comuqnue as an alternative to eggs, meat and fish. Furthermore, to limit the intake of excess cholesterol, which is harmful to the health of the heart and arteries, whether fresh or seasoned, it is advisable to always accompany them to a nice portion of vegetables, which provides many fibers that help to lower the levels of "bad" cholesterol (LDL) and to raise the "good" (HDL) and promote satiety which helps to limit consumption ".