Gastronomy

 

The province of Crotone offers a varied and original gastronomy. It is a poor kitchen but only as far as the ingredients are concerned. The prevailing products of the earth are: mushrooms, eggplant, tomatoes, fennel, asparagus and chicory. The bread is also optimal it is also the bread, especially that of Verzino and Savelli. The salamis have very strong tastes: sausages, soppressata (a spicy sausage), capocollo and n'dugghia. Among the cheeses we should mention the “provole” of the Sila, the “ricotta salata”, the butirro (which is a cheese called caciocavallo with butter inside) and the pecorino.

Among the typical dishes plates we have: the covatelli with Bolognese sauce made with pork and “alici in tortiera”. In all dishes chilli pepper prevails, produced in different varieties and destined to flavour a great part of the local dishes.

In homage to an antique tradition, it is inspired by simple recipes of a popular gastronomy that proposes authentic specialities. An example is “u quadaru”, a delicious fish soup that the fishermen sometimes prepare on the river for the return trip from the sea.
Traditional is also “u nunnatu”, that is of little omelettes made of small fish that have just came out of their larval state (from here the name that means baby); these are accompanied by a very hot sauce called the “sardella”, which gives flavour to a great part of the dishes in the gastronomic tradition of Crotone.

If the kitchen is of strong taste, equally intense are the wines, generally red, and of great variety. Of the wine cellars of Cirò, Melissa, Val di Neto and S.Anna are recommended. It is possible to find everywhere, the naturally preserved products, at the basis of the Calabrian kitchen: mushrooms such as the “fungi porcini and the rositi”, eggplants, chilli peppers either dried or preserved in oil, the “frisulimiti”, a gelatine with pork skin, olives, anchovies and many other specialties.

The sweets are simple and derive from the orient, like the “pitta 'nchiusa”, a rose made of pastry enriched with sultanas and flavourings, the “puccidrati”, the “mostaccioli”, sweets made with flour and honey, made into the various shapes and decorated with inlays of coloured paper.

The local wine

From Magna Graecia onwards, the history of the regioni s indissolubly linked whit that of its wines. The vine has always played a very important role in the economy of Calabria, as well as influencing the farming system, the customs and culture of local communities. To be peasant civilisation of this region goes the merit of having accumulated, over the centuries, a storehouse of aenological knowledge of incalculable value.

The Calabrian wines are numerous and diversified as a result of the various combinations of vine species, environments and wine-making techniques. Amongst those with the D.O.C. seal of quality an outstanding wine is Cirò, an ancient wine which it seems was offered to the winners of the Olympics and which takes its name from the area in which a temple dedicated to Bacchus once stood. Calabria boasts twelve wines which have been awarded the D.O.C. seal: Bivongi, Cirò, Donnici, Greco di Bianco, Lamezia, Melissa, Pollino, S. Anna, Savuto. Furthermore, thirteen wines have received the I.G.T. seal (Typical Geographical Indication). In addition, a large number of quality table wines are appreciated on both national and foreign markets.