Il Mostra Artiginati, The Artisanal Fair in Firenze: Day One

This was my invitation to Il Mostra Artiginati, 2014 held in Firenze, Italy,  in late April, a three day festival of hand-crafted, small batch, gorgeously delicious or possibly deliciously gorgeous, food. It was food made by the people who were there sharing it with us.

In front of the mostra, the big sign, the vespa. Andiamo, Marlena!

One thing you should know about me now if you don’t know it already: there is nothing i love quite as much as a food fair: and by that i mean a wonderful food fair, a regional food fair, and most especially: an artisanal food fair.  At a food fair–and especially HERE, at an Italian food fair,  my motto is: walk walk stop nosh and walk again. Talk to the people who make the goodies, taste the stories they tell you about, learn from them the forests and the workshops, the animals and the bakeries, the gardens and the dairies….and the people who devote their lives to this most delicious of crafting: creating Italy’s specialities. Here are a few things I discovered trawling the aisles the first day:

Piles and piles of the most luscious jams and preserves: these were preserves of wild fruits from the island of Sardinia, each jar more fragrant and delectable than the next. The peach was so delicious i had to close my eyes to enjoy it while i let it settle in my mouth. It tasted like the first peach ever, like a poem of a peach, awash in sweetness and fragrance. The wild pear was amazing too, as was the myrtle, and the lemon: omigod, the limone! how could i have forgotten the limone? it was a marmalade, yes, but fragrant and SOUR, sour like and fragrant like a lemon, with just enough sweetness to make it delectable. If you are going to eat only one of their products it would have to be the lemon, but why choose? all of the preserves are amazing. They also have honey from their bees, and the honey tastes like the wild flower and herbs of sardinia. www.bioareste.it

Huge piles of crusty, rustic bread including one loaf so large it was like a piece of sculpture (thats the one at the bottom, but to be honest all of the loaves in the pile were massive).

There were spices from Italy’s southern neighbour, North Africa…..

And bins upon bins of that Southern Italian–Puglia, Napoli–crunchy round snack, so good with a glass of wine: Taralli. Taralli are somewhere between a pretzel and a round breadstick with a hint of bagel-ness in their shiney exterior. They are at their quintessential best with a glass of wine.

Taralli can be plain, or seasoned with black or red pepper, fennel seeds, other spices; below we have a tarallo that was as unusual as it was delicious: made with cima di rape, or broccoli rabe. sooooo good! Slightly green, fragrant, and so crunchy.

Thought i would swoon from the scent alone of these Neapolitan lemons, from the Amalfi coast. Like a true Napolitana i was tempted to slip one into my handbag but i had vowed to be a good girl about such things, this trip. Wish you could smell these lemons, though…..like walking through a lemon grove of the sweetest, most fragrant lemons imaginable.

ahhhhh Morelli sausage, these–especially the truffled salsicche, shown here–were AMAZING! I brought back a bagful and have been putting truffle sausages into nearly everything, from omelets to sauteed chicken, pasta to risotto, soooooo truffle-licious. and just that right salty-umami-chewy of a great dried salami-like sausage! I don’t know if they’ll sell you the truffled salami internationally, but its worth visiting their website to see: www.anticanorcineriamorelli.com .  Having a few truffled dried sausages, like, little salami-ettes, in your kitchen is a life-changing event.

And this, this was the most beautiful of balsamicos: thick, reduced essence of must and vinegar and wine and everything as it ages down to make balsamico of modena. if i close my eyes i can feel as if i’m still licking the spoon…….sweet, tangy, grapey, deep, dark, oh when it comes to balsamico, its like: are there enough adjectives? This beautiful bottle-full of sticky, thick, oh wait, i think i have enough adjectives, anyhow, delicious stuff: its D.O.P Acetaia La Tradizione Soc. Coop. In other words, from the Modena balsamic vinegar co-operative consortium. www.acetaialatradizione.com

A mountain of fresh tortelloni, filled with delicate ricotta, cooked up into samples:

Tasting portions were tiny, but sooooooo luscious. Of course we went back for seconds, wouldn’t you?

Endless fresh cheeses, and yes yes yes, i do believe these are TRUFFLED fresh cheeses.

And fresh ricotta……..

And a pile of smoke-scented homemade bacon and air-dried sausages……i think the guy is distracted, do you want to grab a chunk or should I?

And because after miles of walking and noshing, nibbling and walking along, we were….like…..hungry! The artisanal pizza truck of Napoli was there when we needed it. There were old fashioned Neapolitan songs playing, as we sat on wooden benches under a tent to keep off the rain, and ate this fabulous wood-oven made Neapolitan pizza. Margharita, the simplest and i always think best way of tasting Napoli: tomatoes, fresh mozzarella (actually fior di latte, the cows milk mozza) and one, maybe two, basil leaves. The luscious puddle of olive oil sort of evaporated by the time i got it from the counter to our table, and left behind only moistened, tender crust underneath the tomato and cheese.  This truck could rival Napoli’s finest, pizza-wise.