Perla di Puglia

Apulia or Puglia is a region in southeastern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its southern portion known as Salento, a peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises 19,345 km² (7,469 square miles), and its population is about 4 million. It is bordered by the other Italian regions of Molise to the north, Campania to the west, and Basilicata to the southwest. It neighbors Greece and Albania, across the Ionian and Adriatic Seas, respectively. The region extends as far north as Monte Gargano, and was the scene of the last stages in the Second Punic War.

Since 2008, Apulia is more and more being considered as "the new Toscany" by various international media. Various national and international housing projects, a booming local economy and an enormous pull of tourism proof this region is "one to watch".

Situated at the south-eastern tip of the Italian peninsula, Apulia covers over 19,357 km2 in succession of broad plains and low-lying hills. The only mountainous areas, the Gargano promontory and the Monti Dauni, do not exceed 1,150 m and are to be found in the north of Apulia, which is the least mountainous region in Italy.

Apulia is a dry and sunny region. Its few rivers are torrential and are to be found on the Tavoliere delle Puglie, a tableland at the foot of the Gargano promontory that is one of the largest and agriculturally most productive plains in Italy. Elsewhere, rainwater permeates the limestone bedrock to form underground watercourses that resurface near the coast. Groundwater is therefore abundant, and there are many caves and potholes. The caves at Castellana Grotte are particularly spectacular.

Food

The food of Puglia has changed little since the fall of the Roman Empire, the traditions and techniques of its cooking carrying the heritage of its Greek and Mediterranean culture. Little trace has been left of its various rulers but the ingredients gained through its conquests. These were absorbed to enrich and supplement the diet. Its cooking remains as simple and basic as it was 3000 years ago; through its strong heritage and family traditions, the tastes and flavours have survived, handed down from generation to generation, and have become an integral part of the whole community. In the taste, flavour and cooking technique, there is no class divide, though the wealthy ate more meat and finer fish more often, and a wider variety of fruit and vegetables.

Pugliese cuisine is based around its main ingredients, which are: olive oil, durum wheat, vegetables, fish and dairy. Meat such as lamb, horse, farmyard animals was eaten on special occasions.
Olive oil is the only fat used in cooking, and for preserving food. It is even used to make biscuits and sweet pastries. (Butter and lard has no place in the Puglian kitchen).

Puglia is the biggest producer of olive oil in Italy, and on a visit to this region, you would see acres and acres of ancient olive plantations with their twisted tree trunks forming natural sculptures in the landscape. Wheat and durum wheat are used to make bread and home made pasta, a large part of the diet. Puglia makes some of the best bread in Italy – the Roman historian Pliny praises the bread from the area of Altamura, whose bread made from durum wheat now has DOP status. Bread here is sacred : to waste or throw it away it was a sin. Stale bread is used in a large variety of ways, such as bread salad (Acqua Sala), and combined with pecorino cheese, garlic and parsley to make stuffings, dumplings (polpette) with or without meat, deep-fried or in a soup, or generously sprinkled onto seafood (Cozze Racanate – Gratinated Mussels), or onto vegetables.

There is a long tradition of home made fresh pasta in Puglia, a tradition inherited from its Greek ancestors. Dried pasta only began to appear in 1930-40 and was a luxury. For centuries, pasta was made at home with semolina, salt and warm water in a variety of shapes; cavatelli (pasta curls) for soup or combined with pulses, strozzapreti, minchiareddi, laganelle (short tagliatelle), and of course the orecchiette (ear-shaped), each shape of pasta had its traditional sauce. Some of these shapes can also be found in the Cretan cuisine.

Vegetables are paramount to the diet: blessed with ideal climate, plains and rolling hills, most of its land under cultivation, Puglia produces a large variety of fruit and vegetables all year round. However, it’s the flavour of the produce which is so striking, thanks to the nature of its fertile and minerally-rich soil. In addition to being the source of some of the best wheat, each season produces an abundance of tasty
vegetables: cime di rape, catalogna chicory, fennel, celery, artichokes as well as the brasicas are produced throughout the winter, and peas and broad beans in mid-late spring, moving on to courgette, peppers, aubergines, tomatoes and green beans in the summer as well as melons and a large variety of fruit. These are cooked in a number of ways including steaming, grilling, baking, roasting and stewing, in addition to pickling them to be eaten out of season. Wild vegetables, a reminder of poorer times, are now a delicacy, including, borage, wild chicory, wild cardoons and lampascioni (bulbs of tassel hyacinth), and capers.

With its long coastline, fishing traditions are as old as its culture. This activity was not only the preserve of the fisherman who did it for a living, but most coastal dwellers had knowledge of fishing, a practical pastime. Fish and shellfish are always cooked simply to highlight the freshness, either by grilling, or in traditonal fish soups. Dairy – Sheep and goats have played a big part in the life of people in inland areas. Less fertile areas, difficult to farm provided grazing pasture, and in more fertile areas, the large masserie (large estates with farmhouses) raised cattle and buffaloes which complemented their ecosystem. There are two groups of cheeses produced in Puglia: Fresh cheese to be eaten on the day of production, as part of the main meal, such as burrata, stacciatella, ricotta, mozzarella, canestrato and many variations. The more mature cheese are generally used for grating, vegetable fillings, or dessert, the most well-known are pecorino, caprino, provolone, cacio cavallo, cacio ricotta, and
scamorza.

Meat – only the wealthy would eat meat regularly, but for special occasions a variety of meats are cooked: lamb is only eaten in the short spring season around Easter, otherwise pork and farmyard animals such as rabbit, chicken . There has also been a long tradition of eating horse meat (prescribed as a cure for anaemia) and hunting wild birds.

Grilling is the most popular way to cook prime meats such as spring lamb, goat, chicken and succulent pork. Some specialities including marro – involtini made with offal of baby lamb tied together with its intestines, can be found in other Mediterranean countries. The slow-cooked ragout of lamb, pork and beef, in wine and tomato, provides two courses, the sauce dressed the home-made pasta, and the meat
was eaten as a second course. Another speciality is the bracciola – involtini of horsemeat or beef filled with celery, onion, parsley and pecorino – is slow-cooked with red wine and tomato

The people of Puglia are strongly attached to their traditions and the produce of their land; when Jamie Oliver tried to introduce a new approach to combining the ingredients of the region, to his disappointment, he was told, in no uncertain terms, that it was not the way it was done. To the Pugliesi, more than any other Italian, the flavours, tastes and regional dishes of their upbringing, will always be the best