My Photo

June 2009

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
  1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30        

:: License ::

16 June 2009

Off we go

On our way

Check List

  • Suitcases packed full of clothes we rarely wear in Belgium like shorts & summer dresses!
  • Rehearsal dress, shoes, & wedding gift packed in a separate suitcase in case main suitcase is lost
  • Snacks ready
  • Wedding speech prepared (Can't seem to read it without crying but will continue to practice)
  • Waterproof mascara
  • Activity books & Nintendo games all set
  • Nintendo, iPod, camera, phone charged
  • Passports
  • GPS
  • Tickets to see "The Little Mermaid" on Broadway printed
  • Day Spa & hair appointments booked

Looks like we're all set. Summer here we come! See you in California baby!

Straight or Curly?

Styling Straight Hair

For months now I've been trying to figure out what to do with my hair for my sister's wedding. Should I wear it straight or curly. So this week I decided to flat iron my hair to see what it would look like straight. Unfortunately, it was a really bad week to straighten my hair considering it rained every day last week.  Notice the turtleneck I'm wearing. It's JUNE for heavens sake! Crazy weather.

Now if you ask Lil' C how he likes my hair best he'll say Straight! lol! He loves long straight hair and enjoys putting my hair into ponytails and braids and adding headbands and clips. The only thing is that once he's done he's so happy with his creation that he wants me to wear my hair like this all day. lol! Maybe next time.  ;)

C styling my hair

15 June 2009

C writes music.

C & Evie

The other day I was going through Lil C's school backpack and I found his little notebook. As I leafed through the pages I found what I initially thought was a poem. When I asked C about it he said, "Mommy, don't read it!" Unfortunately it was a bit too late. I asked him what if it was a poem and he said, "No, It's a song I wrote. It's a song about me & Evie. I wrote it for my club." A song? I'd love to post it online but if he didn't want ME to read it I'm not sure how he would feel about his song being all over the internet! lol! So I will share the photo he drew instead.

It's been days since I found this song and I still can't believe he wrote a song. Lil' C is very artsy and loves to draw, paint, dance but he isn't much into singing. He's quite shy about singing. So to find a song he wrote in his notebook was a bit shocking. I'm so proud of him. He amazes me with his potential. I love to see how his talent comes through in all he does and hope he continues to feel free to express himself.

Ciao Bella

C & Milano

Lil' C with Milano (a little dog we bought at the candy shop in Bologna).

Milano filled in for Sparkle while she was home in Belgium.

We had a couple of hours before our flight left Italy so we drove back to the area where we had dinner the previous night. The neighborhood looked so pretty at night I was curious to see it during the day.

Fiona arranged for us to have dinner at a lovely little restaurant near the Monastery. The menu & wine selection was fabulous. After we place our order the chef (an extremely friendly & animated guy-loved him!) brought over a complimentary plate of fried Parmigiano-Reggiano wedges. They were quite interesting. What I loved about this restaurant along with all the other places we dined was that they were local places... restaurants where you see local Italian families celebrating birthdays and enjoying time with their loved ones. Not a tourist in sight well except for us! But we tried our best to blend in. As we were leaving our waiter who was a complete sweetheart gave Lil' C a bag full of Italian cookies.

Resto

Here is the Monastery tower we walked up to. On a clear, sunny day I'm sure the view is spectacular.

Monestary

These little neighborhood houses are so charming.

Houses

Our trip to Italy was a very memorable one. I'd love to return sometime within the year. I just love everything about Italy. When we got back I spent the first week saying every imaginable Italian word I knew! lol! Answering the phone with "Pronto" and saying "Ciao" everytime I said hello or goodbye to someone. Lil' C & I must have said "Ciao, bella" a thousand times! lol! There is just something about Italy that has captured my heart. And if some day I won the lottery I think I'd get a little crazy and buy an old Tuscan farmhouse, renovate it, learn Italian, and spend the rest of my life living la dolce vita. 

Parmigiano-Reggiano :: From the Cow to Your Home

PR

Remember when I said visiting the Museum of  Balsamico Tradizionale was the highlight of my trip to Italy? Well... it was but what was even better was the private tour I received of a local Parmigiano-Reggiano producer. Fiona knows the couple who make the Parmigiano-Reggiano so she arranged a tour for us on our last day in Italy. But the night before S changed his mind and decided to not to do the tour in exchange for sleeping in. There was no way I was skipping the tour for an extra hour or two of sleep. So I went by myself.

Watching how Parmigiano-Reggiano is made gave me a new found appreciation for the art of cheese making. The amount of dedication needed to produce this cheese is incredible. Once you see the amount of work & time it takes to make Parmigiano-Reggiano you understand why this cheese can be so expensive.

Parmigiano-Reggiano is produced in accordance with strict regulations very similar to the Balsamico Tradizionale.  True Parmigiano-Reggiano must be produced in a distinct region of Italy, by a cheesemaker who is a member of the Consorzio Formaggio Parmigiano-Reggiano, a self-governing body of dairies.

A Young PR

According to the Consorzio’s regulations, cows producing milk destined to become Parmigiano-Reggiano can be fed only grasses and hay. Because Parmigiano-Reggiano is always a raw milk cheese, milk quality is of great importance and is checked frequently. There are roughly 600 dairies allowed to produced “Parmigiano” and about 7,000 farms sell milk to these dairies, the milk coming from some 200,000 cows daily. The bulk of these cattle are Friesians, famed for their high milk yield. The cows are milked twice daily. 

Milk Trays

Milk from the evening milking is allowed to stand overnight. By natural processes, this milk will have partially separated during its overnight standing period. The cream is skimmed off, and the partially skimmed milk is combined with whole milk from the morning milking. You can see the large flat trays in the background of this photo. By the time we arrived that morning they had already combined the partially skimmed milk with the morning milk.

Heating Milk

The milk is then heated in large copper cauldrons (some hold up to 1,200 kilograms, or over 2,600 pounds, of milk). The Consorzio mandates the use of copper cauldrons due to their superior thermal conductivity. They also believe the copper doesn't pass on any taste to the cheese. The Consorzio is so concerned with keeping the good name of Parmigiano that it even regulates how many heating kettles each certified cheesemaker can oversee (a maximum of seven). These certified cheesemakers undergo between ten and fourteen years of apprenticeship.

Heating Process

The milk is gradually heated to 30 to 35°C (86 to 95°F) before starter culture and rennet (a natural complex of enzymes produced in any mammalian stomach to digest the mother's milk) are added.

Starter Culture

The starter culture is made from the previous day’s whey, which is allowed to ferment overnight. The only rennet allowed is from calves and is used as a coagulant. 

Stirring

The curd forms and is broken down into smaller particles traditionally by stirring with an enormous balloon whisk called a spinatura or spino (see photo below) The mixture is heated to allow further separation of the whey and development of the correct acidity level. When the latter is reached, stirring stops, and the curd settles into one mass at the bottom of the cauldron.

Cheese makers use thermometers and gauges to measure cooking temperatures, and the milk density.

Temperature

But it's really the artisans hands and eyes that are the ultimate measures. It was really interesting to see them scoops up a handful of curd and rub it between his fingers.

Curd Settles

Checking I

Checking II

With the left over whey they made ricotta. Here you can see the cheese maker taking some of the whey out of the vat.

Whey for Ricotta

Ricotta I

The cheese makers poured the liquid into a medium sized vat to boil for about 10 minutes. I couldn't believe how easy it was to make the ricotta. Look how creamy the whey becomes after heating it for such a short period.

Close up Ricotta

The cheese owner let me sample a little while she was spooning the cheese into two different sized molds.

Spooning

Into the container

Making Ricotta

Oh, that ricotta looks so yummy. I adore this cheese served hot but on this trip I've discovered I love it even more when it's served at room temperature with honey drizzled on top.

Molding Ricotta

I actually took some of this ricotta back home with me to Belgium. It was still warm when I unpacked it from my suitcase. And on Tuesday morning Peace Corp grrrl and I enjoyed some for breakfast. I'm completely spoiled now that I've had the homemade stuff! ;) Now if only I could find someone in Belgium that made homemade.

Hauling from the bottom

Once the curd cools a bit it is hauled up from the bottom of the cauldron in large squares of cheese cloth and allowed to drain.

Hauling II

Hauling III

Can you imagine how heavy this huge wheel of Parmigiano is? These guys are definitely getting a work out! Fiona said this part of the cheese making process reminded her of a little dance since they roll the cheese back & forth until they get it completely in the cheese cloth.

Placing into cheese cloth

Tying

Into the cheese cloth

The cheese is then divided into halves, and each half is placed into a straight-sided, cheese cloth-lined mold, called a fascera.

Slicing in half

Once the cheese is sliced in half there is a litte more dancing that occurs so each slice of cheese can drain in it's own cheese cloth.

More Dancing

Dancing

Makes two

After more draining, the cheese is placed in a mold bearing the words “Parmigiano-Reggiano” in a repeating pin-dot pattern, as well as the identifying number of the producing dairy. The month and year of production are placed between the sides of the forms and the cheese (which is still soft enough to take on such impressions).

Out of the bath

Extreme care is taken when the cheese is placed in the mold. Even the slightest wrinkle or dent could cause this wheel of cheese to be classified as unacceptable costing the producers hundreds  of Euros. 

Into the molds

A disc made of casein is applied to the top of the cheese; this disc contains a unique code which is used to identify every wheel of Parmigiano individually.

Weights

Only now is salt added, and this is accomplished by immersing the cheese in a brine solution for up to four weeks.

Salt Bath

Gradually, the salt in the brine will work its way into the center of the cheese, but that requires months of aging.

Waiting

The minimum aging period for Parmigiano is twelve months & most are aged for at least eighteen months. These particular producers had some wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano that were aged up to 30 months. At the end of that time, each wheel is inspected.

The Room

The moment I entered the room where all the wheels of cheese are kept I was completely Wow'ed. What an amazing sight to see hundreds of Parmigiano-Reggiano wheels stacked to the ceiling. I can't completely explain the emotions I felt when I walked into this room... It like in the movies when someone sees something so incredible they hear people singing and their mouths drop because they just can't believe their eyes. That's a bit how I felt. lol!

Buyers

As I was wondering around the aisles taking photos I noticed a group of old men talking and handling wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Fiona came over to me and said, "You came on a very good day, these men are buyers and they've brought in their private inspector to inspect the cheese before it's purchased." Fiona also mentioned that buyers usually come about 5 times per year. I couldn't believe my luck!

Inspecting

Cart full of PR Onto the truck

Rolling onto the truck

Inside the truck

Watching these men gathering around joking, talking and inspecting each wheel of cheese reminded me of a group of "good ole boys". Seriously, seeing them take these wheels and load them on the truck was like a scene from "Good Fellas" or "The Sopranos". But make no mistake these men were serious about making sure they chose wheels that met their qualifications.  

The inspector tapped the exterior of each & every wheel that was carted out to the truck listening for certain sounds. I learned that if a wheel sounds hollow, that indicates physical flaws in the cheese. Sometimes, a thin probe will be inserted to draw out a small interior “core.”

Cheese inspectors are well-versed in their art and they can detect with ease flaws that would elude the average person. If flaws are found, the pin-dot pattern on the sides is scraped off. The cheese can be sold as cheese for grating, but not as Parmigiano-Reggiano. If a cheese passes inspection, the Consorzio certifies it with a brand on the side of the cheese wheel.

PR II

Like the Balsamico Tradizionale, Parmigiano-Reggiano is also a D.O.P. (Denominazione d’Origine Protetta, or Protected Designation of Origin) product, meaning that it can be produced only in a limited geographic area and that its qualities or features are due to a combination of natural and human factors existing within this area.

After the tour I sampled chunks of their Parmigiano-Reggiano aged from 12 to 30 months. They were all delicious but the flavors in the young cheese were more delicate. I preferred the 30 month due to its stronger taste & more complex flavors. I went home with a wedge of their 30 month Parmigiano-Reggiano along with a container of Ricotta. Since the producers were so gracious to let me see how they made the Parmigiano-Reggiano out of a courtesty to Fiona I brought them each a box of Belgian chocolates from our local chocolatier. It was a small price to pay for such a memorable experience.

Bologna

Parma Ice Cream

By our third night S was ready to have a simple Italian pasta dish without the typical multi-courses. So when we got back to the B&B and discovered Fiona had made reservations for us at a local trattoria we thought, "Oh, this is perfect". Trattoria are typically known for their modest food & casual service. Except this trattoria didn't exactly fit that image when we saw Parmesean Gelato drizzled with balsamic vinegar listed as an appitizers and they gave us little samples of red wine gelato. lol! Sure our dinner that night wasn't exactly what S had in mind but THIS is why we came to Bologna!

Red Wine Gelato

Centre Square Bologna

The following day we took the train into Bologna to do a little sight seeing. We thought we would have a day without rain but no such luck. But with all the porticos in Bologna it did make wandering around the city a lot easier.

Portico

Here are some photos of our day.

Fountain in Bologna

Fountain close up

I was surprised to discover Bologna has their own leaning tower. There was a lot of construction going on in the area so trying to take a good photo was a bit challenging.

Leaning Tower  Bikes

It rained quite a bit while we were in Bologna so I have very few photos of the city. We weren't in the mood to go to any museums so we had lunch with the locals at Tamburini which was fabulously delicious and incredibly inexpensive. We also stopped for gelato and while walking around we found a little shop that sold Amedei, an Italian brand chocolates. S's curiousity about Amedei chocolates started about two years ago when he read an interesting article about how the owners of Amedei were snuffed by Valrhona, a French brand of chocolates. The French wouldn't even negotiate with the Italian family and were told that "Italy wasn't evolved enough to appreciate such extraordinary chocolate". Well... this started quite a feud as you can imagine and the owners of Amedei set out to prove Valrhona wrong.  Amedei is almost impossible to find in the US & even in Belgium it's quite difficult so when we saw a variety at an Italian candy shop we were quite excited.

Here is an excerpt of the article if you're interested.

When we simply love something we eat, it's natural to imagine that it was made from the same simple love. And often we're right, but the motives that drive people to work as hard as Alessio and Cecilia can sometimes be a little more complicated.

The Tessieris did not set out to make chocolate. In the beginning, like the rest of the Chocolate Valley, they made candy. Their parents owned a business in Pontedera that sold pastry ingredients to bakers. Alessio and Cecilia went off on their own, but they didn't stray far. They rented a small room in town and began to experiment with what they call pralines and we call filled chocolates. Soon enough, they wanted to move to a higher grade—the highest grade they knew. So the brother and sister, who were still in their 20s, went to visit a chocolate maker they greatly admired.

In 1991, Alessio and Cecilia made a pilgrimage to Tain l'Hermitage, in the Rhône Valley, for an appointment at Valrhona. The Tessieris were humored for a while, but when they were ready to make a deal, they were sent away with nothing. The French wouldn't even negotiate. According to Cecilia, they were told that Italy wasn't evolved enough to appreciate such extraordinary chocolate.

It was a personal slight, a national insult, a call to arms. "Right then and there," Cecilia would later say, "it was war."

Chloé Doutre-Roussel, the author of The Chocolate Connoisseur and one of the world's leading authorities on fine chocolate, uses another word to describe what came next: vendetta. "Everything Alessio does, he does with intensity," Doutre-Roussel says. "So this revenge became his focus. He put everything—the family money, even his sister—on this project."

Within three weeks, the Tessieris decided that they weren't going to buy chocolate anymore—they would make it. Cecilia apprenticed with bean-to-bar artisans around Europe. At first they bought cacao from brokers, but by 1997, Alessio had begun hunting it himself, from Ecuador to Madagascar to the Caribbean coast of Venezuela. This last region was especially rich with cacao of the first rank; a lot of money was at stake, and life could get rough. Four years ago, someone tried to murder a cacao buyer who worked with Valrhona, strafing his car with an automatic weapon and leaving him with a half-dozen gunshot wounds.

The most famous Venezuelan cacao of all comes from Chuao. The trees of Chuao are shielded by mountains from all but the warm Caribbean breezes; the soil is naturally irrigated by three cascading rivers. Doutre-Roussel calls the region "one of the jewels of the earth." Besides the microclimate, Chuao has centuries-old traditions of harvesting and preparing cacao. First it's fermented to develop the compounds that will later blossom into rich aromatics, then it's laid out on the parvis in front of the village church to dry slowly in the sun. Because the farmers worked together as a cooperative, Chuao is one of the only places where a chocolate maker could buy, at one stroke, 9 to 10 tons of uniformly excellent cacao. Until recently, that chocolate maker was Valrhona. Today every last kilo of cacao from Chuao goes to Amedei.

Alessio went around to the brokers and negotiated directly with the farmers' cooperative, offering to pay off their debts and triple the previous price for their beans. "By the time Valrhona realized, it was gone," Doutre-Roussel says.

Cecilia transforms the beans of Chuao into chocolate that packs a sensory wallop I tend to remember for weeks. It's very aromatic, with a clarity and elegance more often found in wine and some single malts. One bar retails for just under nine dollars. Chuao represents just a fraction of Amedei's total output, yet it has made the Tessieris famous.

The story of how Amedei eloped with Chuao and sent the wedding pictures to Tain l'Hermitage isn't exactly a vision of sugar plums, but the chocolate industry has a long history of wars, most of them far more brutal.

Even today, the chocolate trade looks a lot like it did in colonial days: Raw materials bought at generally low prices in the tropics are shipped to the developed world and turned into a luxury product. Today, three of the largest importers of cacao to America are fighting a lawsuit filed by a human rights group claiming that they buy beans harvested by child slaves, mostly in the nation of Ivory Coast. Several journalists have contended that the extent of slavery in the cacao industry has been overblown, but it's hardly comforting to hear that the number of slaves who helped make your afternoon snack has been exaggerated. Without doubt, adults and children on some cacao farms, particularly in West Africa, perform demanding, exhausting work for awful pay.

Most chocolate makers know nothing about where their cacao comes from. A former consultant for a well-regarded European chocolate maker told me that until last year, the firm's cacao buyer had never been to a plantation. Farmers sell to brokers who sell to bigger brokers; by the time the cacao reaches the factory, nobody knows its story. Sometimes this arrangement allows growers to mistreat workers without accountability. It also can allow them to get the same price for unripe, rotting or generally trashy beans—at their worst, these are known as "dogs and cats"—that they get for the good stuff.

"We became convinced it was impossible to become number one in the world buying beans from brokers," Alessio says. "The broker cannot tell you who grew the beans, or how it was done." I don't take Alessio for a weepy humanitarian, and yet he practices enlightened self-interest when it comes to the people who grow his cacao. He has invested in Chuao, agreeing to pay off the farmers' mounting debts and buying baseball uniforms for the local team. He needs their best work so that he and Cecilia can do their best work.

Back upstairs in the room marked Degustazione, I stripped off my shower cap and booties and sat down across the table from Cecilia. For a long time, neither of us spoke.

"So," Cecilia finally said. "You want to try the chocolate?"

She walked to the sideboard and pulled down three trays, each arrayed with a different cru. Valrhona was the first to borrow that wine term and apply it to chocolate; Amadei uses it to describe bars made with beans from the same region. Amedei's Grenada I Cru was quiet and had something about it that reminded me of raspberries. The Jamaica was stronger and made me think of pipe tobacco; so did the Venezuela, but it also had a durable aftertaste of good black coffee. Then Cecilia offered me a tray of the first chocolate she made, called Toscano Black 70 percent. This time, I had trouble picking individual voices out of the choir. I mostly remember the overall sensation of getting all the deliciousness any sane person could want.

All the while, I'd been looking at the red heart-shaped objects that were floating in the two big jars. I kept thinking about the Aztecs. At last I asked Alessio what they were. "Cacao pods," he said. "In formaldehyde so they do not dry up." The one off in a corner behind the door was a unique Venezuelan variety called Porcelana. The other, placed on a low table next to all the trays of chocolate, gleamed and glistened like a trophy. That one was Venezuelan too, Alessio said with a smile. It came from Chuao.

13 June 2009

Boys + Italian Sport Cars

Ferrari

Modena looked like a beautiful little city but it was raining so much it stopped us from exploring the city as much as I would have liked. Next stop...the Ferrari Museum in Maranello. When I was planning this trip I looked into organizing a trip to the Ferrari factory. S loves cars. He's the only person I know that describes cars like women. lol! I would have love to surprise S with a tour of the Ferrari factory but after quite a bit of research I discovered the ONLY way to tour the factory is if you are currently a Ferrari owner or just placed an order.

C Racing

We had a great time at the museum. Ferrari's are very sexy cars and it was interesting to see the various models. Lil' C loved being in this race car.

Ferrari II

Ferrari III

When Lil' C walked into this exhibit room I got chills. It was just so cool to be the only ones in this room filled with these beautiful Italian cars. Lil' C loved looking at all the cars although I had to continue to remind him not to touch them! lol!

C&C

Lil' C who is not that crazy about taking photos actually asked me to take his photo with this car. Too cute!

C & his car

This is the car from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off".

Ferris B

Having a husband who is so passionate about cars has taught me to really appreciate cars. This Ferrari was my favorite. A real beauty.

Ferrari IV

One of the highlights of visiting the Ferrari museum is testing out your driving abilities on their simulator. Lil' C really enjoyed it but S on the other hand found it frustrating since he kept crashing his car. lol!

Simulator

Racecars

Balsamico Tradizionale

Barrels of balsamico

Visiting the Museum of  Balsamico Tradizionale in Modena was the highlight of our trip to Italy. The minute we walked into the musuem you could smell the bitter yet sweet smell of the Balsamico Tradizionale. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and because there was just one other couple on the tour we were able to ask a lot of questions.

Understanding how balsamic vinegar is made and why the Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale is so rare was absolutely fascinating to me.

As it has been several weeks since my trip to the museum I wasn't sure if I could remember all the details surrounding the production of balsamic vinegar and how it is classified which is where The Nibble comes in. So if you consider yourself a foodie or are especially interested in Italian cuisine I think you'll find this information very interesting.

While I know there are different grades of balsamic vinegar never did I realize just how complicated the grading system really is. What I originally thought was good balsamic vinegar turns out to be an "Industriale" type of vinegar. Industriale vinegars can still taste good but the taste can not compare to the Tradizionale vinegars. 

There are actually five types of balsamic vinegar:

  • Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale. The best and rarest and of course the most expensive. Only about 3,000 gallons are produced each year. These vinegars are made in Modena and Reggio-Emilia using artisan methods established in the Renaissance and dating back to the Middle Ages. The production of tradizionale is strictly monitored by a consortium. The flavor is amazing...a perfect rich blend of sweet and tart without an acidic taste. The color is brown-black and when the bottle is tipped, the vinegar leaves a slick coating on the side of the glass. You can pay anywhere from $70 to $500 and more for a bottle, depending on the age (12 years to 120 years—20 to 30 years is common), the rating by the judges of the Consorzio, the price set by the producer and the varying distributor and retailer mark-ups . As with the finest olive oils, tradizionale balsamics are not for cooking. These magnificent gourmet products are used to accent foods; tradizionales are also drunk like rare Ports. Aside from the expense, the nuances of flavor will evaporate when exposed to cooking heat.
  • Aceto Balsamico Condimento. These fine balsamics are made by almost identical traditional methods but are lacking one variable to be tradizionale balsamics—e.g.,  they do not use all five prescribed woods, but a minimum of three. It's almost possible that the producer may want to release the vinegar earlier than the mandated 12 years or the producer may be outside of Modena and Reggio Emilia. These high-quality vinegars are costly but still much less expensive than tradizionales—$40 versus $80 for eight ounces of 12-year-old balsamic, for example. These condimentos are guaranteed to be aged in wood and made of all natural ingredients. Producers are free to create vinegar in the style and flavor profile they wish. Condimentos are not constrained by bottle shape—you can tell a condimento readily by the more modern shape of the bottle.
  • “Industriale” Balsamic are mass-produced brands made in Italy that use a quick process. Either the grape must is caramelized (cooked until it changes color) or caramelized sugar is added (and sometimes flavorings). Then it is aged in large vats with wood chips for flavor. These vinegars are labeled “Aceto Balsamico di Modena”. This is “imitation tradizionale.” According to Italian law, for a vinegar to be labeled as authentic balsamic, it must be aged at least three years, but there is no guarantee that it is aged in wood. Some may use a red wax seal with claims of “aged” (including the further-confusing “aged 6 years,” which can be a far-superior condimento). Industriales are more acidic than artisan-made balsamics, but the better ones can be very satisfying. Quality and price vary widely. Price is not always an indication of quality. To end the buyer confusion, a few years ago an independent group, AIB (an acronym translating to the Association of Italian Balsamic Tasters), developed a scale ranking industriale balsamics [not tradizionales or condimentos] on a scale of 0 to 4, based on sensory evaluation. Grape leaves are used to indicate rank—essentially, a higher ratio of grape must to red wine yields a higher rank.
  • Imitation Balsamic includes much of what is sold in the U.S. These balsamic vinegars can be made anywhere and are generally cider vinegar that has been colored and flavored to approximate the real thing. They range in price and quality, and are best used for cooking& salad dressing.
     
  • Other balsamics. Some U.S. producers of fine olive oil and vinegar are also making balsamics using artisanal methods. They don’t fall into tradizionale, condimento or industriale classifications but they are good products.

So how do you spot an authentic tradizionale balsamic? It can be extremely confusing to tell the difference between a tradizionale and a condimento or any other balsamic with an authentic-looking red wax seal. The easiest thing to do is to memorize this onion-shaped bottle at the right, authorized by the Consorzio and used exclusively by tradizionales. Note that it also has a foil cap and the consorzio numbered seal across that. There is no red wax seal.If you see any other shape, it may be a condimento that's 25 or 50 years old, but it's not a tradizionale.

As with most vinegar, true aceto balsamico starts out as must (unfermented juice). Local sweet white grapes with a high sugar content are used—Lambrusco, Trebbiano and often other varietals like Spergola are used in small quantities. The grapes are grown on the hillsides surrounding Modena & are harvested as late as possible, and often left in the sun for further ripening to increase the sugar level.

The grapes are then crushed and pressed, and the must is allowed to sit until fermentation is about to begin. Unlike other vinegars, balsamic does not come from wine, but from grape juice that has never been allowed to ferment into wine. At the very start of fermentation, the must is filtered and poured into large, open copper cauldrons. The must is brought to a boil and slowly simmered over a wood fire. It is cooked until the water content is reduced by an average of one-half. This takes from 24 to 30 hours. The must is then cooled, allowed to settle and combined with an older balsamic vinegar—or “mother”—that includes various active yeasts and bacteria that assist in turning the juice into acetic acid (vinegar).

Barrels

Aging is the second component that separates balsamic from all other vinegars. The cooked must is then placed in the first of a series of progressively smaller wooden casks, called the batteria, or barrel battery, to age. The largest barrel can be 60 liters or more, moving down progressively to 50, 40, 30, 24, 20, 16 and 13 liters to the smallest size, 10 liters. During our tour we discovered the barrels used to make balsamic vinegar can take 25 years before they are ready to be used in the process.

Different woods

The batteria can consist of as few as five barrels (three for condimentos) and as many as ten, depending on the taste of the producer. The woods that can be used are acacia, ash, cherry, chestnut, juniper, mulberry, oak and walnut. Tradizionale balsamic must be aged in five of these woods. The vinegar first goes through alcoholic fermentation and then acetic oxidation. In other words, the sugars turn into alcohol which turns into acid, which converts the liquid into vinegar.
Each year the vinegar is decanted and transferred to different casks of progressively smaller sizes so that it can absorb unique flavors from each of the woods. This is called “topping off,” and takes place in January and February. Because of the topping off, balsamic vinegar will always contain some new vinegar. If an age is marked on the bottle, it refers to the year that the batteria was started. For the rest of the year, the vinegar is left to age. Each year it reduces in volume through evaporation, concentrating as it ages and resulting in a rich, syrupy viscosity and aromatic bouquet. The barrels are filled to two-thirds to three-quarters capacity, to abet evaporation and condensation. For years, the vinegar goes through what is called “maturation” in the middle part of the batteria, then enters the aging phase in the last few barrels. The process is the same for an industriale or a condimento, but the aging period is shorter—at least three years for an industriale, six years or longer for condimentos (and fine ones are aged for 12, 15 and 20 years, just like tradizionales). For tradizionales and older condimentos, the ultimate step is decanting into the smallest barrel, where the vinegar rests and matures. The process of knowing when to transfer the vinegar to the next barrel is knowledge passed on from artisan to artisan through the generations.

Tools

The attic is an ideal aging location for traditional balsamic vinegar because of the extreme fluctuations in temperatures in Modena—hot summers and cold winters. Unlike wine, cheese and other products that require consistency of climate (and are aged below the ground in cellars to achieve that consistency), the aging process of balsamic vinegar actually benefits from the alternating summer heat and the winter cold. Heat promotes fermentation and acetification, and cold allows resting and maturation. This “natural chemistry” allows balsamic vinegar to develop and improve for decades, even centuries.

With an evaporation rate of about 10% each year, 100 liters (26.4 gallons) of grape must will become 15 liters (4 gallons) of vinegar after twelve years of aging.

While the quality of the balsamic depends on the quality of the grapes and the length of the aging process, the final flavor depends on the timing of the transfer of the vinegar to the ever-smaller barrels, and the wood from which the barrels are made. These wood types and the stage of the aging in which they are employed influence the aromas of the balsamic vinegar: It is the knowledge and skill of the artisan that ultimately makes the greatest balsamic.

Upstairs in the museum's attic there were about 12 to 14 different sets of barrels. One of them belong to Slow Food. I first read about Slow Food when I was researching different restaurant options in Bologna. Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world. I love the idea of making conscious decisions about what you eat & where it came from. And this type of food isn't necessarily fancy food. When I was talking to our tour guide about Slow Food she said, "In America, pizza is considered fast food but for us that isn't always the case. You can have pizza that is made with organic flour, fresh tomatoes, and buffalo mozzarella. You don't eat this pizza on the go. You sit down in a restaurant and you enjoy it with your family & friends. That is what slow food is all about."

Before the vinegar is bottled for sale, each artisan producer presents his barrel(s) to the Consorzio. A panel of five “masters” tastes the balsamic “blind” (i.e., the identity of the producer is not known) to ensure it meets the specific criteria of production and quality. The panel members usually sit at individual stations separated by privacy panels, and are provided with a candle, a ceramic spoon, bread and water to clear the palate and a checklist. A series of up to 90 tests is performed by each taster, focusing on visual aspects, aroma and flavor. After each taster rates the samples, the scores are averaged and the group discusses each sample. If it gets enough points, the barrel is accepted and bottled. On a scale of 400 points, 229 are required for 12-year-olds, 255 for 25-year-olds. Rejected bottles are returned to the producer for further aging and adjustment.

Stringent requirements don’t end here. Both the design of the hand-blown bottle and the storage conditions are rigidly dictated. To be sure that what is approved is what gets bottled, the approved batch never leaves the supervision of the Consortium.

  • They bottle and label it, and give each bottle a seal and a number. Twelve-year-old bottles get ivory caps with the D.O.P. initials (Denominazione di Origine Protetta, indicating a product of protected origin), 25-year-olds get gold caps.

  • Each bottle’s number is recorded: It can be tracked. Each member has an allocation and cannot sell more than his registered production capacity.
  • The bottles are numbered and labeled with one of three different colored labels indicating the quality of the artisan vinegar: gold, silver and red. They will be entitled to the label, aceto balsamico tradizionale. Making fine balsamic is a time-intensive process, not only in the initial production, but in maintaining the stock over the years until it is ready for release. It explains the high price for such a small amount of vinegar. Shown below: labels for tradizionale vecchio (yellow) and extra vecchio (pink).
Consorzio Labels

No two artisanal balsamics will taste the same. Each has been decanted into several different barrels and varieties of wood. The casks are highly prized and many are hundreds of years old. The interiors are shaved down and when a cask deteriorates, the artisan will use the salvageable parts in the production of a new cask to preserve as much of the aged and seasoned wood as possible—even if all that can be preserved is a rib or two

Today commercial production of authentic balsamic vinegar is governed by a consortium or producers, Consorzio Produttori Aceto Balsamico di Modena (Consortium of Producers of Balsamic Vinegar of Modena). The Consorzio ensures the strictest controls by supervising every aspect of the production, from the harvesting of the grapes to the packaging and labeling of the bottles. Even the shape of the bottle is mandated.

Tradizionale Balsamico Vinegar True aceto balsamico has an Italian government designation of D.O.C. (Denominazione di Origine Controllata, similar to the French A.O.C. designation), which means that everything from the grape varietals to aging time and the type of wood of the barrels adheres to exact standards.

  • The grapes must be of the Trebbiano and Lambrusco varietals (though a few others are allowed in small quantities), and entirely harvested from the vineyards of the region.
  • The vinegar must be aged in barrels of at least five types of specified wood.
  • The vinegar must be aged for minimum of 12 years.

In 2000, the European Union bestowed the D.O.P. status (Denominazione di Origine Protetta) status upon Aceto Balsamico di Modena. This means that not just that the ingredients must come from the specified geographical area, but that all phases of production must take place in the area.

There are other balsamic consorzios. In 2000, Giovanni Leonardi and other producers of fine condimento balsamicos established the Consorzio di Balsamico Condimento to distinguish the top-quality condimentos from those of lesser quality.

After the tour S & I were able to sample & compare the 12 & 25 year tradizionale balsamico vinegar. The taste was amazing. I couldn't believe how thick the vinegar was; it looked more like syrup with a perfect balance of tartness & sweet flavors. Now when we see or taste the tradizionale we can fully appreciate all the work and patience that goes into producing this fine balsamico vinegar. Of course we couldn't leave Modena without buying a bottle of the tradizionale. I look forward to drizzling a little on strawberries or a slice of the parmesean we purchased in Bologna or better yet drinking a spoonful just like we did on our tour.

11 June 2009

Making Homemade Pasta

We spent the morning walking around the Sunday market. It was a typical European market but one thing that was interesting were the number of clothing stalls. Every stand seem to be selling the same clothes and they were all purple. It was a bit weird. I mean everything was purple. Must be the in color at the Milan fashion shows this fall. lol! We did pass by a little shop that sold home-made pasta just in case you didn't have time to make it yourself.

Buy homemade

Once we left the market we went to the local grocery store with Fiona to pick up a few ingredients for my cooking class later that afternoon. When we were planning our Italy trip I had no intentions of taking a cooking class since I thought I'd learn how to make pasta with Daniella. But that demo left me wanting more. So at the last minute Fiona was able to set up a cooking class with Claudia. It was a perfect day to take a cooking class since it rained most of the afternoon. What was so great about taking a private cooking lesson is you decide what you want to learn how to cook. Of course I wanted to learn how to make my favorite pasta & sauce... gnocchi with quartro formaggi. And since Tagliatelle originated in this region I couldn't leave Bologna without learning how to make it along with the Bolognese sauce. I also wanted to make a ricotta tart like the one we ate at Pian di Fiume.

S making dough Claudia & I hit it off right away. She is a total sweetheart! I loved her straight away. She didn't speak any English but she was in the process of learning Spanish online. Claudia loves Spanish & thought it was one of the most beautiful languages. For only taking online language courses her Spanish was really good. I mean it was so good she & I were able to even joke around speaking Spanish. I haven't laughed so much with two people I just met in a long time. It was great fun! And when we got stuck and couldn't communicate Fiona was there to translate.


The first thing I learned about making pasta is you need strong hands. No matter how hard I tried to knead the dough I could not get it to the correct consistency. Of course if I was back home this is where my kitchen aid mixer would come in handy. When S came into Fiona's kitchen and saw me wrestling with the pasta dough he thought it was quite funny so Claudia put his hands to the test and made him work the dough. S did a fairly decent job with the dough. Now Claudia has been making homemade pasta since she was 6 years old so she is an absolute master at making pasta.

I think this photo is so funny. At the time I felt like I was holding this precious little baby. lol!

Ball of pasta

I really enjoyed making pasta. Believe or not it the process was quite relaxing. I always thought you needed an expensive electronic pasta maker but really all you need is a simple pasta maker like the one in this photo. It was easy to use and my hands didn't get tired considering I made enough pasta for about 20 people.

Roll it Baby

I made so much Tagliatelle that day! It was crazy but at least I was able to bring some pasta home. Looking at these photos reminds me of how much fun I had that day. We laughed so much!

Working the dough

Here is Claudia showing me how to cut the Gnocchi.

Claudia

This is some of the pasta we made that day.

My homemade pasta

Wow, look at those beautiful tomatoes. Yum! The bruschetta was delicious especially with the toasted Tuscan rustic bread.

Look at those tomatoes

My cooking lesson started around 3:30pm and we finished after 10:30pm. It was a very late dinner. The food was absolutely fabulous. It's a shame we were the only guests at the time because there was so much food we didn't know what to do with it all. There's only so much pasta we could eat. lol! At the end of the lesson I felt like Claudia & I were more like friends saying goodbye instead of a student finishing her cooking lesson with her instructor. That night I told S how I'd love to make her an apron as my way of saying thank you. Having Claudia show me how to cook some of my favorite Italian dishes was one of my favorite adventures in Italy.

08 June 2009

More of Italy

Oh this posting on Italy is really late but if I don't write about it now I'll really forget all the little things that made our trip so special.

So let's see where was I ... we had just spent the day in the Cinque Terre. The weather that day was the prettiest we experienced during our entire trip so I was really happy we decided to visit this area first.

Now one thing I forgot to mention in my previous Italy posting was how we got our car stuck on a hill. Driving to Bagni di Lucca was the craziest drive I've ever taken. It was incredibly windy and we were really up in the mountains. How I did not get sick on that drive I will never know! lol! Anyway... the road reaching our B&B was pretty steep and it was either dirt and in some area rocks. Our little European rental car barely made it up the hill. I was having flash back of our Chamonix trip except snow chains weren't going to be any help to us. After skidding around in the dirt and rocks S was able to get the car up the road. When we were unpacking our car Massimo drove up the road in his SUV going the opposite direction. I thought this road was only used to leave Pian di Fiume.

Daniella said, "Only the boss takes that road. We thought she was just joking.

We got back from the Cinque Terre after 11pm and the only lights going up the road to the Pian di Fiume were our headlights. It was a little scary but the car was doing good and we were making our way up the dirt road slowly.

When S saw the road that we normally took to leave he asked me, "What do you think? Should I take that road?"

I told him, "Oh, I don't know."

Perhaps S was thinking this road wasn't as steep as the other one. WRONG!! lol! Oh my god, he was so wrong. Our little car almost made it to the top. Almost, but not quite. I mean we could see the parking area but the car would not go any further. S tried his best...changing gears, reeving the engine, working the emergency break. The man would not give up. He kept trying again and again and THEN I started to smell something burning! I'm not very knowledgeable about cars so I have no idea if it was the brakes, engine or tires that were smelling. Things did not look good. So S decided to reverse the car so we could use the other road. Under normal circumstances I think this would have worked. But it was so dark he couldn't see! So S drove the car into the hill and there was a little ditch full of tiny rocks where the tire got stuck. Again more gear shifting & engine reeving and then S would get out of the car to look at the position of the tire and again MORE gear shifting & engine reeving but now we had little pebbles flying everywhere. We could hear the rocks hitting the car. I thought for sure the engine was going to blow up.

Finally, S said, "I don't think I'm going to be able to move the car. Will you call Daniella and let her know we're going to need to call someone to pull the car out."

I felt horrible calling Daniella so late but I didn't want anyone to have an accident and drive down the road and run into our car. She was great and said that there was no problem. She would call Massimo and another man who worked on the land to pull the car out.

The following morning S walked down the hill and one of Massimo's guys used a little CAT to pull the car out of the ditch. While talking to Danielle & Massimo we discovered we weren't the first guest to get stuck. Apparently, this happens all the time even to them! Later Daniella told us Massimo came to the B&B right after she called him because he couldn't believe our car got stuck. Building a new road to the Pian di Fiume is on their list of things to do but it seems Massimo & Daniella have a different views on how important this project is. Well Daniella took advantage of our situation and ran with it. Daniella told Massimo that we wanted to leave the B&B because our car got stuck which wasn't true at all but she made the situation much more serious than it actually was. At first when Daniella was telling us about this conversation I thought something was being lost in translation. Did she really lie to Massimo so she could get her road built? I guess so. It seems Massimo has had a change of heart and according to Daniella he has already chosen a date for the project to occur. I wasn't too thrilled about what she did but what was I really going to do. 

Getting Stuck I

This is a photo of the road we got stuck on. It doesn't look very steep which is how we got into that mess in the first place!

On our second day, we had big plans to visit Lucca and go bike-riding along the city walls. 
 Fattoria Maionchi Entrance

In route we stopped at the Fattoria Maionchi to buy some olive oil. We read some wonderful reviews about their olive oil and Daniella mentioned the wine & olive oil were very good. 

Wine vineyards

The villa & surrounding grounds were everything I pictured Tuscany to be. We did some wine & olive oil testing. S & I loved the olive oil. The extra virgin olive oil was light with a delicate flowery taste. Perfect for dipping a Tuscan rustic bread.

Purchasing Olive Oil  
After we made our purchases we walked into the garden which was very pretty with it's row of lemon trees. Oh, if I could have any fruit tree it would be one that produced lemons.

Maionchi

Lemon Trees

After visiting the Fattoria Maionchi we drove to Lucca. Shortly after we parked the car it started raining.

Church in Lucca

We did manage to see a church & do a bit of shopping. The streets are lined with interesting shops. I didn't buy much except for a rectangular shaped silicone pan with a floral pattern at the local market.

Street Rainbows

Once it started raining we ducked into a gelateria and had some gelato. Lil' C was so excited to find rainbows on the streets that he wanted me to photograph them.

Ice Cream

The rain let up a bit so we made our way to another famous church but on the way it started to pour! The kind of rain where it's coming from all directions and you're going to get soaked no matter what. By the time we found the church we were soaked & ready to go back to our B&B.

Making ravioli

When we got back to Bagni di Lucca, I changed into something warm and helped Daniella make the second course of our dinner... ravioli stuffed with nettle & ricotta. I helped form the dough & stuff the ravioli which I was a bit disappointed about since I wanted to learn how to make the actual dough. But it was a good introduction to pasta making plus S & C were having more fun in the dining room area. So it's a good thing I wasn't in the kitchen all night.

Eating them All

Daniella started a fire and opened a bottle of red wine which S enjoyed while Lil' C was coloring. It was very cozy. The dinner that night was incredible. There really is nothing like fresh pasta. I'm getting so spoiled! lol! Fresh pasta is everywhere! How can I go back to boxed Barilla pasta when I return to Belgium? lol! Daniella make a light quartro formaggi sauce (my favorite) to go with the ravioli. It was F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S!!! I could have eaten only pasta that night but Daniella also made Rabbit and potatoes and of course more of her homemade foccacia bread. For dessert I had the ricotta tart. That night I ate until I could eat no more! lol!

 C at Pian di Fiume

The following morning we left Bagni di Lucca and drive to Bologna. Once we arrived at our B&B we relaxed and spent an hour or two in the backyard talking to Fiona, the B&B owner. There were two cats on the property that C fell in love with. He had so much fun playing with them. One of the cats was named Choco; such a cute name! 

View from Fiona's place

Donkeys

Fiona also had two donkeys that C enjoyed watching & feeding. Fiona was a wealth of knowledge. She's a Brit who has been living in Italy for I believe 20 years so she's fluent in Italian and knows the area well. She's also an avid travel seeker so we hit it off right away.

Vineyards in waiting

Fiona knew we wanted to experience some amazing Italian food so she made our dinner reservations the entire time we were in Bologna. Our first night we had reservations at Corte d'Aibo for a 7 course Degustazione at a winery right up the road. The food was phenomenal and it was in the true Italian style. We ate pasta, fish, and meat along with several other things. Some of the dishes were a bit out of our comfort zone like the thin slices of fat. Pure fat served at room temperature. S & I both thought it was quite good; the slices melted in your mouth. But we had a tough time getting passed the idea that we were eating white slices of PURE FAT! lol! Lil' C on the other hand enjoyed a bowl full of fresh Tagliatelle with the traditional Ragu sauce (known also as Bolognese sauce). I never realized that Tagliatelle originated in the Emilia ~ Romagna region; it's quite popular.

Italians have a reputation of being wonderful with children and I'll tell you it's so true. We received the warmest welcome at every restaurant in Italy. And some of these restaurants I wouldn't normally consider kid friendly but the servers were amazing and so loving with Lil'C. They gave him free treats everywhere... candy, cookies, ice cream. He loved it! It was such a nice change from our dining experiences here in Belgium. And the best part was that even though there was never a menu for children I could always ask for a bowl of pasta and Lil' C was set. Before we left for Italy I told Lil' C this trip was all about trying new food and keeping an open mind. Normally he's pretty good about trying new food but sometimes we really have to coax him. C did great while we were in Italy and tried at least 20 different things. S & I were so proud of him.