Motovigna, Marmalade di Albicocci, Formaggio, Api, et al

Let me first start off with a genuine apology for keeping you all in the dark for the past week or so. We've been without internet for awhile now, and I've only just recently had enough time to sit down at the computer to create a post. So much has happened here in these past few weeks that it is going to be hard to keep this post relatively succinct. On that note, let's begin.

MotoVigna 2008



Two Sundays ago, a 200k+ motocross tour happened in the Piedmonte area. As part of the track went through the woods near our cascina and passed by the house, we volunteered to be a food checkpoint for the race. And so, for two hours, Luca (an Italian friend of the family about 16 yrs old) and I served wine and plates of bread, salumi, apricots, and cheese to the approx. 250 racers (all male) that passed through. This was fun for the most part, as I got to practice my limited Italian skills and became quite the tourist attraction as an American. One group of guys even asked me to go home with them...I politely declined. Mario and Isa will never let me live that down.

Api




With the recent death of the bee colony this past winter, Isa was elated when Jessica and I discovered a wild hive of bees along the road. She and Mario quickly harvested the hive that evening, and we got to watch the whole spectacle. VERY interesting. And, the best part is that they captured the queen, so the bees have stayed in the box since then. Above is a picture of Isa in her bee garb, and another of her trudging off down the road to the hive (I'm on the left).

So Many Apricots!!!

Last Thursday, as Isa and I were on our way back from Torino (I visited a Theta friend and she worked at a library) we stopped in Mondovi' to purchase some second-rate apricots to make jam. Okay, so "some" is an understatement. We came home with eight crates full of apricots; more than 100 kilos total. I think she wants to sell some jam this year also in addition to cheese. Either way, on Friday we cut up all of those apricots and put them in a large vat with sugar (about 20 kilos of sugar, I think). Separately, we cracked open all the apricot pits, removed the nuts inside (they look like almonds, and taste like them too except they're a tad more fruity), and boiled them to remove the skins. The fruit/sugar sat all day and then Saturday we set out to cook the jam and can it. Unfortunately, we ended up burning the jam badly and spent the rest of the night scrubbing the pan clean of the thick layer of carbon. Then, all day Sunday Jessica and I canned the boiling hot jam and set them on a table upside down to seal. I don't think I will be able to eat another apricot for a long, long time. (gag)



To cook the jam, we strained out the liquid first and brought it to a boil before adding the fruit and boiling it all together (so that it had a fresher taste).

Cracking the pits (the nuts are in the bowl)

A small sample of our finished project.

Also, on that Sunday we held a festival at our house on behalf of the Allegre Pastorelli (Happy Little Shepherds--a group of local shepherds that Mario and Isa belong to). Lots of meat. Mario's contribution was sheep kabobs (rostaccini) -- pictured below.



Another Allegre Pastorelli named Serena contributed a whole pig, which she had roasted in her wood-fired oven. The head (which is leftover in our fridge) is pictured below.


Formaggio (Murazzano)

Surprise, surprise that I have been dabbling in cheesemaking in my time here. It's sort of difficult to succinctly describe the process (they make 15 different kinds of cheeses here), but I'll give a little sneak peek into how we make a hard sheep cheese called 'Murazzano'--typical of this area. First, we heat the sheep milk in a large pot until it reaches 38 degrees Celsius. Then, we add about 2 mL rennet for every 10 liters of milk. We stir it in and then let it sit for a couple hours. We then cut the cheese with a metal blade into cubes and then stir with a huge whisk-like tool until the pieces all become about the size of large dice. Then, we use a strainer to put the curds into molds (as quickly as possible with the least amount of liquid) and lightly punch them down. We then flip the cheese and push them down again. And then we wait...and flip. Repeat many times. Here are some random pictures.






And, to complete this post, I've added a (very poorly done) video created while we made cheese in the caseificio (dairy).

More to come later!!

Love you all.

P.S. Mom and Dad: Mario and Isa want to adopt me. Is this okay? :)