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Monthly Archives: May 2014

Issue No. 3: Castello di Cacchiano Olive Oil

May 29, 2014 Val Neff-Rasmussen / by Val Neff-Rasmussen

It is illegal to cut down an olive tree in Tuscany without a permit. That’s not to say that there are thousands of Giovanni Appleseeds in jail in Florence. If you do cut down an olive tree, you have to plant another one to replace it. The law is a product of the last century, […]

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Dinner ideasItalyolive oilTuscany

Issue No. 2: Parmesan Pepper Bread

May 22, 2014 Val Neff-Rasmussen / by Val Neff-Rasmussen

The secret ingredient for our bread is time. Letting bread dough ferment for longer before we bake it allows it to develop much deeper flavors. Our cinnamon raisin bread takes about fifteen hours to produce. French Mountain Bread takes a whopping eighteen hours. But when you take ingredients into consideration, our Parmesan Pepper Bread takes […]

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breadparmesanTellicherry pepper

Issue No. 1: Martelli Pasta

May 15, 2014 Val Neff-Rasmussen / by Val Neff-Rasmussen

A few days ago, I tried an experiment: I cooked up two batches of penne side by side. One was made by Barilla, the largest pasta maker in the world. The other was made by Martelli, a tiny Tuscan pasta producer we’ve been working with for years. Though they look almost identical and are made […]

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ItalyMartelliPasta