The ABC's of Campania Food & Wine: G
The ABC's of Campania Food & Wine: G
G is for gragnano pasta and greco di tufo
G is for gragnano pasta:
Gragnano (grah-nyah-no) pasta IGP indicates a high-quality pasta from Gragnano, Campania, a city that has 500 solid years of traditional pasta production behind it. Gragnano is a city built for making pasta, with wide streets for hanging long strands of spaghetti to dry in the hot sun and salty sea breezes. The quality of Gragnano pasta is promoted and defined by Consorzio Gragnano Città della Pasta, a union formed by slow and traditional pasta producers in Gragnano in 2005. The label Gragnano IGP (Indicazione Geografica Protetta) has come to mean much the same thing to an artisanal pasta-seeker as DOCG, DOC and IGT appellations do to a wine consumer. IGP is the equivalent of DOC for wine; Gragnano pasta is the only pasta in the world with this official artisanal status. Pasta made from a company that is part of the cooperative implies specific geographic locations, ingredients and production techniques. First, Gragnano pasta must be made in and around the Bay of Naples. Its ingredients include 100% Italian durum wheat mixed with the calcium-poor waters of Monti Lattari. Next, when forming pasta shapes, bronze casts called trafilata al bronzo are used, instead of the usual Teflon that most large factories use today in mass production of pasta. The trafilata al bronzo gives the pasta a slightly rougher texture that is perfect for soaking up sauces and lends a satisfying mouthfeel. Then, the pasta is naturally dried by the salty sea breezes in temperatures no higher than 122 F, for anywhere from six to sixty hours. Higher temperatures burn off the subtle flavors and aromas that cannot be detected in a common supermarket brand of pasta. This process is called essiccazione. Lastly, even the packaging has boundaries: it must consist of organic or otherwise recyclable material.
touring information:
These pastifici are all a part of the Consorzio Gragnano Città della Pasta. To see the entire listing, visit the list on the official site Gragnano Città Della Pasta. Pastificio Faella Pastificio Gaetano Faella S.a.S P.zza Marconi, 13, 80054 Gragnano (Napoli) +39-081-801-2985 email@pastificiofaella.com Pastificio Di Martino Via Castellammare, 82 80054 Gragnano (NA) Italia +39 081-801-2878 info@dimartinonline.it Pastificio dei Campi Via dei Campi, nr.50 80054 Gragnano (NA) +39 081-801-8430 info@pastificiodeicampi.it
G is for greco di tufo:
Last week, the Falanghina wine was proposed as one of Campania’s finest white wines. This week’s grape makes perhaps the finest white wine of Campania: Greco di Tufo. Greco di Tufo is considered one of the oldest (perhaps the oldest) wine of all of Italy. “Greco†refers to its Ancient Greek origins, after those who first brought the grape to Italy and cultivated it on the slopes of Vesuvius. The first written account is found in a poem fragment from 6 BC in Pompeii. The poem, written on a wall, reads, “You are cold, Bice, truly a piece of ice, if even the Greco wine could not warm your heart last night.” Later, the inhabitants of Tufo in Avellino cultivated it. Greco di Tufo is grown in Tufo, Santa Paolina, Prato di Principato Ultra, Montefusco, Altavilla Irpina, Chianche, Petruro Irpino, and Torrioni. Additionally, only the hillsides of these areas are considered suitable for cultivation, because valleys and points of lower elevation are humid, lacking the necessary sunlight and mountain breezes. To be considered Greco di Tufo, which has had DOC appellation since 1970 and DOCG since 2003, 85% - 100% must be of Greco di Tufo, with up to 15% coda di volpe. The wine can also be a sparkling spumante. Greco di Tufo is not a mild-mannered wine. With zesty, fresh flavors of peaches, pear and herbs, coupled with restrained aromas of almond and apricot, it is a fully dry white wine with a sharp minerality. It is these distinct notes that place Greco di Tufo one step above the two other great white Campania wines, Falanghina and Fiano di Avellino. Some believe that it complements mild dishes nicely, such as seafood, rice dishes, and pasta in butter or white sauces; others, that it pairs perfectly with strong dishes of veal, chicken, and cheeses.
Sources: Anderson, David. Greco di Tufo DOC – Smooth White Wine from Avellino. 24 April 2006. Italiana’s Insight to Travel Italy. Gragnano Città della Pasta. La Rete – Consorzio Gragnano Città della Pasta. Terra Madre. Le DOC, Le DOCG, Le IGT della Provincia di Avellino: Greco di Tufo.Il Portale del Vino della Regione Campania. mafaldina. Il Successo dell’Incanto della Pasta 2010. 7 Sept 2010. Il blog dei Pastificio dei Campi. mafaldina. Pasta di Gragnano IGP, ormai è ufficiale! 1 Aug 2010. Il blog dei Pastificio dei Campi. P., Tracie. Greco di Tufo DOCG. 3 Nov 2010. My Life Italian. Parla, Katie. Pasta di Gragnano. 29 April 2009. Parla Food. Williams, Daniel.Gragnano’s Crisis in a Pasta Pot. 19 Jan 2005. The Washington Post.