A new awakening about tomatoes in Tuscany, Italy. Many people know of San Marzano tomatoes from Sicily and these beauties from Mediterranea Belfiore are delicious in their own way. Papa Donato began his farming in the 50’s and mamma Renza and the three daughters now oversee the farm. The Perfect Peel tomatoes are harvested for 6 weeks in the summer and 1 million jars are produced. The farm also grows organic artichokes and eggplant. The variety of tomato sampling was superb. Who knew an entire meal could be made with tomatoes. The family business is starting to ship to the US and I’ll be looking for them.
The next day the weather was perfect for wine tasting at Torre a Cenaia winery at the foothills of Pisa, Italy. I was ready to taste Sangiovese from the Tuscany region and Monica freely served the wines. The old estate has 30 hectares of vineyards which produce Tuscan wines with “strong personality” That sounds so Italian! Grappa was poured at the end of the tasting, and dipping in the biscotti helped calm down the intense flavors of the grappa. Cin-Cin or cheers to one another.
