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Located in northwesterly Italy is the Piedmont region, a magical place for discovering some of the country's finest food and drink.
Sandwiched next to France and seated at the foot of the Alps, this is a land that produces some of the world's best wines, think Barolo and Barbaresco, as well as the world famous white truffles of Alba. Michelin-starred restaurants sit comfortably alongside traditional trattorias (find out a selection of the most interesting addresses here), and that's not to touch upon the sweet offerings of the capital city Turin.
If the abundance of local products make Piedmont sound like the Land of Plenty, it will come with little surprise to learn that it's also the home of the Slow Food Foundation. The Carlo Petrini–led association has helped give a voice to the region as a culinary destination with a bounty of traditional local foods just waiting to be discovered.
Making a list of the best typical products of Piedmont is difficult, if not impossible, so we have selected the most interesting and characteristic of the region worth further investigation.
Here are 17 typical Piedmontese products to try:
1. Blu di Morozzo
Blu di Morozzo is a raw cow's milk cheese produced by artisans in the town of Morozzo, located in the Cuneo province of Piedmont. Sold in small rounds the cheese has a distinctive rind covered with ash, with a veined inside tinged with pale blue mold (Penicillium roqueforti).
Find out more about the unusual cheese here.
2. Seirass Del Fen
Photo: Slow Food Foundation
The seirass was borne from the need to bring cottage cheese down from the mountain pastures into the valley: the hay in which it is wrapped is called the 'fin' and follows a process that varies from herdsman to herdsman. The taste exhibits herbaceous flavours, which develop with ageing.
3. Testa in Cassetta di Gavi
Photo: Pagina Food
Don't be scared off by the name: the 'testa in cassetta di gavi' is good and (unexpectedly) light. It is traditionally produced in the winter months, using pig offal, which in recent times has been added to cheaper cuts of beef along with spices, pine-nuts and rum.
4. Robiola di Roccaverano
Photo: Slow Food Foundation
Choosing between the various cheeses from Piedmont is extremely difficult: few Italian regions boast such a variety of dairy products. However, Robiola of Roccaverano deserves a mention. The Slow Food, which only uses raw goat milk, is helping to save the endangered Roccaverano species of goat.
5. Fugascina
Have you ever heard of the fugascina or goblin in English? Then you have to go to Mergozzo, in the province of Novara, and head to Al Vecchio Fornaio Pasticcere. Although it is also called "sweet muffin": it is thinly laid out, baked in the oven and then cut into squares.
6. Ramassin della Valle Bronda
Photo: Slow Food Foundation
Ramassin is the name for the damask plum in dialect which has been cultivated since in the valleys around Saluzzo since ancient times. Picking the fruits is a precarious process as they are delicate and perish quickly. They are very sweet and can be eaten fresh, but also dried, preserved or made into jam.
7. Paste di Meliga
Photo: Mangiare Buono
Flour, wheat and maize (corn in dialect), butter, eggs and sugar: though the ingredients don't change, the forms the biscuits take do, ranging from the classic half-moon shape to a simple circle. Crispy and fragrant, the biscuits are perfect bathed in red wine or dunked in passito.
8. Cardo Gobbo di Nizza Monferrato
Photo: La Mia Cucina Casalinga
Sown in May and harvested in October, the bending, which is one of the most important parts, happens in September: this is when the thistle is folded and covered with earth, and it is here that it takes on the characteristic bending (and even the white colour). How to eat them? Raw with bagna cauda.
9. Snails from Cherasco
Photo: targatocn.it
Snails are a specialty of the elegant Piedmont town of Cherasco, where you'll see them for sale in every other shop as well as direct from the production plant. They are enjoyed in soup, stewed, and fried where their distinctive flavour is developed during the careful farming process (heliculture).
10. Porro di Cervere (Cervere Leeks)
Photo: Fuori Porta
Cervere leeks are sweeter than other leeks as well as being highly digestible. To enjoy them at their best eat them au gratin or fried, or as an accompaniment to rice and tripe soup.
11. Mustardela
Photo: Slow Food Foundation
Another 'reclaimed' sausage that uses up unwanted cuts of pork. Head, blood, rind, onions and leeks are combined to create the purple, soft and spicy sausage, eaten boiled with potatoes or polenta. Doughy and soft in the mouth, it has a spicy and slightly sour flavour.
12. Bella di Garbagna
Photo: Slow Food Foundation
A wonderful name for a wonderful fruit. The cherries from Garbagna are collected manually and thanks to their characteristic crispness, lend themselves well to being preserved in jars – provided that you can resist eating them right away.
13. Gallina Bianca di Saluzzo (White Hen of Saluzzo)
Those who have tasted the meat of the Saluzzo hen will recognise its superior quality. The "Bianca di Cavour" is reared naturally outside, usually in family–style farms.
14. Fragola Profumata di Tortona (Tortona Strawberries)
There are traces of this strawberry as far back as the 15th century. Having almost disappeared in the 1990s, several projects are currently underway to prevent the future disappearance of this small and delicate fruit with an intense aroma and a sweet taste.
15. Salame di Patata (Potato Salami)
Photo: Wikipedia
If there is insufficient meat to make a salami, what other ingredients are available? Potatoes, of course. The Salame di Patate is, of course, more appreciated for its distinct recipe in modern times, as we no longer have a problem with meat shortage. The salami can be eaten cold, spread on toasted bread, or lightly warmed.
16. Baci di Dama (Lady's Kisses)
Photo: David Lebovitz
Bite-size biscuits made from flour, hazelnuts, sugar and butter sandwiched together with dark chocolate make these delectable Lady's Kisses. Not to be confused with the equally good dark chocolate and hazelnut kiss of Cherasco (Baci di Cherasco).
17. Peperone di Carmagnola (Peppers from Carmagnola)
Photo: Parks
The 10–day Turin festival that celebrates the Carmagnola pepper is one of the most important fairs in Piedmont thanks to the important role the pepper plays in the agricultural economy of the region. The time honoured colourful vegetable comes in four varieties and is as fragrant as it is tasty.
Disappear into Valle d'Aosta for some more traditional Italian foods.
