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Apulia is a large, fertile region that forms the heel of the Italian boot.
Unlike nearly all other Italian regions, which are mostly hilly and mountainous, it is
relatively flat.
This is the area of Murgia
Flora
In the Murgia Hills, there are about 1500 wild types,
among trees, spontaneous flowers andother typical
wild plants:
THE OAK
There are 7 kinds of them
THE OHLM-OAK
(quercus ilex)
It can reach 20-25 m of height
The COMMON POPPY
(PAPAVER RHOEAS L.) is an
herbaceus plant that catches the
eyes of the observer for its
intense red colour.
The wild orchids are unique
and admirable and there are
several types in our area.
Other typical plants of these zones
are the rods and the asphodels
The RODS (FERULA
CHILIANTHE) was used by the
shepherds to build stools in the past.
The ASFODELI
(ASPHODELIS
RAMOSUS) are very simple
and beautiful flowers. They
are common on Murgia Hills.
GASTRONOMY
Altamura is important for its typical cooking, made of simple
foods produced by the earth.
Some things are essential to our kitchen:
•Wheat
•Olive tree
•Vegetables
•Sheep/lamb meat
Olive tree
vegetables
wheat
Vegetables
The rural populations
of Apulia have
always been great
consumers of wild
vegetables. The wild
flora includes
numerous species
which are difficult to
find now, because of
intensive agricultural
methods
Wild chicory
It grows spontaneously after the 1st summer thunderstorm until winter. Its tender
leaves are boiled and seasoned with olive oil and lemon or they are sautéed with garlic,
oil and some tomatoes., The typical recipe is boiled chicory and “fava” beans
Wild fennel
It is eaten as vegetables
with pasta or is used to
flavour meat dishes. Its
seeds are used to flavour
pork sausages,
mushrooms and also
“taralli” a baked pastry
product
Musky wild mushrooms
they grow near the wild thistles. They have a delicate flavour and are cooked in
different ways: baked, grilled, sautéed and cooked with pasta and meat
Dishes prepared with “Cardoncelli”
Muscari (Lampascioni):
this bulb is both wild and cultivated all over Puglia. It is famous for their
genuine and bitter taste. There are different ways to prepare them: boiled
and seasoned with oil and salt, fried and golden with eggs, sautéed with
garlic and parsley, baked with lamb or pork
Dishes prepared with “lampascioni”
fried and golden with eggs
boiled and seasoned with
tomato sauce
Sheep and lamb meat
In our area sheep and goats are
particularly tasty because of the extensive
pasture. The Apulians shepherds since
ancient times, prefer lamb and goat, which
they cook simply with fragrant herbs and
olive oil
The meats come from local farms,
especially lamb, which is considered as the
“favorite dish”. It is cooked on live
charcoal.
Sheep instead, is cooked in terra-cotta
containers.
Roll is prepared ingeniously: lamb's
hearts, lights, and intestines are skewered
and cooked on a blazing grill, then eaten
with raw celery and sharp sheep's milk
cheese.
Traditional meat dishes
Roll prepared with offal: lamb's heart,
lights and lung
Stock lamb prepared with lamb, fennel, some local vegetables,
eggs and grated cheese
Bread
A baker’s product obtained from flour of durum wheat made by milling durum
wheat grain
It has been the principal element - the “absolute” one - of traditional diet of
Altamura for ages.
In the past it was prepared at home, and it assumed a sort of ritual act
The ingredients
Durum wheat flour, yeast, hot water and salt. It is worked by hand
till it reaches the proper consistency.
The real secret is the fermentation: about 4 hours
The baker gives dough pieces their peculiar final shape
the antique wood oven produces homemade bread, that is
cooked for about 2 hours
Focaccia is obtained with the same bread dough and it
is cooked in the wood oven
A typical dish of peasant
farmer tradition
In the past it was the
only food for peasants
and shepherds during the
week in isolated farms.
Their dish consisted of
bread seasoned with salt
and oil and dipped in
boiling water
This is another local poor dish of farmer tradition:
bread, tomatoes, onions, celery, oil and salt
Altamura bread is used to prepare also some cakes
Hand made pasta
A kind of dough made of water, salt and worked by hands
Making pasta at home was and is always satisfying.
It is boiled with wild or cultivated greens, tossed with
energetic meat ragouts or cooked into soups
There are different kind of hand made pasta
Orecchiette –little ears
(because of their shape)
Capunti
capuntini (capuntidd)
Orecchiette with turnip tops, garlic and red pepper flakes.
Cavatelli with mushrooms and mashed fava beans
Dairy products
Our region is very rich in cheeses, produced by sheep and cow milk.
Types
According to how a cheese is made, it can be :
•
FRESH: i.e. mozzarella, ricotta
•
SOFT: i.e. spicy ricotta
•
HARD: i.e pecorino
Pecorino – sheep
cheese
This is the “king” of the
cheese. Few cheeses in
the world can claim to
have origins as old as
those of Pecorino
cheese. For over two
thousands years, the
sheep grazing freely in
our countryside have
produced the milk that
goes to make this cheese
Steps in the production of this cheese
Scamorza Cheese
It is a type of dried cheese. It has a soft texture, a white
colour tending towards yellow. The flavour is delicate,
sweet with a milk-like freshness.
FRESH SCAMORZA
AGED SCAMORZA
A worker is shaping the scamorza cheese
This cheese is very flexible so different shapes can be given.
A worker is given a little pig shape as an old tradition
ricotta
Sheep and cow ricotta formed by milk whey. It has a sweet and
delicate taste. It is used to prepare a lot of cakes.
An old recipe is : pasta with ricotta, seasoned with sugar, lemon
and cinnamon
Ricotta marzotica
This kind of cheese is produced in March because the sheep's milk
is flavoured. In this period the sheep eat some aromatic herbs.
It is used grated to flavour pasta with tomato sauce
Ricotta cheese is used to prepare delicious cakes
Spicy ricotta
It is made by adding the salt; then the cheese is aged and moved from container to
container to remove liquid over several months. After months of ageing it has a
pungent flavour and a light yellow colour. It is eaten with toasted bread and
tomatoes or with the pasta
Typical cakes
Cartellate
Almond cakes
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