Exciting news!! The Scrumptious Pantry has teamed up with tour operator and travel agency Callisto Tours and Willett Travel to give you – our customers – the unique opportunity to visit Tuscany with a small group of fellow food lovers, meet the big family of producers behind The Scrumptious Pantry and take an in-depth look into the beautiful and tasty food world of Italy.

So excite your tastebuds by embarking on an epicurean olive oil experience this November! Tuscany is the perfect location to taste the world of olive oil and enjoy beautiful scenery and historic capitals such as Florence, Lucca and Siena.

We will be learning all about olives and their cultivation, the production of olive oil, how to use it in the kitchen and how to choose the right variety to match with which food. We will be tasting mono variety oils and classic blends in the Chianti Classico, visiting Cosimo (producer of olive oil for The Scrumptious Pantry) and joining the olive harvest in the hills of San Miniato (where we will take advantage of the white truffle season). We will learn about different extraction methods by visiting farmers and oil mills in the mountainous region around Lucca and finally taste the difference the sea makes at the coast of the Maremma, prized for its enormous wines such as Sassicaia and Ornellaia.

You will meet food artisans producing olive oil and wine, pasta and white truffles, chocolate and sweet delicacies, sun dried-tomato spreads and tomato jam.
You will discuss different farming methods, production techniques and ask every question that you always wanted to ask an Italian food artisan about his craft.
You will eat well, joining family style lunches with our food artisans, discover hidden wine bars and typical osterie, and celebrate happiness at a closing dinner with white truffles (hunted by ourselves) in a historic Bonaparte villa.
You will make new friends in Tuscany, being welcomed by our family of producers into our Scrumptious Pantry family.

For further info and booking please contact our travel partner:
Callisto Tours in association with Willett Travel
11365 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 100, Studio City, CA 91604
Phone 818.508.7619 or 800.994.5538
Pamela Abraham at PamelaA@WillettTravel.com
Or go to: www.WillettTravel.com/grouptravel.html
(CST# 2002558-10)

Updating...

These are difficult times. Agriculture in Tuscany is being drowned to death this year - at least so it seems. In the occasion of the visit of Jeff and Donna Chandler (parents of Emily who owns the spectacular Piazza Italian Market in Easton, MD), we visited a lot of our Scrumptious Pantry producers yesterday. Everyone was complaining about the continious rain.

Barbara was telling us that she is expecting to harvest about 30% less of her second most important crop - The San Miniato artichoke. Too wet, no sun, to harvest! Luckily enough she has not lost her smile, as you can see in this picture with Donna and Jeff.

Roberta and Giulio have similar problems - some of their plants have been replanted three times already, because the first plantings just died off with all the water. And this third planting does not look very good either. The peperoncino, for example (hot chilli peppers) did basically just spring up now. Whatever will be harvested here this year, it will be with a delay of two months compared to a "normal" year (In the picture you see Roberta as she presents a bouquet of chilli peppers and grains to Donna, it is supposed to be good luck).

So we can start discussing what "normal" might be. Since 2001 every year here has been somehow exceptional in terms of climate conditions. Too much rain in 2002, not enough rain in 2003... and so it goes. I am not a scientist, so I do not want to try to contribute to the "who's fault is it" debate, but something is surely going on!

You know these moments when you find an unexpected treasure? An antique gold rimmed Rosenthal plate for a buck in the garage sale, for instance. I had this sensation when I stumbled across Michael Ableman's book "Field of Plenty" in a used bookstore some time ago. It is an enchanting set of stories about real farmers across the US, making real food and creating great products that make consumers like you and me happy. Michael, an old school farmer himself, sets out one summer in an old camper to see for himself if there are other likeminded, quality driven farmers that strive for natural products. And he writes about these encounters with the love only a farmer can have for the land and the products it bears. The stories are matched with great pictures and recipes from the farmers his trip has brought him to.

A must read for food believers! A feel good book that leaves you happy and hungry for the next farmers' market. And the best: I just checked on amazon.com and they are having a sale on this book! Enjoy the read!

No, contrary to what you might think this is not another great recipe for Italian food (no need to be sad about that, will post some soon enough).... This is your guide to actually make food where it all begins: in the fields of a farm!

A great many people always look at me with this dreamy look, "oh, agricultre...I always wanted to work on a farm for a couple of weeks." So then, go, what are you still waiting for??? Just join this fabulous non profit organization named WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) and before you know, you are picking peaches in South Africa, or harvesting rice in Indonesia, or making Cheese in Ireland and and and. Yes, you can come to Italy, too.

The trick is to become a memember of the national WWOOF organization of the country in which you want to work (for example the annual membership fee for Italy is 25 EUR). As soon as you have paid your membership, you will get a directory of all associated farms that swap room & board against your helping hands. And the best thing: as it is cultural exchange, all visa and insurance formalities are taken care of. Go to http://www.wwoof.org/ for more info!

And if you want to come to Italy, consider joining Cosimo in laying the groundwork for the new olive oil!! Read Matt's account on his time with at Cosimo's farm: http://www.mattartz.org/category/travel/page/2/

Just a couple of days ago I told you about the award Barbara and Fabio won - The Bandiera Verde. It is only now that I learn from Roberta and Giulio - proud producers for the Roasting and Grilling Salt, the Eggplant- and Sun-dried Tomato Spread - that they were awarded the Bandiera Verde last year! More, they were the first ever Tuscan farm winning this important award...

I think that is absolutely fabulous! (Of course partly because it gives me an opportunity to boast about having discovered these great people and dedicated farmers independently from a winners' directory. And that my choices were sort of audited externally..) But jokes aside, I DO think it is fabulous, because it confirms the mission of The Scrumptious Pantry: bringing together small artisan producers, real farmers, that love their land, love their food and that
commit to sustainable food production!
Hence "Congrats" - although belated - to Roberta and Giulio, they must be very proud to see their hard work being honoured this way!

Congratulations to Barbara and Fabio from the Podere del Grillo in Tuscany:

dedicated famers, good friends and creators of treats such as the Tomato Jam with Grappa (one of the bestselling items in The Scrumptious Pantry) have been awarded the "Bandiera Verde" to honor their continuous efforts and achievements for local agriculture. The "Bandiera Verde" (translates to green flag) is awarded by the Italian Farmers' Association CIA (Confederazione Italiana Agricoltori) to farmers, communities or journalists that are dedicating their work to conserving local agriculture and agricultural traditions.
When awarding the Bandiera Verde to Barbara and Fabio, the CIA specifically highlighted their creativity when innovating new products from well known ingredients, thus creating more demand for produce which would otherwise been abandoned.

Another achievement that is to be mentioned is the meticulous work these two put to recuperate the traditional terrace style outlay of their fields. When they took over the Podere del Grillo from Barbara's family, lots of time, sweat and money went into analyzing old historical records from the time of Cosimo Ridolfi (the father of modern agronomy), paintings and maps to restore the land to the splendor of the terraced fields that once characterized this area of Tuscany.

Again, congratulations, and let's toast to Barbara and Fabio with a nice glass of wine, some yummy cheese and their delicious Tomato Jam with Grappa and the Green Tomato Jam to go make it even more yummy!