PLEASE NOTE THAT FARRO IS A WHEAT - DO NOT CONSUME FARRO IF YOU HAVE A WHEAT OR GLUTEN ALLERGY!

Farro has been pretty popular recently. After the New York Times ran a recipe for Farro pasta with nettles, we got a lot of inquiries about this delicious grain, which is part of the wheat family.

We have Carlo's Farro Pasta in The Scrumptious Pantry. It is grown in Tuscany by Carlo, following biodynamic practices. One of the ancient grains he cultivates is Farro Medio (emmer). Farro wheat is the most ancient grain of the Mediterranean, which was considered extinct until it was rediscovered growing in the wild in 1906 in what is now Israel. It is higher in protein than Durum Wheat and has an exciting nutty taste profile. It can often be enjoyed by consumers with slight wheat intolerance, because Farro is still in its pure, ancient form, and has not undergone the extensive breeding and manipulation the common “superwheat”.

The Farro is milled to a grind called Semolato. The Semolato grind it uses 90% of the grain, as opposed to the 67% that are used for classic flour. This process captures more of the proteins and nutrients and is easier to digest than white pasta. The Semolato pasta also has a more delicate taste profile compared to whole wheat.

The pasta itself is made according to artisan tradition. It is extruded through a bronze dye for a rough surface that the sauce can stick on, and slow dried at low temperature to maintain the vitamins of the grains.

Ingredients: Farro wheat semolato, water

You can find the New York Times recipe here

Updating...

I believe in canning, putting up the glory of summer for winter. I always loved the fresh tasting flavors of the quick refrigerator, but could not get around liking the store bought ones. Even the fancy brands seemed to be tasting too much like vinegar, salt and spices. To my palate that is. Hence I got my mind set on a line of pickles very soon - especially as here at The Scrumptious Pantry it is all about making foods that are connected with the culinary heritage of a region. If not pickles made in the Midwest, then where? All those immigrants from Germany, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe - pickling was their preferred choice of preserving the summer bounty.

And that is the keyword PRESERVE. We wanted to make pickles that preserve the flavor of the ingredients, accentuate the character of the veggies - not alter it to a point that if you took out the texture component and taste a pickle blindfolded you would be unable to identify the veggie.

Today, we are launching our first two products in the new line of pickles. It has been in the works for two years now. Our obsession with authenticity led us to put up jars and jars of pickles, trying every pickle recipe we could find in historic recipe books. Just for the fun of it, I just counted the open jars in my fridge that represent the various stages of testing (and which I am eating no matter how they taste cause I cannot throw food away. A salty dill pickle for example is great in an omelette w. potatoes) - 38 jars. I still have 38 open jars in my fridge, and 47 jars that have already been cleaned and stored away for the next round of testing. That equals 85 different test batches on four products. Now, surely that is not a lot of R&D for big food companies. It is a lot for us.

Besides canning batch after batch in the test kitchen, this project  led us to browse seed catalogues and speak with agricultural historians, in our quest to identify vegetables that have a history in the Midwest. With all the Polish & German immigration patterns beets made it onto our list pretty early in the process. The Giardiniera was decided on without much discussion, too, because this vegetable medley is the signature "vegetable preserve" of Chicago. The Lemon Cucumber we fell in love with at local Farmer's Markets. And then the Beaver Dam Pepper jumped out at us, when we were researching the Slow Food Arch of Taste – a listing of culturally significant varietals at the brink of extinction. The Beaver Dam Pepper was introduced to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, around 1913 by an Hungarian immigrant. It has a mildly spicy flavor and is just delicious. But it is very difficult to grow – the peppers can get enormous, requiring to put up trellises. So although it was a great tasting pepper, it was abandoned in favor of the easier to grow varieties

                                                                                       John of Stone Circle Farm with a small (!) Beaver Dam Pepper

Luckily by word of mouth we found a farm in Reeseville – Stone Circle Farm – that had been growing some experimental Beaver Dam Pepper plants last year. And how excited we were to hear that John would be willing to give the Beaver Dam Pepper a try on a larger scale. He brought on another Farm close to Beaver Dam – Good Earth Farm- and we were ready to go. We had some setbacks and we had some great successes. Some beautiful peppers and some pretty ugly ones, scarred up with sunburn. The spice profile for brine we developed for the Beaver Dam Pepper was reminiscent of the flavors of Hungary, and we are pretty excited about what we think is a greatly balanced flavor, supporting the characteristic taste of the Beaver Dam Pepper.

Today, we are launching the Beaver Dam Pepper and the Lemon Cucumber. Giardiniera and beets should follow before Thanksgiving. We want to thank our Farmers - John, Nicole, Rink, Jenny, Alison, Alex, Andy and Dirk - for trusting us with their beautiful veggies. A special thank you also to all our taste testers, that might not have tasted through all 85 batches, but still ate a considerable amount of pickled veggies. I personally want to thank Andy Fair, my partner in the kitchen, for not giving up on me and my quest for the perfect preserved pickle.

All our pickles make great additions to a Cheese plate or as an antipasto, but my favorite match so far are slow cooked beans with pulled pork over rice and a Beaver Dam Pepper on the side. How do you like to eat our pickles? Have a taste and let us know! They are available in our online store and moving to your trusted retailers in these days, too.

I love Carlo's pasta for many good reasons. The first is that it tastes amazing. Why? Because of the care and attention which with Carlo farms his biodynamic grain. Because of the Semolato grind he chooses for this pasta - packing it with more minerals, vitamins and fiber that the classic white pasta. Because he follows the traditional artisan pasta making process - extruding the pasta though a bronze dye and then slow drying it.

So today I am happy to announce that we also have Carlo's Farro pasta in The Scrumptious Pantry. The classic Penne Rigate and the fun Casarecce shape. Farro medio - the variety grown by Carlo - is THE most ancient grain from the Mediterranean. It was first cultivated in 7000 BC, but then it's importance faded away with the rise of higher yielding varieties. It was actually considered a lost species before it was rediscovered in 1906 in Israel. Luckily Italians loved it and it has since established itself as a staple grain in Italy, especially in Tuscany. It is richer in vitamins, minerals and proteins than Durum Wheat and has a different gluten structure, so people that are gluten intolerant may be able to enjoy farro (depending on the seriousness of the condition). Farro has a hearty, nutty taste profile - it pairs deliciously with stronger tasting flavors, as we do in this pasta salad.

Ingredients (feeds four as main dish)

16 oz of Carlo’s Farro Penne Rigate

4 oz. prosciutto/dry cured ham, torn into pieces

4 oz. feta cheese,  crumbled

8 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 tbsp. Roberta's Sun-dried Tomato Spread

1/3 cup walnuts, crushed

Zest of one lemon

2 tbsp. parsley, chopped

3 tbsp. Cosimo’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil “Blend”

Method: (1)  Cook pasta until almost al dente, drain water, spread pasta on a baking sheet to cool down (the steam would continue to cook it in the colander or bowl). The liquid of the salad will be soaked in by the pasta, which is why you want the pasta not quite al dente, otherwise it becomes mushy. (2) Add ham, cheese, walnuts, lemon zest, Roberta's Sun-dried Tomato Spread and Cosimo's Extra Virgin Olive Oil and toss well. (3) Salt & pepper to taste  and set aside. (4) When ready to serve, add tomatoes and finely chopped parsley. (5) Correct seasoning and serve.

+++ UPDATE: in order to help fund for the production of these products, we have launched a Kickstarter Campaign - a community driven funding tool for sustainable & creative projects. You can pledge as little as 1$ and we have mostly tasty rewards lined up for you in return. Please check out our project on Kickstarter and help spread the world. Think about what would be possible if 500 people pledged 10$. Thank you! +++

We are so excited so announce the soon to come launch of our US-farmed product line, we want to give you a sneak preview on our US farmed products! If you are following us on Facebook, you have seen the pictures we posted of our farmers, and here is what they will be bringing to The Scrumptious Pantry:

Michelle from Dietzler Farms (Elkhorn, Wisconsin) & Kevin from Happy Valley Farm (Black Earth, Wisconsin)

We used Michelle's sustainably & humanely raised beef and Kevin's organic tomatoes to make a meat sauce! There are a lot of tomato based products out there, but a high quality meat sauce that is shelf stable has been missing - until now. We researched many historic recipe books to come up with the taste profile, cause we really wanted it to reflect the culinary heritage of the Midwest. So look forward to a meat sauce inspired by the beef stew recipes we found in those historic cookbooks. And we added some bell pepper as an homage to the many Serbian & Hungarian immigrants to the Midwest. The result is a mighty tasty meat sauce that you can enjoy over pasta, rice dishes and that makes a pretty neat base for casseroles, too.

Ruth & Jacob from Fine Vine Organics (Three Lakes, Wisconsin) & Kevin from Happy Valley Farm (Black Earth, Wisconsin)

Get ready for our Cranberry Catsup! We are pretty proud of this product, because it is an absolute novelty. We found many cranberry & tomato condiment recipes in the recipe books we studied and loved the idea to have a 21st century condiment using cranberries - after all one of Wisconsin's major crops. The idea to work on a specialty Catsup was fueled by our background in wine: generally, a wine with high acidity is recommended for fatty foods, because the acidity cleanses the palate. Given our love for bacon, sausages and other fatty pork products maybe a Catsup naturally high in acidity would be a better match than the "one fits all" tomato ketchups on the market today? We can tell you, we ate a lot of bacon and sausages to find out and we can confirm, yes, our Cranberry Catsup is delightful on fries, on a bacon sandwich and also goes really well with white meat, too.

Olivia & Darro from Berkeley Olive Grove 1913 (Oroville, CA)

As you all know, we love Extra Virgin Olive Oil. We always wanted to add a domestic oil to The Scrumptious Pantry and finally found Olivia & Darro and their organic 20,000 tree olive grove on the edge of the Northern Sacramento Valley. Their oil is fruity, with a nice pungent finish, and it is super rich in anti oxidants. This one will be your new best friend when preparing salads, veggies and fish!

We will be launching our Heirloom Tomato Sauce w. Beef and the Cranberry Catsup at the FamilyFarmed Expo in Chicago, March 18 & 19. The Californian oil should be available around the same time, too.

Over the next two weeks, we will be sharing every farmer's story with you in more detail. We are so happy to have the chance to work with these amazing stewards for sustainable agriculture!

And stay tuned for more new Midwestern products in The Scrumptious Pantry, too. We have FIVE more products in the pipeline and we hope to be launching those in late summer.

I remember the first time I tasted fresh Extra Virgin Olive Oil the day I arrived at the Tuscan vineyard that was going to be my home for five years. I was blown away. I even coughed a little bit, as its pungency caught me by surprise. This was nothing I had ever tasted before. Immediately, I was won over. Here and there, I fell in love with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and its contribution not only to our health, but how it can add flavor to the dishes. A drizzle of good quality, robust Extra Virgin Olive Oil on soups, stews, grilled meats or fish is now a must in my kitchen. Back at Cosimo's vineyard, we ended up bottling three different Extra Virgin Olive Oils from our 1,000 trees (as approximation: 1 tree = 1 liter of EVOO). It was a lot of work for only a few bottles, but the character of the oil really changed dramatically from one part of the land to the other. The Premium Blend became the finishing oil, starting a little more on the delicate side and then developing to a whirlwind of taste expressions on the palate. The Blend is a great robust oil that is perfect for dipping, to toss pasta, to roast pumpkin, to make a vinaigrette.

So with my passion for all things Extra Virgin Olive Oil, you can imagine how excited I was when the City Olive in Chicago - a great source for Extra Virgin Olive Oils from all over the world - hosted a book presentation by Fran Gage. Fran is one of America's leading experts on Extra Virgin Olive Oil and has published this very lovely book on American EVOO (well, Californian really) producers, including 75 recipes differentiated by style of EVOO. A great read and a great source of inspiration, too!

So here is a recipe from Fran's book "The New American Olive Oil", perfect for these fall days and Cosimo's Premium Blend

Apple and Parsnip Soup

Ingredients

3 tbsp delicate EVOO (Fran recommends an EVOO with tropical & floral notes such as the Ascolano)

2 leeks, washed, with green tops removed, thinly sliced

1 lb parsnips (2 or 3 medium), peeled & cut into 1-inch dice

fine salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 large garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced

1 tsp thyme leaves

5 cups chicken stock

1.5lb (approx. 4) apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1-inch dice - look for crisp apples with a hint of sweeteness

3 tbsp Cosimo's Extra Virgin Olive Oil Premium Blend for drizzling

1.5 tbsp snipped chives

Method:

(1) Heat the delicate EVOO in a medium casserole over medium heat until it trembles, becomes aromatic, and easily coasts the bottom of the casserole. (2) Add the leeks and parsnips. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until the leeks are wilted, but not browned, about 5 minutes. (3) Add the garlic and thyme and cook for 2 more minutes. add the chicken stock and the apples. (4) Bring to a simmer. Cover and cook until the parsnips and apples are falling apart for about 35 to 40 minutes. (5) Puree the soup with an immersion blender. Adjust seasoning if necessary. (6)  Ladle the soup into bowls. Drizzle with Cosimo'a Premium Blend and garnish with snipped chives.

When the tomato arrived into Europe it was slow to catch on, the red color became associated with poison. However the French and Italians dismissed this myth and the tomato became known as poma amoris or pomme d’amour. It subsequently became known as a symbol for the aphrodisiac qualities of food and was labeled as the Love Apple. Every cook knows the way to the heart is through the mouth, so we have created an easy-to-make, tempting and light three-course Valentine’s Day dinner that includes several tomato-based foods.

Start with antipasti with our sun-dried tomato spread and a green tomato jam. Next, enjoy the primo with a heart-warming tomato sauce served over farfalle made from durum wheat. Finish the delectable meal with dolce served with tomato jam with grappa. The Love Apple is the secret ingredient to the heart, so there’s no need for cupid’s arrow! Adding The Scrumptious Pantry’s sweet and savory tomato ingredients of love to your romantic Valentine’s Day dinner is guaranteed to woo the apple of your eye.

The “Love Apple” Menu

Antipasti: Heart-shaped crostini with Roberta’s Sun-dried Tomato Spread (or Roberta’s Eggplant Spread) served with cheese nibbles with Barbara’s Green Tomato Jam as a condiment

Ingredients
2/3 cup cream cheese
1/3 cup Roberta’s Sun-dried Tomato Spread (or 1/3 cup Roberta’s Eggplant Spread)
Cosimo’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil “Premium Blend”, as needed
1 loaf of bread, cut into heart shapes (use a cookie cutter to make heart shapes)

Method: 1) Mix cream cheese and sun-dried tomato spread (or eggplant spread). 2) Spread mixture on breads hearts. 3) Drizzle with olive oil.

Cheese nibbles: Serve aged sheep cheeses, Parmeggiano-Reggiano, Grana Padana or fresh mozzarella. Break chunks of cheese out of the Parmeggiano or Grana using the tip of a knife. Cut aged sheep cheeses first in slices and each slice in to three triangle shaped bites. Cut mozzarella in slices and cut each slice in four bite-size pieces. The mozzarella also can be briefly grilled on a slice of bread in the oven, with a layer of green tomato jam between bread and cheese! Serve condiments on the side in small dessert bowls or shot glasses with small spoons. You also can use honey or Cosimo’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil as cheese condiments.

Primo: Carlo’s Durum Wheat Pasta with heart-warming tomato sauce

Ingredients
1/2 bag (9 ounces) of Carlo’s Durum Wheat Pasta—Farfalle
1 garlic clove, slightly crushed
3 tablespoons Cosimo’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil “Blend”
1 chilli pepper, small
1 ½ lb. canned and diced tomatoes
1 Tablespoon Roberta’s Sun-dried Tomato Spread
2 teaspoons Guido’s Balsamic Dressing Sauce

Method: Note: Tomato-based sauces are more flavorful after simmering at least one hour. They can also be made a day ahead to enhance its flavor and save time on Valentine’s Day. 1) To make the sauce, in a frying pan, heat crushed garlic glove in olive oil until the garlic is slightly browned. 2) Take garlic out of oil, add one small hot chilli pepper and tomatoes. 3) Add the sun-dried tomato spread. Sauce should simmer on medium heat for at least one hour. (Note: If a meat sauce is preferred, add 8 ounces of ground beef, 3 ounces of finely chopped prosciutto and 3 ounces of finely chopped bacon. Brown meats in olive oil before adding the tomato and chilli pepper) 4) Bring salted water to boil for the pasta. Do not add oil to the water. 5) Add pasta to the boiling water. When the pasta is almost al dente (after 9 to 10 minutes), drain and put the pasta in the pan with the sauce. (Note: Do not rinse the pasta because you will wash away the starch needed to have the sauce stick to the noodle.) 6) Add balsamic dressing sauce and let stand for two minutes. Serve on warmed plates/bowls.

Dolce: Ricotta with Barbara’s Tomato Jam with Grappa

Ingredients
½ pound (8 ounces) fresh ricotta
1 shot glass of grappa, dark rum (aged for a minimum of 7 years) or pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of sugar
Barbara’s Tomato Jam with Grappa, as needed (or another jam of your choosing)
Nutmeg, freshly ground, as needed.

Method: 1) Mix ricotta, sugar and grappa/rum/vanilla until well combined. 2) Spoon mixture into small glass bowls (or tall shot glasses). 3) Top with a thin layer of tomato jam with grappa. 4) Garnish with freshly ground nutmeg.

How I enjoyed reading this product review

"Give your chemically corrupted taste buds a break (thanks Hot Pockets) with green tomato jam, Charlie-Trotter approved durum wheat pasta, and insanely aromatic roasting and grilling salt".

To read the full article go to

http://www.dailycandy.com/chicago/article/78785/The-Scrumptious-Pantry-Artisanal-Products

I love farro. Ever since living in Tuscany, farro is my preferred grain. In summer, we eat it cooked & cold with veggies and greens in salads. In winter, it is the base of warming stews and soups. And I love the earthy, hearty taste of farro cookies and cakes. Now, as days become shorter and the temperature drops (yes, even in Tuscany), there is nothing more scrumptious than the nutty-sweet taste of a farro cookie and a mug of hot coffee.
So I was flabbergasted just now, while doing research on farro for the introduction of Giovanna and Niccolina’s new Christmas cookie (which the Chicago Tribune rated “tasty to boot”, by the way), to find out that farro was considered a “health food” in the US. You do not know what you are missing!

Farro is spelt. Although there is a fair amount of debate out there if the Tuscan farro is really spelt or emmer (very close cousins), I can say to the best of my knowledge that farro is spelt. Farro is the mother of all wheat. It originated in Palestine in the bronze ages, it was found in the pyramids in Egypt and fed the Roman legions building their empire. And it has been a staple in Tuscan cooking and baking forever. I guess it is fair to say that farro is a very “stubborn” plant. It needs little and can thrive in harsh ecological conditions. Which is why it was so established as a staple crop in many areas of the world. It was even grown in the US, where it is said to have been introduced in the 1890s. But as agriculture advanced, high-yielding varieties were bred (also, high-volume commercial baking operations wanted varieties rich in gluten) and mankind learned to manipulate the land with a mix of fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides and other gadgets of modern agriculture. Those new varieties spread like wildfire and farro was replaced. Some areas, such as Tuscany, would not let go of their farro and continued farming this grain, which is as Tuscan as Chianti wine.
Luckily with a growing interest in more natural farming and more wholesome eating, farro is now experiencing a renaissance also elsewhere. For one, given its nature, farro requires less fertilizer than other wheat varieties, and is hence a natural crop for organic farming, although it will yield less than bread wheat (which explains while it is more expensive).
But it also has more protein than wheat and thanks to its tough husk, freshness and nutrients are maintained better than in other grains. So, I guess these factors make farro a “health food”. Well, then so be it! Eat healthy, live happy, enjoy your farro, and try this recipe for farro & raspberry jam cookies recently posted on Lucullian Delights (a very inspiring Italian themed foodblog) http://www.luculliandelights.com/2009/11/farro-and-raspberry-jam-cookies.html

If you do not feel like baking yourself, enjoy Giovanna’s and Niccolina’s handmade Spelt & Figs Cantuccione. You can enjoy it slice by slice just like that, or toast the slices a second time to make the classic Tuscan “Cantuccini” – biscotti as they are usually called in the US. Available online at www.piazzaitalianmarket.com/store

Quoting TODAY'S CHICAGO TRIBUNE

"Seeing the smiles of those who crafted your ..food...on the label makes the experience exponentially more CHARMING. And The Scrumptious Pantry's Cantuccione (Tuscan fig cookie) is TASTY TO BOOT..."

We obviously could not agree more with this feedback, but I have to say we are delighted to see that Giovanna's & Niccolina's dedication to quality and hard work in their tiny bakery finds such an important forum!

The Cantuccione is a cookie loaf, basically. When baking biscotti (bi = twice, cotti = cooked, hence cooked twice), the cookies is first baked in a long loaf - the Cantuccione - before it is then sliced and the slices toasted again for biscotti. This is the Cantuccione after the first baking: you can enjoy it as it is, slice by slice, or make your own biscotti!

From spelt flour and the best dried figs these two talented artisans could procure comes a Christmas treat that also makes a great stocking stuffer!

ORDER YOUR CANTUCCIONE NOW ONLINE

Comparing Carlo’s pasta to another artisan Italian pasta widely available in the US during a comparative tasting last week, one taster had comment, which I want to share with you today: “you can really see the wheat”, she said.

I always put a standard pasta next to Carlo’s pasta when doing tastings and in store demos, just because the texture looks different, the color is richer – the pasta looks more alive to me. But I never came up with these simple words. Yes, you can see the wheat!

So today, as Carlo and his staff are shelling this year’s grain harvest (which by the way was great in quality but not really satisfactory in quantity due to the heavy rains in early spring and the dessert like temperatures in summer. Side note: it amazes me how what is celebrated as the perfect climate by one crop farmer can be deadly for the other. In this case, the weather conditions were absolutely perfect for the vines, a notion not shared by Carlo and fellow grain farmers…), let me talk pasta.

Carlo’s pasta is made with a richer form of flour, the so called “semolato”, rather than the “semolina” which is the typical white flour. To explain the difference, let me remind you the composition of a grain kernel (from the outside to the inside)

- the protective skin is called the husk (or hull)
- then comes a layer of bran, which mainly contains fibers
- next is the endosperm, divided into two layers, of which the outer one contains proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins and enzymes. The inner part of the endosperm (which is ca. 80-85% of the kernel) is composed of starch and gluten, a protein.
- protected by all these layers is the germ, the living cell of the kernel, and it contains antioxidants, vitamins E and B, minerals and proteins.

The classic white flour (“semolina”) is milled to separate the inner layer of the endosperm from all the other components, using only 60-64% of the actual kernel and loosing many of the positive properties of bran and germ in the process.
The semolato Carlo uses for his pasta is the result of stone-milling the grain and significant amounts of the bran, the germ and the outer layers of the endosperm.

The results are more complex taste profile of the pasta, which is easier to digest, contains more nutrients and shows off the wheat in the pasta itself! It is NOT a whole wheat pasta though, because it does not contain ALL the kernel. Speaking among us, we use the term “semi-integrale”, which could be translated into “partly whole wheat”. In any case wholesome, especially as Carlo follows strict organic agricultural procedures on his farm and also respects organic regulations during the actual production of the pasta: it is dried at low temperatures in order to maintain the proteins, vitamins and amino acids, which are heat sensitive.

Having said all that, how about a nice plate of pasta with porcini mushrooms, while they are still in season (for four people)

1 box of Carlo’s Durum Wheat Pasta Farfalle Shape
½ stick butter
Cosimo’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 garlic cloves
2 cups sliced porcini mushrooms (make sure the gills are white and not yellowish-greenish, which is an indicator that they are old!)
½ cup white wine
¼ cup chopped parsley
freshly grated parmesan cheese
salt & pepper

Melt half of the butter in a saucepan with a dash of olive oil, at low temperature add the slightly crushed garlic cloves to extract their aroma. Add the mushrooms, but be careful not to fry them! Add salt, pepper and white wine. Let simmer for a couple of minutes.
Cook the pasta in a separate pot (contrary to popular belief you do not need to put oil in the water, nor should you rinse the pasta with cold water. The latter would wash away the starch that is needed to have the sauce stick better to the pasta), when al dente drain, take garlic cloves out of the sauce, add the pasta, stir and let sit for one minute, adding the remaining butter and the parsley. Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese to your liking.