The Tuscan cuisine: ancient dishes and traditional Tuscan flavours, chianina, extra virgin olive oil…

Tuscan cuisine is made up of many different dishes, but some traditional dishes, unchanged over time, are common to all areas of the region.
At the heart of the Tuscan table is a product unique in Italy: “sciocco” bread. This custom of not adding salt to bread appears to be due to the ancient rivalry between Florence and Pisa, which led the latter to block the salt trade.

In any case, this characteristic pairs well with the flavorful cuisine and Tuscan cured meats.
Bread has always been sacred in Tuscany. In the past, after baking it in a wood-fired oven (present in almost every farmhouse), it was stored in cupboards for weeks. Even today, it is still traditional not to waste it, and stale bread is used in many popular recipes: panzanella, ribollita, pappa al pomodoro, and fettunta (bruschetta).

Another key ingredient is extra virgin olive oil (there are about 400 olive oil mills in Tuscany).

The Apennines offer the ideal environment for flocks and herds. The prized Chianina breed, named after the Val di Chiana, is also raised in the Tiber Valley, especially in the area between Pieve Santo Stefano, Badia Tedalda, and Sestino.

It is characterized by the white mantle and the tonnage of considerable size. The meat of the Chianina breed is the basis for true “Fiorentina” steak, served with cannellini beans dressed with salt and pepper.

Excellent Tuscan pecorino cheese, often accompanied in our valley with  particular honeys or jams, such as red onion jam or candied figs, are famous all over Italy.

On the Tuscan table is often present the meat of poultry, bred in the farmyards of our houses: chicken, turkey, rabbit, guinea fowl, goose. But also wild boar and hare, with which we prepare tasty sauce to accompany noodles.

Butchering the pig is a tradition in the countryside every year in early December. The meat is mainly used for seasoning products, such as Tuscan salami, traditional ham, bacon, sausage, finocchiona, capocollo.

The Tuscan cuisine also offers a great variety of desserts, usually made ​​from simple ingredients. They are closely linked to the traditional festivities, to the religious or agricultural calendar. Among the best known and also prepared in the Tiber Valley there are Cantucci and Cavallucci (biscuits served with Vin Santo) and the Castagnaccio (called Baldino in our valley) that is made with the fine flour of chestnuts of Caprese Michelangelo.

All this is the cooking of the Tiber Valley, enriched by influences from Umbria and Marche.

The typical dish of Anghiari is the Bringoli, thick fresh pasta spaghetti, egg-free, often pulled by hand. They are served with a duck sauce or with the so called “sugo finto”.

This poor and simple sauce of the folk tradition, has this name because has little or no meat and lots of vegetables spices, but in spite of its name is very flavorful and tasty.

You have to taste also the meat cooked on the grill, the classic Fiorentina steak, served whole or “cut” in slices, and “salsiccia” and pork “rosticciana” (“costoliccio”). And mushrooms, truffles, polenta and beans. The typical cake is “Mantovana”, soft and cooked with pine nuts. And also “cantucci” and “torcolo”, accompanied by Vin Santo.