Today we’re talking about capers from Pantelleria, tiny but very rich in flavour. But there’s more, we’ll also discover caper berries, caper leaves and the caper production farm that brings Pantelleria’s tradition to the world. Ready to go?
- Meat & Seafood add remove
-
Cured meats & Cheeses
add remove
- Pasta & Pizza add remove
-
Preserves & Condiments
add remove
- Truffles, legumes & mushrooms add remove
- Desserts & snacks add remove
- Organic
- Tasting Selections
- Christmas
- Regali aziendali
- Brands
- Meat & Seafood add remove
-
Cured meats & Cheeses
add remove
- Pasta & Pizza add remove
-
Preserves & Condiments
add remove
- Truffles, legumes & mushrooms add remove
- Desserts & snacks add remove
- Organic
- Tasting Selections
- Christmas
- Regali aziendali
- Brands
Search in blog
Latest posts
-
Capers, what a taste!Read more
-
Ferragosto’s picnicPosted in: The foodie's journal2702 viewsRead more
Ferragosto is approaching, whip out the picnic baskets! What are we taking? All quick preparations to make and practical to carry and eat - dishes and cutlery are hardly needed! The secret? The best Italian cured meats.
-
Precious grains from the Vercelli plainPosted in: The foodie's journal2902 viewsRead more
Have you ever thought about how much work goes behind a packet of rice? How important the territory, the processing techniques and the packaging method are? To think all of this doesn’t affect the taste is a huge mistake. And while...
-
Who says there’s only tuna in oil?Posted in: The foodie's journal3629 viewsRead more
From Marzamemi’s tuna fish factories…The greater amberjack! Tradition and environmental sustainability: fishing is exclusively by angling in the Mediterranean, the processing entirely made by hand, in short it’s a delight to always keep...
-
When whole is better than slicedPosted in: The foodie's journal3592 viewsRead more
We already know that dry-cured ham is one of the best and most symbolic products of our territory. But do you also know what the differences are, in terms of taste, between a sliced one and a whole one? Read our article and make room in...
Popular posts
-
ITALIAN PASTA TYPES AND SHAPES REGION BY REGIONPosted in: The foodie's journal151390 viewsHow many pasta shapes exist in Italy? Around three hundred! Any pasta shapes that you can think of has been created over the years and combined with a specific sauce. First of all, Italian pasta shapes are divided into two main...Read more
-
ITALIAN RICE CULTIVARSPosted in: The foodie's journal45508 viewsIn Italy rice is rarely seen as a side dish; it is an actual ingredient used in both traditional and more innovative dishes. Timbales, risotto, supplì stuffed rice balls, rice meatballs, rice salads…The Italian regional culinary...Read more
-
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GRANA PADANO AND PARMIGIANO REGGIANOPosted in: The foodie's journal38291 viewsParmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano cheeses have a similar shape, colour and paste, but they follow completely different product specifications as requested by their respective protection consortia. Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano...Read more
-
DISCOVERING ITALIAN RAW MILK CHEESESPosted in: The foodie's journal32042 viewsRaw milk means milk which does not undergo any heat treatment prior to becoming cheese. According to Slow Food, cheeses made from this type of milk, i.e. raw milk Italian cheeses, are the only ones that preserve an invisible bacterial...Read more
-
‘NDUJA FROM CALABRIA: FOOD PAIRING AND RECIPESPosted in: The foodie's journal29474 views‘Nduja from Calabria is definitely addictive; I am sure of it. One taste and you’re in love, because ‘Nduja salami spread is spicy but aromatic, it is creamy, it can enhance the flavour of many dishes and it takes you all the way to...Read more
Blog tags
Why do you eat chocolate eggs on Easter?
Easter is approaching and it’s time to choose the right chocolate egg. Have you ever wondered why an egg, of all things? And why is a surprise in it?
In the food world nothing’s by chance, let alone the symbol of the most important religious celebration of all Christianity. So let’s see how – and thanks to whom – we can end Easter lunch with a wonderful Vestri Chocolate egg.
The egg: more than food, a symbol
For any culture, at any latitude and in any historical period, the egg has an enormous allegorical value. It is a symbol of life, fertility and rebirth, of the embryo at the base of the future, of the blossoming of nature. That's no small thing…
For Egyptians, the egg contained in itself the union of the four elements of the universe, air, water, earth and fire. Even Persians, apparently, gave each other eggs to celebrate the beginning of spring and the return to new life of Earth.
And what about the cosmic egg, the cosmogonic archetype recurring in all myths of ancient civilizations? In short, from Taoism to druidic cults, from Polynesian myths to esoteric symbolism – including the Phoenix that is cyclically reborn from her own egg – never underestimate the power of an egg.
The Christian significance
With the advent of Christianity, the egg is ultimately associated with Easter and the resurrection of Christ, to the miracle of life that is reborn.
The connection between Easter and the donation of eggs comes from Germany, where the tradition of exchanging colored eggs started in the Middle Ages. It was enough to cook them with onions or red turnips, or wrap them in leaves and flowers.
The egg becomes such a powerful symbol that it transcends its nature of mere food and transforms into a purely symbolic object.
Then it will come back as food, but completely different from the original form. From the Middle Ages to the Vestri Chocolate egg, there’s still a long way to go.
Precious eggs
Since the Middle Ages, nobles and aristocrats from all over Europe began to commission decorated eggs, made of silver, gold and precious stones to donate during Easter.
The account books of the day tell us that the King of England Edward I of Plantagenet, in the early 1300’s, ordered 450 solid gold eggs to give to the court. Not bad, huh?
However, the one who raised the decorated egg to a true form of art was the Russian goldsmith Peter Carl Fabergé, the creator of the world’s first jewelled egg.
The year is 1885, Russian Tsar Alexander III commissions an Easter surprise for his wife, the Tsarina Maria Fedorovna, to Fabergé.
The result is a matryoshka egg (the so-called First Hen), white like an actual egg, with a yellow yolk inside made of, you guessed it, solid gold. Inside a hen covered in gold with ruby eyes, containing at its core a miniature copy of the imperial crown and a small egg-shaped ruby.
The Tsarina was so delighted that assigned Fabergé the title Goldsmith by special appointment to the Imperial Crown and instructed him to build one Easter egg every year, requiring only that each egg be unique and that it contain some kind of surprise within it.
Since 1895, with the accession to the throne of Alexander III’s son, Nicholas II, the eggs requested became two: The Tsar would give one to his wife and one to his mother. There were also years where the eggs requests were even more, commissioned by private patrons.
Fabergé’s eggs are works of art, priceless masterpieces. Possibly as many as 69 were created, 52 of which from the Imperial Collection. Only 46, however, survived.
The very first chocolate egg
Great, but when’s chocolate time? I know you’re only thinking about Vestri Chocolate egg but don’t worry, now comes the best part.
Fabergé might have invented the surprise, but who first had the idea of a chocolate egg wasthe Sun King. Louis XIV ordered his court “chocolatier”, David Chaillou, a chocolate egg filled with cocoa cream as an original gift. Apparently, he was tired of golden eggs.
But to get to the egg as we know it now, empty and with a surprise inside, it still takes a while. Apart from being the year of theFrench Revolution, 1789 is also the year of “conchage”, the production technique that makes chocolate moldable.
In 1823, François LouisCailler invented the chocolate bar. A few years later his son-in-law Daniel Peter produced the first milk chocolate bar, using milk powder from the Swiss Henry Nestlé.
This is when the Easter egg was born. In 1825, the Dutch Coenraad van Houte develops a system of hydraulic presses to "print" chocolate in all desired shapes.
In 1875 the landowner, tea and coffee dealer John Cadbury started mass-producing chocolate eggs. Dark, milky, with dried or decorated fruits, the history of Easter eggs as we know them started in Birmingham.
Vestri Chocolate, the kingdom of excellence
From England, the tradition of chocolate eggs has set foot in the heart of Tuscany as well, where the Vestri family carried on the art ofhandcrafted chocolate for over 60 years.
The Easter egg, for a chocolatier, is the ultimate test, a very difficult test bed where no mistake is allowed. A chocolate egg is only made of chocolate and if the quality isn’t top-notch, it’s immediately noticeable.
That’s why we choseVestri, because no one knows chocolate as they do. And trust me, once you taste it you’ll never look back.
With milk or dark, there’s no more delicious way to wish a Happy Easter than with a Vestri Chocolate egg.
Related posts
-
PRODOTTI TIPICI ITALIANI IN GERMANIA E OLTREOCEANO: QUANTI INGANNI!
Posted in: The foodie's journal11/02/20206396 viewsL’etichetta che indica la provenienza di un prodotto è sinonimo di garanzia. Ad ogni paese viene associata una...Read more
-
STRACHITUNT DOP: STORIA E TRADIZIONI
Posted in: The foodie's journal21/02/20204900 viewsLo Strachitunt DOP è un formaggio a pasta molle unico al mondo, tipico delle valli circostanti Bergamo, in particolar...Read more
-
PRODOTTI TIPICI PUGLIESI: QUELLI CHE PIÙ AMIAMO RISPLENDONO COME L’ORO
Posted in: The foodie's journal21/02/20205384 viewsLa Puglia, caratterizzata da distese di olivi e campi di grano che attraversano la regione fino ad affacciarsi sulle...Read more
-
IL CIBO DI QUALITÀ ITALIANO: PRODOTTI TIPICI DOP
Posted in: The foodie's journal21/02/20205481 viewsL’Italia è un paese dalla tradizione culinaria estremamente ricca e ogni regione offre prodotti tipici frutto di...Read more
-
COSA È OGGI IL CIBO GOURMET?
Posted in: The foodie's journal21/02/20205100 viewsGourmet è una parola molto alla moda al giorno d’oggi, ne spesso usata per descrivere una pietanza di grande classe,...Read more