Use Your Senses of Taste and Smell

Italy is one of the places in the world where good, fresh food has always played a central part in living a high-quality life. The taste and smell of Italian produce is intoxicating, ensuring dining experiences that frequently border on transcendent.

It's rare to find a fruit or vegetable in a market when the variety is out of season. Tomatoes, for example, are at their best in Italy in the late spring and early summer. Most of the tomatoes in Italian markets come from Sicily, where the hot and sunny climate produces fruits bursting with flavor. When tomatoes are at their peak, Italians make great batches of passato al pomodoro (fresh bottled tomato sauce) to stockpile in their larders during the winter months when tomatoes and other vegetables are no longer in season.

You might think about getting the best tomatoes you can so you too can preserve the bounty of the seasonal produce and create a well-stocked pantry. See below for my tips on canning and preserving.

• Canning in huge quantities can seem like a daunting task. Start with smaller batches - even six or eight pints of sauce will go a long way toward making at least a few of your meals feel fresh and summery in the wintertime.
• Be sure not to use any jars with chips or cracks, as this can lead to bacteria.
• Make sure to sterilize the jars completely. Start by washing the jars, lids, and bands with hot, soapy water. Next, completely submerge the jars in boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove with tongs.
• Do not use any butter or fats when canning, unless specified in a tested recipe. These ingredients don't store well and tend to have a higher rate of spoilage.
• Do not thicken with starches, flour, or add rice, barley, or pasta to canned products. These items will absorb liquid quickly and slow the way the food heats, resulting in under-processed and possibly unsafe food.
• Don't use jars larger than specified in a recipe, as excess air could make the food unsafe.
• For more tips, see Ball's website.

Enjoy!

R O S A N N I N C . C O M

The Mediterranean Diet as a Way of Life with Cathy Volpone

The lovely Cathy Volpone, owner of Big John's Pacific Food Importers in Seattle, is guest-blogging this week in honor of yesterday's Go Red For Women Luncheon in Seattle. Cathy and her father, John, were Rosanna neighbors at our last warehouse and come from a lovely Italian family. Read more to hear about how the heart-healthy Mediterranean Diet was their normal way of life growing up in Seattle. And be sure to visit their amazing store in SoDo!

When my father, Big John was growing up in Seattle during the 1930's and 40's, his family didn't realize they were on the "Mediterranean Diet" - they were just trying to survive. Typical of Italian immigrants, they raised chickens and goats, made their own wine, grew their own vegetables, and were naturally surrounded by apple orchards. They are very little meat, mostly fish and a little red meat for spaghetti sauce from the local butcher. At the end of summer, they canned what they could and hoped it would last them through the winter. They never wasted a single scrap of food. They lived lean and green by necessity.

My parents' wedding day.

By the time I came along in the 1960's, our Italian-American table had expanded. Unlike his father, who earned his living with a shovel, my father was in the food business! And although we still grew vegetables and made homemade wine, we had access to huge grocery stores and restaurants. We didn't eat out much, but when we did it was either at The New Italian Cafe or Top Spot Chinese Restaurant, both on Rainier Avenue South (and both sadly gone). Although Big John cooked on Sundays, our Croatian-American mom did most of the daily home cooking. She learned the Italian dishes as well as many American ones and everything was always made from scratch and delicious! Throughout the 1960's and 70's our Mediterranean Diet was still pretty much in tact.

The family around the table.

In the 1980's and 90's American life seemed to speed up and take out became the norm. We ran from our aerobics classes (my favorite was Belltown Ballet and Conditioning Studio) to grab dinner "to go" (I loved Pasta and Company and Rex's Deli). Luckily for the Mediterranean Diet, foods from Greece, Italy, and Spain went mainstream. It was no longer a challenge to get a Greek salad or a panini. But even with all of this access to healthy food, keeping the American heart healthy was still a challenge.

Big John today.

In this century, many of us have come full circle and have tried to go back to how my dad's family lived on Beacon Hill in the 30's and 40's. Now the garden is called "organic" and not wasting food is called being "sustainable." We have chickens, we make our own wine. No matter what you call it, it is all good news. The family table is getting a second wind. It is my hope that as we gather for meals with those we love, the Mediterranean Diet will continue to be a way to not only a healthy heart, but a satisfied soul.

www.rosannainc.com