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Thanks to a culinary tradition that goes back
generations, and thanks to the sun and climate
which is always mild, Sardinia can be proud
of a noteworthy food and wine culture and a
vast range of agricultural biodiversity in
its food.
These have always represented the most natural
elements of originality and familiarity and
form part of the expression of the people.
The bread is certainly a
specialty of the island. The most famous is
the “carasau bread” or “music
sheets” a toasted thin round pastry,
long used by shepherds who spent long days
in the olive groves, far from the town.
Amongst the meats, the “porceddu”,
pig on the spit, seasoned with myrtle leaves,
is surely the product which characterises Sardinian
cooking. Grilled or roasted, with wild fennel,
other typical dishes of the shepherds include
lamb and goat. Aside from pig, sausages can
also be made from wild boar.
There are many cheeses that are produced in
Sardinia, including those from sheep’s
milk, cows’ milk and goats’ milk.
Amongst the sheep’s milk cheeses, we
can distinguish between the hard cheeses (Pecorino
Romano), the semi-hard cheeses (Pecorino Sardo)
and the soft cheeses (Fiore Sardo, Bonassai
and Dolce Sardo). The goats’ milk cheeses
are soft cheeses but with a strong, wild taste
(Biancospino). Amongst the cows’ milk
cheeses, it is worth noting a soft cheese called “Peretta” (in
the form of a pear, with a little head which
allows it to be tied and hung). From the serum
of sheep’s or goats’ milk, you
can get a very creamy Ricotta which
should be eaten fresh. If it is salted and
smoked, it becomes Ricotta Mustia.
The range of sweets that are produced in this
island is vast; amongst the most common there
are: bianchini, amaretti, tiricche, papassini, formaggelle, sospiri, torrone, seadas, mustaccioli, gattò, pardulas, ciambelle and honey which
can be from strawberry, thistle, chestnut,
eucalyptus or asphodel.
Every region of Sardinia has its traditional
dishes like snails, broad beans, lamb with
peas, lamb skewers, roast calamari and grilled
equine steak. |
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