Sunday, November 27, 2016

The afternoon coffee

During Sunday afternoons many people think about having a cup of delicious coffee. Maybe it is worth knowing better different types of this black gold which wins the hearts of many.

Let's start a journey between the two main species of coffee: arabica and robusta.

The arabica and robusta are two types of coffee beans used to produce the mixed coffee selections. Their main differences are in taste and where they are grown. The first important difference is genetic one, the robust also contains a higher level of caffeine as arabica, even twice. This factor is important to consider for those who have difficulty with falling asleep after drinking a cup of coffee.

The arabica (the 70% of the coffee produced in the world!) is mostly cultivated in the South America and in the Africa. The robusta is produced in West Africa (Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, etc.) and in the Far East (Vietnam and Indonesia). In addition to this the arabica grows best at high altitudes and needs a lot of rain, while the robusta grows at lower altitudes and even in tough conditions, less than ideal. It has also less problems with diseases.

The arabica and robusta beans are distinguishable. Those of arabica are more elongated, oval, those of robust have a more rounded shape.

Podobny obraz
All these things are useful as a curiosity, but we come to two very interesting elements: to a taste and a wallet. It is important to consider that the arabica has a more delicate taste, less bitter, with less strong and intense acidity (at least in the best types arabica). The robust taste has a strong sense of bitterness.

Judging by their portfolio is not always possible to say that the arabica is better than robusta (and because there are good robusta coffies and because tastes are different and you can appreciate different things). The arabica has also higher prices, keep this in mind if you want to buy 100% arabica. However there are arabica types which cost 2 euro per kilo and the other one can cost 400 euro. The choice and the taste is yours.

Do you know now why many companies write proudly on the paper cups for coffee "100% arabica"?

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

The history of ice-cream

The Italian ice cream are famous not only for the excellent flavor but also for their ancient origins. We can say that the history of ice cream in the world begins in Italy. The tradition of eating this cake existed also in ancient Rome. Probably already at that time somebody ate a cold dessert which looked like the ice cream, made of ice cubes with addition of juice, fruit and honey. At that time there were no refrigerators, the ancients Romans (of course only those who could afford it) sent their servants to the mountains to bring ice cubes. So as we see the primary ingredient of the first ice cream was water, not milk. From the Middle Ages comes an interesting story: the Arabs who lived in Sicily often ate a special ice cream: fruit juice mixed with the snow from Etna. The name sorbet derives exactly from the Arabic expression that meant fresh snow (in Turkish serbet). A real ice cream boom arrived in the Renaissance. In the sixteenth century at the court of Medici in Florence someone did an important discovery: adding a little bit of salt to the ice cream, make their temperature lower. This was the first step towards the invention of modern sorbet. The recipe of Medici let the ice cream spread around Europe.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

How to recognize the quality Italian ice cream?

There are simple rules to recognize a quality artisan ice cream even if you are not an expert. Entering an ice cream shop (it. gelateria) you can easily check what kind of ice cream you are going to eat.

There are some rules in order to understand the ice cream production. The quality of ice cream depends always on how it is made, on the ingredients and on the production process.

Now I will try to write about simple rules for all ice-cream lovers :)

Good ice-cream melts fast

An ice cream to melt must not have so many fat. If an ice cream would melt immediately, we can be sure that they were used good ingredients, not so many artificial things like colorants and preservatives.

Color of ice cream

A good habit  is to observe the color that has the ice cream.
The pistachio is the taste that we can easily choose for this test.
The color should be pastel green, absolutely natural and with no lime green accent.

Another taste is the strawberry.
It must be as natural as it is the color of strawberry, not red. We can also observe if it is made with real strawberries: the typical strawberry seeds. 

An ice-cream should be smooth

We cannot find any little patches of ice (of course already of a particular taste) when we eat it. A good ice-cream should be always very smooth and pleasant for our palate.


Sunday, November 13, 2016

Supplì

One of the most famous roman dishes is supplì - the rice balls. Everybody should taste them during their trip to Lazio. I truly recommend one of the most famous family bars where you can eat delicious and traditional supplì.

La casa dei supplì - the house of the rice balls in Piazza Re di Roma is opened since 1986.

This little bar there is in the heart of one of the most lively districts of the Italian capital. It opened for the first time  in 1986 but earlier, the owner had begun his work at Trastevere in 1979.

A meticulous work over the years and the perfect quality of products has guaranteed a success. The family still continues to make rice balls for customers.
They prepare the rice balls using the classic recipe - meat, mozzarella and tomato. But at this product you can add numerous variations. And that's what happens in the house of the rice balls - la casa dei supplì in Italian. There are about ten types of rice balls. Among these the most delicious are cheese and pepper or mushroom ones.

It's a spacious and comfortable place where you can be groped not only by the famous rice balls but also by other traditional products for a lunch or for a dinner. 

The house of the rice balls is opened very day except holidays. 
Znalezione obrazy dla zapytania la casa dei suppli roma



Znalezione obrazy dla zapytania la casa dei suppli roma 


Znalezione obrazy dla zapytania la casa dei suppli roma



Wednesday, November 9, 2016

An ice cream please...

The best ice-cream of the recent times? For me certainly Grom if we are talking about a chain of shops. The idea of ​​Grom is to propose to the public (now the ice cream shops have locations in about 40 cities in the central and northern Italy and also abroad) a good quality ice cream made with excellent ingredients with high attention to the processes and ingredients.

Thw founders are Guido Martinetti and Federico Grom. The company opened its first restaurant in Turin in May 2003. Since then, the brand has spread to thirty-four Italian cities and seven abroad (Dubai, Jakarta, Hollywood, Malibu, New York, Osaka, Paris)

The question is: is it worth making all that queue that you see outside the Grom? The answer is yes, because on average the ice cream found there is really good. The taste will not disappoint you. All the creams have a very soft consistency and they use the technique of "stiring" the ice cream before the service and they put the balls one above another like all Italians do :)

The fruit flavors  (my favourites) are basically sorbets where the original flavor of the fruit is a real pleasure.  


My advice is  to try this ice cream. In Rome there are several locations in the city center, in Via della Maddalena, Piazza Navona and Via dei Giubbonari, and a Via Tuscolana 1370.




Znalezione obrazy dla zapytania grom gelato

Znalezione obrazy dla zapytania grom gelato