Apr
16
Echoes of winter: Mostarda
April 16, 2008 |
It’s spring, warm weather, flowers blooming or at least I thought it was spring. In the last few days it has been cold again so I decided to allow myself one last winter treat, I bought Mostarda Di Cremona
A must in the Italian cuisine during the winter and especially at Christmas time. Mostarda is served along with other typical sauces with bollito misto (boiled meats) a real traditional Italian dish. It is also served with cheeses or used in the fillings like Tortelli con la zucca (tortelli with squash) . I love to eat it accompanied with fresh and creamy Stracchino cheese (Crescenza) as you can see in the picture above but most people prefers to eat it with Mascarpone cheese. I personally think that Stracchino is much lighter and tastier.
The tradition says that Mostarda was created around the 14th century but it seems that originally wasn’t a recipe at all. Legend says that a monk to punish himself from being greedy decided to cook something disgusting to eat so he boiled some fruit adding the worse things he could think of like must and mustard but as you can imagine it came out delicious. There are many citations about mostarda during the centuries even starting from the Romans but it’s until around the 17th century that we have documented resources about the mostarda recipe as we eat it today.
There are different kinds of mostarda from all the North of Italy and down to Tuscany, but the best one for me is the Mostarda di Cremona that keeps the fruit whole. Other preparations instead puree the fruit like mostarda vicentina (from Vicenza) which is only made with apples. Mostarda di Cremona is usually prepared with cherries, figs, tangerines, pieces of oranges, apricots, pears and so on.
It can be really spicy, which I prefer, but it will bring tears to your eyes. The quantity of mustard essence makes the difference and it only needs few drops to be strong. Mostarda can also be prepared at home but I’ve never tried to make it yet. I always find good quality mostarda available in the stores. One day or an other I’m going to make my own and you’ll be the first one to know. The procedure is quite simple but it takes some time depending on the recipe you’re following, it normally takes up to two days. If you prepare it yourself make sure you never breathe the mustard essence because you’ll faint for sure, my dad did it. Don’t use substitute like mustard powder or others it won’t be the same.
I hope you’ll have a chance to try it someday not everybody likes it but it’s worth to taste it. If you do want to taste it make sure it’s made in Italy and let me know what you think of it.
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I remember when I was a kid , my mother and her parents used to eat mostarda during the holidays… I never wanted to taste it. But
now I am sorry I didn’t… They would have some red wine with it… My mother was born in northern Italy….