flavors
twelve o’clock, April 27, 2021 – 4:56 pm
The Antico Forno of Vito and Giuseppe Bongermino continues to knead according to the traditional recipe. Lo Spinello dei Falconi gives us an original rosé already in color
of Vincenzo Rizzi and Pasquale Porcelli
Food (by Vincenzo Rizzi)
Pwe strive for simplicity. To a complex simplicity that miraculously transformed itself into an essential element of nutrition in much of the universe. The oxymoron is inevitable because we are talking about bread, whose very remote origin predates the Christian era by many centuries, when it was the result of a mixture of hand-ground cereals mixed with water. And its history develops through some fundamental stages: between the Egyptians, discoverers of the fermentation process, and the Hebrew unleavened bread, which still does not include the addition of yeast. To then expand throughout the Mediterranean basin, from the classical Greek and Roman era, up to the religious symbolism of the host. From classical Greece to Puglia is a short step, because the etymological root of the city of Laterza is to be found in the mythical character of Laertes, father of Ulysses, whose name also inspires Laerte Antico Forno, a company of excellence in the bakery sector. It all began during the eighties of the last century, when Giuseppe Bongermino took over the previous business and began to enlarge it, with the intention of passing on to his son Vito the secrets relating to bread and flour processing. In these decades many things have changed, and Vito, who grew up in the oven, now has a role of great responsibility. However, the values remain unchanged, and here the Laterza bread continues to be produced according to the traditional recipe, with the use of re-milled durum wheat semolina flour, water, salt and mother yeast; and the stages of the process are strictly controlled, from sowing to the store shelves. The supply chain is in fact short and absolutely transparent: starting from the selection of native raw materials, to continue with the milling of the wheat in the family mill, and ending with the creation of fragrant delicacies ready to be offered to the public. But the respectful recovery of atavistic customs does not inhibit the introduction of technological innovations. Thus was born the idea of a digital platform, to accurately record the most important steps of the production process, in order to obtain a sort of identity card of the various specialties, for the benefit of the informed consumer. Various specialties that go far beyond the many types of bread, and whose success is also confirmed by the well-deserved recognition of the Gambero Rosso. Ultimately, it is a basket of delights filled with wholemeal focaccia and friselle, egg taralli and wholemeal biscuits, mustacciuoli and cartellate.
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The secrets of the ancient Laertes oven
The wine (by Pasquale Porcelli)
QSomething more than a few simple whites and something less than complicated reds, a universe apart from that of the reds, in which the forced comparison with other types does little justice. Mild maceration with the skins or bloodletting? Once distinguishable by the more intense color in the seconds, the question says little to the common consumer. It seems to be made of goat wool and instead corresponds to two oenological processes to obtain different wines. The first is the classic one that made Salento rosé wines famous and those from Puglia in general, which are obtained by leaving the must in contact with the skins for a few hours, so that the coloring substances act in a light way, and then proceed to fermentation only of the liquid part. The bloodletting instead subtracts a part of the liquid-only must from the maceration tank where the red wine is being prepared and the part thus taken is then fermented as a white wine, while the remaining part will continue the fermentation in red or with the skins, obtaining a more concentrated wine. Which is the best? It is difficult to say, especially when the winemaking technique, increasingly targeted and refined, makes the two procedures hard to distinguish, starting from the color, which has lately increasingly aimed at imitating Franco-Provençal ros, true rulers of the international market. Not so for Spinello dei Falconi 2020 from the now historic Copertino winery, which pays homage to tradition by sprinkling territoriality already from color. Not only the dress that makes the monk: fragrant, fresh, savory with the right dose of raspberry, strawberry, with floral veins. Balanced in the structure, balanced in the fresh acidity, of moderate persistence and without sweetish residues. What more could you want, given the price that is nothing short of popular, in the truest and most beautiful sense of the word.
April 27, 2021 | 16:56
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