Preserved and Pantry
Alba White Truffle: What You Are Actually Buying
The Piedmontese white truffle, its short season, how it is priced and graded, and how to tell a real one from the products that borrow its name.
Preserved and Pantry
The tins, jars and bottles that carry a season: anchovies, capers, olives, tomatoes and salted fish.
Preserved and Pantry
Bottarga di Muggine: Grey Mullet Roe, and the One You Actually Want
Salted pressed dried mullet roe from Sardinia, grated over pasta. Why muggine outsells tonno on quality rather than price, and how to judge a lobe.
Preserved and Pantry
Bottarga di Tonno: The Bigger, Cheaper Bottarga, and Where It Wins
Salted pressed tuna roe from Sicily and Sardinia. Why it is coarser and saltier than mullet bottarga, and the dishes where that is an advantage.
Preserved and Pantry
Cantabrian Anchovies: The Spanish Ones on an Italian Shelf, and Why They Are There
Large hand-filleted anchovies from northern Spain, the benchmark for oil-packed fillets. Why an Italian pantry carries them, and how to tell a good tin.
Preserved and Pantry
Caper Berries: The Fruit, Not a Big Caper, and What That Changes
Cucunci are what a caper bud becomes if you let it flower. Why they are milder rather than stronger, how to serve them, and when they are the wrong choice.
Preserved and Pantry
Capperi di Pantelleria: The IGP Caper, and Why Salt Beats Vinegar
Sun-dried salt-packed capers from a volcanic island between Sicily and Tunisia. What the IGP covers, why the salt cure is the better one, and how to rinse them properly.
Preserved and Pantry
Carciofini: Baby Artichokes in Oil, and Why the Cheap Jars Are Watery
Small artichoke hearts preserved sott olio or in brine. What separates a jar worth eating from a filler, and why the packing liquid decides it.
Preserved and Pantry
Castelvetrano Olives: Why They Are Green, and What to Look For
The bright green Sicilian table olive, its unusual curing, why the colour is sometimes genuine and sometimes not, and what a good jar costs.
Preserved and Pantry
Cerignola Olives: The Giant Ones, and Why Some Are Bright Red or Black
Enormous mild Puglian table olives, crisp and low in bitterness. What the DOP covers, why the coloured ones are dyed, and how to judge a jar.
Preserved and Pantry
Cetara Anchovies: The Amalfi Village That Salts Them and Presses the Liquid
Salt-cured anchovies from a small Amalfi Coast fishing town, and the colatura that drips from the barrels. How to buy salted rather than tinned, and how to bone them.
Preserved and Pantry
Colatura di Alici: The Anchovy Liquid Worth the Price
A clear amber anchovy sauce from Cetara, made by pressing salted anchovies for months. What separates real colatura from fish sauce, and how to use a small bottle.
Preserved and Pantry
Datterini Tomatoes: The Sweet Little Ones, and What the Tin Is Actually For
Small date-shaped tomatoes with high sugar and low acid, sold tinned whole. When they beat San Marzano and when they are the wrong tomato.
Preserved and Pantry
Gaeta Olives: The Wrinkled Purple Ones, and Two Different Cures Under One Name
Small dark Lazio olives sold either brine-cured and smooth or dry-salted and wrinkled. Which one a recipe means, and how to judge a jar.
Preserved and Pantry
Italian Sardines: Reading a Tin, and Why the Date on It Is a Vintage
Tinned sardines from Sicily and the Mediterranean coast. What the packing medium and the fish size actually tell you, and why good tins are dated to be aged.
Preserved and Pantry
Nocellara del Belice: The Cultivar Behind Castelvetrano, Under Its Real Name
A Sicilian dual-purpose olive grown for eating and for oil. How the cultivar name relates to the Castelvetrano brand, and why the bright green colour is a curing choice.
Preserved and Pantry
Passata: The Uncooked Sieved Tomato
Raw tomatoes crushed and strained, not a cooked sauce. What separates passata from purée and from tinned tomatoes, and how to buy a good bottle.
Preserved and Pantry
Peperoncino Calabrese: The Chilli That Defines Calabrian Food
The small red chilli behind nduja, salsiccia piccante and Calabrian cooking generally. What it is, how hot it is, and the forms it is sold in.
Preserved and Pantry
Piennolo Tomatoes: The Vesuvian Tomato Hung in Bunches
A small thick-skinned tomato from the slopes of Vesuvius, traditionally hung to keep for months. What the DOP covers and what makes the fruit unusual.
Preserved and Pantry
Salted Anchovies: The Whole Fish in a Tin of Salt
Whole salt-cured anchovies keep better and taste cleaner than fillets in oil. How to fillet and rinse them, and why cooks prefer them.
Preserved and Pantry
Salted Capers: Why They Beat the Ones in Vinegar
Salt-packed capers keep their floral flavour where brined ones taste of vinegar. How to rinse them properly, and what size to buy.
Preserved and Pantry
San Marzano Tomatoes: What the DOP Actually Guarantees
The most counterfeited tin in the Italian aisle. What the real designation requires, what the certification number means, and how to check a tin.
Preserved and Pantry
Sott'Olio: Italian Vegetables Preserved Under Oil
What sott'olio actually means, why the vegetables are acidified first, and how to tell a properly made jar from a risky one.
Preserved and Pantry
Taggiasca Olives: Small, Dark and Full of Stones
The Ligurian table olive behind Niçoise salad and Ligurian cooking. Why they are sold with stones in, and what to do about it.
Preserved and Pantry
Ventresca Tuna: The Belly Cut, and Why It Costs More
The fatty belly of the tuna, jarred in olive oil. What separates ventresca from ordinary tinned tuna, and how to tell a good jar.