Sicily holidays by Volcano Etna

Sicily is famous for its cuisine. In facts, as a Mediterranean country, all of its foods and recipes are part of the Mediterranean diet…

With this post I’d like to make you know something more about the Sicilian foods.
Sicily is not only history an traditions but also a culinary lab…

Between the most know foods there are:

• Sweets
• Wine
• Olive oil
• Oranges

All of these products are available on the principal markets.

Sweets in Sicily have a millenarian tradition, they come from the Arab cuisine.

The most known are:

• Almond pastes: Sweet prepared with almond and sugar
• Mustazzuoli: Delicious paste made up of honey, dried fruit , cooked wine and spices
• Torrone: This is a typical sweet for Christmas festivities. It’s made up of sugar and nuts (Almond and pistachio)
• Sicilian Cannoli: This is the most know sweet of the island. It’s a friable paste full of Ricotta cream mixed with chocolate or candied fruit
• The Granite: This is a great summer food. Instead of the ice cream, the granite is made up of sugar and juice (Almond, lemon, strawberry, etc…)

The wine of Sicily has its own roots in Greek age. The Fenician export it in their commercial routes. The particular climate conditions makes it very tasty. The wine of the Etna has a particular taste due to the lavic terrain. Vary study and research confirm that Sicilian red wine has a particular protection on heart disease.

There are more than 150 thousand, hectares of land cultivates to wineyards. There are wines that have a D.O.C (Controlled denomination of origin), I.G.T (Typical Geographic Indication), and D.O.C.G. (Controlled and guaranteed denomination of origin). These are labels that indicate that quality and the territory of the wine. On the Etna the best wine producers are Castiglione di Sicilia and Linguaglossa

There are 3 main wine tour along the Etna. Here it’s easy to combine food and wine tasting and cultural tours. The town interested by this tour are: Belpasso, Nicolosi, Trecastagni, Viagrande, Pedara and Zafferana Etnea in the south side of the Etna and Castiglione, Randazzo, Piedimonte and Linguaglossa in the north side.

If you think to buy Italian wine consider that wines have a maximum cost of about $20. A lot of wines from the Tuscany or Piedmont regions of Italy cost $40 or much, much more. Such is not the case for Sicily.

One of the most important aspect of Mediterranean diet is the quality of the ingredients used. The main food of the Mediterranean diet are Seafood, fruits, meat vegetables and wine.

So why don’t combine the positive effects of the Mediterranean diet with a tour of Sicily?

Today it’s important to follow a balanced diet to live healthy. A Food and wine tour could help you understand better these principles.

The Olive oil has tremendous health effects…it Has particular fats and substances that help prevent cancer, heart diseases and help contrasting free radicals to help be more young and have a great skin!!

The Sicilian red oranges are a healthy bomb…they Are full of vitamins, anti-age and anti-cancer substances like no other fruits…consider that only in Sicily you can find this types of fruit.

Recently i read the program of a travel package organized by my friend Gabriele. The tour cover all Sicily staying in Farm houses.
The places are:

• Segesta (Castellammare del Golfo)
• Misiliscemi (Trapani)
• Piazza Armerina (Enna)
• Noto (Siracusa)
• Randazzo (CATANIA)

In summary other the travel experience, a food and wine tour of Sicily can help you understand better the Mediterranean diet principles…and live a healthy life.

Thanks to Flickr for the images

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