Taormina, Castelmola & Bronte's Pistachios
We travelled from Caltagirone to our next stop of Castelmola by way of Bronte. Bronte is famous throughout Italy for one thing, it's pistachios. The Arabs brought the pistachio to Bronte and the foot of Mt Etna, ever since then they've flourished into the lifeblood of the town. That volcanic soil of Europe's largest volcano provides just the right nutrients for a nut like no other. As you travel the beautiful country of Italy I highly recommend dishes & gelato and other things which contain Bronte pistachios.
So we stopped in a bar in small town Sicily's Bronte after driving around a bit to find the right place to purchase some pistachio products. We ordered a couple espressos and they were delivered each with a piece of pistachio cake, tasty! They had a few products for sale but I was searching for more variety and honestly more volume. I asked the barista where I could find more of these products, in my broken Italian, she smiled and went to ask one of the other patrons in the bar, who asked another, and soon I had three guys and her standing around me speaking about the products. I can typically comprehend about 50% of the discussion but had to get these guys to slow down, they thought I spoke Italian. I asked again, "Dove compro prodotti pistacchio?" and the big guy smiled and told me there was an agricultural park about 2km away and I could find what I needed there. I thanked him and we rolled out to the park, it looked like a warehouse district, a hodgepodge of business including everything from a remote control car racetrack to a forklift repair place. We drove around a bit and found what we were looking for, a simple building behind a locked gate, which they graciously opened for us.
It was nearing riposo time when we entered the Evergreen storefront for the warehouse so we thought we'd better expedite our purchase. Inside were shelves of all types of products from Sicily including jellies, creams, pesto, olive oil; we were set. Maria offered up stuff to taste, explained the difference in the DOP product, which for them is nothing but the labeling and jar (like our experience with the traditional balsamic vinegar), thus the elevated price, and told us to take our time......the shopping commenced. Kathie and I had discussed how much we could carry home versus ship after putting a dozen on the counter. Maria went in the back to check the shipping prices and when she returned she laughed as the count was now nearly double. Kathie directed that shipment to the house was necessary. I caved, especially realizing that the price of shipment between 10-20kg was the same so I could continue to purchase what I wanted. About 30 jars later, and a good laugh from Maria and a couple other non-English speaking people who joined the room, we were set. They had a video playing in shop and I asked for a copy of it, she told me conveniently it's here: Evergreen YouTube And get this, I now have the first Like of their video, check out this bigshot! (lol)
So now we have a great contact in Sicily to ship us products straight from the producer. Yes the shipping is expensive and needs to be considered in the price, but honestly it was 2x the price in town and on Amazon the prices are about 4x. I have a basement, I'll do the math next order and make sure my breakeven is well within the mark.
So we travelled on from Bronte to Castelmola, the hill town above Taormina, for a couple quick nights. The drive up the hill was a little challenging:
So we stopped in a bar in small town Sicily's Bronte after driving around a bit to find the right place to purchase some pistachio products. We ordered a couple espressos and they were delivered each with a piece of pistachio cake, tasty! They had a few products for sale but I was searching for more variety and honestly more volume. I asked the barista where I could find more of these products, in my broken Italian, she smiled and went to ask one of the other patrons in the bar, who asked another, and soon I had three guys and her standing around me speaking about the products. I can typically comprehend about 50% of the discussion but had to get these guys to slow down, they thought I spoke Italian. I asked again, "Dove compro prodotti pistacchio?" and the big guy smiled and told me there was an agricultural park about 2km away and I could find what I needed there. I thanked him and we rolled out to the park, it looked like a warehouse district, a hodgepodge of business including everything from a remote control car racetrack to a forklift repair place. We drove around a bit and found what we were looking for, a simple building behind a locked gate, which they graciously opened for us.
It was nearing riposo time when we entered the Evergreen storefront for the warehouse so we thought we'd better expedite our purchase. Inside were shelves of all types of products from Sicily including jellies, creams, pesto, olive oil; we were set. Maria offered up stuff to taste, explained the difference in the DOP product, which for them is nothing but the labeling and jar (like our experience with the traditional balsamic vinegar), thus the elevated price, and told us to take our time......the shopping commenced. Kathie and I had discussed how much we could carry home versus ship after putting a dozen on the counter. Maria went in the back to check the shipping prices and when she returned she laughed as the count was now nearly double. Kathie directed that shipment to the house was necessary. I caved, especially realizing that the price of shipment between 10-20kg was the same so I could continue to purchase what I wanted. About 30 jars later, and a good laugh from Maria and a couple other non-English speaking people who joined the room, we were set. They had a video playing in shop and I asked for a copy of it, she told me conveniently it's here: Evergreen YouTube And get this, I now have the first Like of their video, check out this bigshot! (lol)
So now we have a great contact in Sicily to ship us products straight from the producer. Yes the shipping is expensive and needs to be considered in the price, but honestly it was 2x the price in town and on Amazon the prices are about 4x. I have a basement, I'll do the math next order and make sure my breakeven is well within the mark.
So we travelled on from Bronte to Castelmola, the hill town above Taormina, for a couple quick nights. The drive up the hill was a little challenging:
But we made it up fine and found our after walking by the huge sign that said info here, the owner had a restaurant in one building and behind it was the "hotel". Our room had a nice view, however the weather was not ideal for either day we were in town, I suppose a 39 day trip inevitably includes a couple days of rain.
We enjoyed a couple pizzas that evening and made our plans for the visit down to Taormina in the morning. That theater was a must see! It was truly magnificent, built by the Greeks in the 3rd Century BC and then modified by the Romans, it was lovely.
Taormina is a vacation hotspot, the Pearl of the Med, a longtime destination for people. Too many people, a place we'll likely avoid when we return to Sicily the next time. (yes there will be a next time, this place is wonderful) But we did find a nice wine bar for some paninis for lunch and then a little gelato as we walked the main street, lined with shops. Kathie bought herself a goat skin purse, super soft, and I found the best smelling pastry shop ever, I mean this place smelled fantastic!
My shoulders are big but come on man, this is an actual named street. So narrow my sleeve rolled up a little.
We watched the World Cup back in Castelmola and enjoyed a bunch of wine and pizza and patatine fritte, french fries, sitting out on the square talking with the waiter from a different restaurant. He talked about the lack of planning and failure to take care of the environment when some video of a flooded town was on the news. Cut down all the trees, make a parking lot, then be surprised when this happens. Truth. A young guy, he thanked us for visiting Sicily and spending our money as they don't have much other than tourism in his eyes. I told him we'd been before, love the island and will return. The brother of our waiter was enjoying the match and some pizza as well, it was a little cold on the square so they had a space heater out and running. He turned it up just far enough to have the flames curling out of the top and toward the umbrellas and a nearby tree; Kathie and I were a little concerned until his mom told him to turn it down. Boys will be boys.
It was a nice couple days, we are in the last week or so of our trip and headed out to the Aeolian Islands, relaxation will be the agenda.
Comments
Post a Comment