Italian cured meats can now be imported into the USA - USDA lifts ban

Are you among the legions of American visitors to Italy who wanted to take home a whole prosciutto (or at least a good selection of salumi) but were disappointed to discover that the import of most Italian cured meats into the States has long been prohibited? Good news! It seems - note, seems - that from 28 May 2013, Italian cured meats can now be imported into the USA.

Italian cured meats - a new addition to what you can take home from Tuscany?

The USDA lifted its absolute ban on Italian raw, cured meat products in 1989, when prosciutto from Parma and San Daniele was allowed back into the USA after a 22-year absence. Now, according to ANSA, the Italian wire service, the USDA ban on the import of Italian cured meats from factories too small to support a full-time USDA inspector will be lifted starting on 28 May this year.

This is great news for visitors to Tuscany who now have the chance to extend their Tuscan experience by carrying back a good supply of their favorite Tuscan cold cuts. This also expands the options for convenient gifts for the folks back home - some salamini alla cacciatora here, a block of lardo toscano there. What could be a better way to share the experience? (And to "win friends and influence people" - it's not just the Napoleonic army that marches on its stomach!)

There is a huge array of Tuscan cured meats, many of them produced by small, artisanal outlets, that has never been available in the States. With a bit of luck, this will now change as importers move to fill what I believe is a true market void. In addition, there are good suppliers in Tuscany whose offerings can be ordered via the internet. 

HOWEVER, dear readers, the exact rules are still fuzzy and TUSCANY is NOT on the most recent list of Regions of Italy free of swine vesicular disease. Check back here - I will be updating as the USDA clarifies the new rules.

More about Tuscan culinary specialities.

Tuscan porcini mushroom - how to recognise, collect and cook them.

Bistecca all fiorentina - select and cook it properly.


Author: Anna Maria Baldini

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Bistecca alla Fiorentina

In Tuscany, Italy, bistecca alla fiorentina rules as the most popular and delicious beef dish. Bistecca alla fiorentina, as its name implies, is a grilled beefsteak in the Florentine style. Outside of Tuscany, it's commonly referred to simply as a fiorentina. It is, in fact, a porterhouse or T-bone steak, traditionally from calves of the chianina ox but these days very likely Spanish beef, grilled at high heat over charcoal so that it has a brown, almost charred exterior while being quite rare in the middle. (Don't ask for a well-done bistecca alla fiorentina - even if the chef agrees to cook it that way it will be tough.) It should be brought to your table on a very hot, iron serving tray or a block of wood and then cut off the bone and into strips in front of you. It should be salted after being grilled and might be flavoured with rosemary and/or some olive oil. The traditional accompaniment is a bowl of fagioli, Tuscan white beans.

Bistecca alla Fiorentina as cooked in Tuscany

It's actually not that easy to find a good bistecca alla fiorentina, sometimes because not enough care has been taken in selecting the meat, but more often because it hasn't been grilled exactly as it should be. Ask local people for a recommendation on where to go to try this great Tuscan treat.

More about bistecca alla fiorentina.

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Chianti Italy tourist information.

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

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Porcini mushrooms

Although porcini mushrooms grow throughout the northern hemisphere and are very popular in France (cèpe), Germany and Switzerland (Steinpilz), perhaps it is in Italy, with its myriad local cuisines, that you have the chance to try the widest variety of porcini dishes. And in fact if you stay at an agriturismo in the Chianti countryside, you can easily go out and pick your own porcini and cook them up at your accommodation. In Tuscany, porcini mushrooms are served alongside fried meat dishes (vitella, for example) and as the flavouring constituent of pasta sauces and ragouts. Porcini risotto is also commonly on the menu even though risotto is a speciality of Milan and its environs. While on holiday in Tuscany, on no account miss trying one or more dishes containing porcini.

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

Vacation rental accommodations in Chianti

Chianti Italy - what to see, where to stay

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Truffle festival at San Giovanni d’Asso

The Tuscan truffle festival at San Giovanni d’Asso takes place during the second and third weekends of November.

Display of truffles and other fungi at San Giovanni d'Asso

The Tuscan truffle season lasts roughly from September through December. I went there this November and can strongly recommend it. It's a smaller occasion that the truffle fair in San Miniato, on the same intimate scale as the truffle fairs in the villages around San Miniato, and tremendous fun for anyone interested in Tuscan food and folklore. There is a group of stalls selling white truffles, plus food stalls and restaurants selling truffle-flavoured specialities. During the festival, it's a good idea to book your restaurant. If you buy a truffle, make sure you're in a position to use it within three days - next day if possible - because their incredible aromatics disperse into the atmosphere at a rapid rate. San Giovanni d'Asso is located about 80 km southeast of Florence and about 30 km southeast of Siena in the picturesque area known as the Crete Senesi. It's a small village dominated by a large castle which now houses the truffle museum.

Sometimes the "Nature Train", a steam engine with antique carriages, makes the journey to and from the San Giovanni d'Asso truffle fair with an option to book a truffle lunch.

Tips on the truffle festival at San Miniato near Florence.

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

Holiday rentals in Chianti

All about Chianti, Italy

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