TORONTO – There is no better feeling than sitting at a bar patio for lunch in Sicily with friends. Old or new, there is a magic in the air in Sicily that brings laughter and familiarity among a group of people sitting around the table.
A local bar in Catania offered just that. A table outside under the warm sunshine and cool breeze of a Sicilian winter allowed a group of new acquaintances to bond . A simple meal of fresh ingredients of fruits and vegetables in typical Catanese arancini, salads and pizza helped solidify the notion that a Sicilian light meal outdoors in winter is the medicine we all need.
What can be better than ending that meal with a granita of fresh local products that melts in your mouth? Maybe nothing.
Until you try the red blood oranges – the Tarocco Meli variety tended to by Rosario, producer of Sicilian oranges in Belpasso and part of a number of producers for La Deliziosa O.P. Co-Operative.
The Tarocco blood oranges are a late winter fruit variety. They are super sweet and very juicy.
Orange candies, the sweetest imaginable, are excessively tart and bitter in comparison.
Rosario explains that the colour, a nuanced mixture of bright yellow-orange on one side of the peel and red on the other is also evident inside the fruit. The colour indicates that this fruit is rich in anthocyanins and lycopenes- antioxidants our bodies crave.
This occurrence happens only here in Sicily.
In the winter, the temperature fluctuations below zero at night and above 0 degrees in the morning create the sweetness found only in Tarocco Meli orange.
No pesticides are needed to protect these oranges.
Interestingly when asked why the fruit all looks more orange than red, he happily invites us to stand on the opposite side of the tree to change our perspective.
Voila’ , the peel is now red. Mount Etna, lovely , fiery Mamma Etna leaves her mark again. The side facing the volcano will always be red, the opposite side kissed by the sun will always be a bright orange.
The beautiful kaleidoscope of colour inside the Tarocco Orange is incredibly inviting. Fresh Vitamin C to go!
The soft smooth rind smells like summer and Christmas combined – a phenomenon that is also very Sicilian compared to the rest of the world.
Pastry chefs already use the rind -pasta d’arancia – in their products. It can be found in panettone from this area or as a snack covered in dark chocolate .
If you could put Sicily in a scented candle, this would be it.
Sara of La Deliziosa O.P lets us in on a little secret. “Always ask the waiter at a restaurant if the lemon, lime or orange slices they put in your drink are from Sicily. The guarantee is that your drink will also be pesticide free”!
A sip of Tarocco Meli juice is an elixir for the body, mind and soul.
(Photos: Fruit and Veg from Europe and Corriere Canadese)
