A full table of ancient flavours which take their roots from the traditions and history

A full table of ancient flavours which take their roots from the traditions and history of a population that has been able to exploit the resources offered by the territory. From Appetizers to Desserts it’s an outburst of skillfully prepared simple and genuine delicacies. Absolute protagonist of the mountain cuisine is bread, the making of which was in the Ossola region a consolidated family and social process. Bread was generally produced with rye mixed with other types of flour, sometimes enriched with nuts and raisins and served with locally made sausages and cheeses. From salami to mortadella, from raw ham to bresaola (cured meat), from the famous “goat violins” to flavoured lard, every family had a special recipe of its own, which would be passed on from generation to generation and that can still be tasted in all the various products of these valleys. The art of cheese-making dates back to the year 1000, when the work of a mountineer and his family was officially sanctioned. About thirty alpine pastures produce excellent cheeses that bear the name of the places where the most important “casere” are located. A name in point is the Bettlelmat, a cheese currently produced by seven alpine pastures of the Antigorio and Formazza valleys. A limited production which has contributed to enhance its taste and its preciousness on the market. Excellent are also the cheeses from Mottarone, which can be tasted and purchased from various farms located between the Lake of Orta and Lake Maggiore, possibly tasting them with a good glass of wine from the Novara planes. Cheeses to be tasted with the many sorts of honey produced in this area with various taste nuances. From the mountains to the lake, where both river and lake fish is the true protagonist. From the lake come the lavaret, the perch, the bleak, the jackfish and the trouts. The species typical of Lake Maggiore is the perch, which cooked with the original recipe brings to life once again the tradition according to which, since olive trees did not grow in this area, people used to press nuts to obtain the oil to cook.
High quality wines and desserts are available to accompany a typically local meal. The absence of wind and the warmth rising up from the plane of the Toce river have allowed the cultivation of terraced vineyards in the Ossola region, where one of the most famous wines, the “Prunent”, is produced. As for desserts the choice is quite ample: from the “Credenzin”, made like the black bread of Coimo, but with the addition of nuts, raisins and figs, to the Sweet Bread of Cannobio, to the “Imperialine” and “Reginette”, biscuits typical of the area of Omegna, to the “Margheritine” of Stresa, the “Fugascina” of Mergozzo, the “Intresine” of Intra and the “Amaretti” of Pallanza. All these products can be purchased from the numerous, mainly family-run firms or included in the menu of the various restaurants, some of which have been cited by the most important restaurant guides, as well as at several typical holidays farms.