Italy: October 13, Tuscany

Today we took a Tasty Tuscany Tour. Our guide, Katarina, picked us up in Florence, and took us around Tuscany to discover the cuisine.  Our first stop was to visit a small pasta workshop that makes fresh pasta. Francesco taught us how he makes pasta, and showed us all these machines that press pasta, shape it, and can add filling to ravioli. We bought some to take home for dinner.

Next stop was a winery and olive oil press. Massimo took us to the cellars and talked to us about the wood used to make wine barrels, how long to age wine, and what makes a good olive oil. Then we had an olive oil and wine tasting.

Katarina took us to a saffron farm for lunch.  The farm grows saffron, which is very expensive and difficult to produce. It is made from the stamens of the crocus. It has to be harvested and dried in one day. Our lunch had saffron-infused dishes, such as saffron ravioli, and homemade saffron ice cream for dessert. This appetizer plate had different types of bruschetta, a battered sage leaf, an artichoke casserole, and pear with peccorino.

After lunch Katarina took us to San Gimignano, a medieval walled town. We walked around on our own for a bit and took pictures of the Tuscan countryside. 

Our final stop was truffle hunting with Francesco (a different Francesco.) He is a professional truffle hunter, and he taught us about using his dogs, Noaro and Angie, to help find these elusive and very valuable fungi under the ground. We walked through the forest for a bit, but couldn't find any before it started to rain. It was really enjoyable.