Ventresca Tuna: Thin, light strips of tuna belly, the most prized part of the fish.
The Consorcio quality of canned fish is exceptional. These products really should be in your pantry. During the summer, when vegetables are abundant and it’s warm, you might not want to spend a lot of time over a hot stove, nor even have much appetite. But a few ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and the like, chilled and garnished with some of Consorcio’s products, accompanied by a good rosé and good bread, can be a most delightful and appropriate meal. It just takes some imagination and a few provisions in your pantry. For summer drinking–or anytime drinking for that matter–Cocchi Americano. Corti Brothers was the first to offer this Piemontese aperitif several years ago, and after some “discussions” with Washington, D.C., Cocchi Americano is back in the States. Art work on the label was the problem, now resolved. Cocchi Americano has been produced in Asti, Italy, since 1891. The name “americano” does not mean what it looks like, but is a linguistic distortion of “amaricante” or bittering. This class of drink was very popular at the end of the 19th century and the Cocchi version is the only one that was a light color. Normally they were more or less brownish red. Cocchi Americano is wonderful for the warm days of summer. Just pour it into a glass, add some ice cubes, a slice of fresh orange and a splash of soda water for a wonderfully refreshing drink that can be made as tall or short as you like. When you don’t want a glass of wine, and stronger spirits are not appealing, Cocchi Americano with its slightly bitter and pungent flavor and its 16.5% alcohol diluted even further with water can prove to be exactly the right choice. In fact, you might forget about the other choices all together.
This year Corti Brothers will offer unique and Heirloom Garlic grown by Perry Skinner, a hobbyist grower in Woodland, California. It will have been pulled between the last week of May and mid June, but needs to be cured and trimmed. Garlic will be ready for shipping, the first week of August. We will bill and ship then to orders given now. This is garlic grown in 16 inch high raised beds, un-sprayed, hand weeded, and sprinkler irrigated. There are nine different flavors of garlic, some more, some less, pungent. Here are the varieties: Persian Star Garlic: The seed comes from Samarkand and has large (2-2 ½ inch) wide bulbs with eight to ten striking purple and tan streaked, crescent moon shape cloves. It retains its luscious, moderately spicy garlic flavor when cooked. (#2575) Metechi Garlic: A productive, long storing garlic, one of the few hardneck that grows as well in warm winter climates as it does cold. It forms large, purple-blushed white bulbs which have four to seven large lavender and cream cloves. (#2576) Guatemalan Garlic: From the village of Aguacatan near Huehuetenango, Guatemala. It has lovely medium large, (1 ½-2 inch) purple splashed white bulbs and six to eight large, burgundy on brown cloves which have a delightfully mild, almost nutty flavor. (#2577) Transylvanian Garlic: Bought originally in a market in Transylvania in 1994. A beautiful garlic with large white bulbs, ten to sixteen large beige cloves, and excellent flavor. (#2578) Tochliavari Garlic: From the village of the same name in the Republic of Georgia. It has very large (2 ½-3 inch) bulbs with twelve to eighteen pointed, pink streaked cloves. Its lush, complex flavor is referred to as ideal. Very long storing. (#2579) Kettle River Giant Garlic: a Washington State cultivar for over one hundred years, producing giant, flat bottomed bulbs up to four inches in diameter with off white bulb wrappers and eight to fifteen, huge, round cream colored cloves. It has a rich, medium hot flavor and is an excellent keeper. (#2580) Inchelium Garlic: A long, large, heavy, flat bottomed bulb with purple streaked white bulb wrappers and twelve to twenty large, shiny white cloves. This garlic has a mild, pleasant flavor that is wonderful eaten raw in salads and fresh salsas. Long storing. (#2581)Siciliano Garlic: An authentic Sicilian heirloom brought into this country only ten years ago. Its extra large round bulbs are white with purple streaking and have ten to sixteen large, creamy white cloves with excellent flavor and moderate heat. Long storing. (#2582) Shantung Purple Garlic: A superb Chinese softneck with very dense, compact round bulbs with dark blue purple skins and six to eight large, rosy beige and cream cloves. A strong, earthy flavor and incandescent heat. (#2583) This collection of garlic will be packaged as individually labeled, netted bulbs. You can buy some of each or just one. The price for all is $12.99 per pound. To Store: keep bulbs in netting in the wine cellar, dark and cool. Last year at this time we offered Abel Clement Côtes du Rhone rosé for summer drinking because it was almost perfect of its type. This year we have Abel Clement Grenache 2009 Rose wine, just slightly different from last year’s, an unblended rosé made from Grenache. Perfect of its type, a Vin de Pays du Vaucluse, it is a very pale pink, fruity, dry with zippy acidity, and the refreshing character that excellent, well made rosés have. This wine should fit the bill for the summer whether you are having light dishes or not. It is a delicious, seamless wine with great flavor and balance. I like it very much.
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Corti Brothers
Sacramento CA
