Olive Oil: An Italian Pantry (Italian Pantry Collection) (Hardcover)

~ Leonardo Romanelli (Author), Gabriella Ganugi (Author) "Olive oil is an ancient food, born in the Mediterranean and as central to its cuisines and cultures as bread..." (more)
Key Phrases: Lake Garda, Chianti Classico, Iblei Mountains

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Uneasy people with nascent, health-related resolutions dreading warmed-over, calorie controlled frozen dinners should know that the Mediterranean diet, with its super-fresh foods filled with advantageous fats, is a healthy, appetizing alternative. Here to help is the four-piece Italian Pantry Collection published in North America by The Wine Appreciation Guild and scheduled for release in February. All four books, Olive Oil, Pasta, Cheese and Prosciutto, are filled with vibrant, full-color photographs and are written by native food writers and cooking instructors. Each distinct food is coupled with a recipe, a map pointing out its production zone, nutritional information, its constituents, uses, variations and flavor. The authors also tell the life-story, part history part lore, of Italy’s four most famous foodstuffs.

All olive oil is not the same. Like grapes, olives from different regions produce a different character. Authors Leonardo Romanelli and Gabriella Ganugi take us from Lombardy in the north to the southern island of Sicily sampling the oil of each region in between. They discuss how olive oil is made and how production methods differ from region to region. Included is a helpful chapter on choosing, serving and cooking with olive oil and all its variations. There’s a section on how to make and bottle aromatic oils, preserves and uncooked sauces—great as gifts (and even better for personal use).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Wine Appreciation Guild (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891267558
• ISBN-13: 978-1891267550
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,114,181 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Italian Pantry, April 28, 2005

By	Henry Floyd (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews

I find myself constantly returning to this book, as well as its sister volumes in the Italian Pantry series, over and over and still finding something new and enjoyable. Olive Oil is something that has been around since ancient times, and yet, only recently are we discovering its myriad uses in the kitchen. This colorful book illustrates the history and production of Olive Oil and presents many simple, yet lavish regional Italian recipes for sauces, preserved items, and entrees. Of course, you can always just keep a little carafe on the table for drizzling over pasta, meats, vegetables, and just about anything else for that matter.