Our Sauces, Condiments, and Creams

According to Athenaeus of Naucratis (II century C.E.), as far back as during the Roman imperial age, a banquet proved successful so long as it had the right sauces to go with the various dishes. Across the Italian peninsula, recipes for sauces have been handed down since medieval times to become part of modern regional cuisines. Worthy of note are the Veronese green pearà (literally “peppered”) and the Genovese pesto.

Our fresh pestos, which retain the greenness of their homemade equivalents, compete with traditional Italian tomato sauces for the preparation of pasta-based dishes. Tomatoes have, however, also enriched Italian pasta recipes with various thick pastes, soups, and sauces.

Pistachio pesto is a wholly Sicilian sauce. Pistachios are indeed a green gold found in Sicily. Thanks to its cooling flavor and creamy consistency, pesto made from Sicilian dried fruit, such as pistachio, hazelnut, and almond, competes with traditional Italian tomato sauces for the preparation of pasta-based dishes. These spreads can also be combined with croutons and pizza, and are therefore ideal to make all types of savory meals.

With their unique flavors, colors, and textures, Italian spreadable creams like their distant cousins, our sauces, can exalt and enrich most sweet bases. These Sicilian spreads can be combined with any sweet base, from doughs to panettoni, and are therefore ideal to make all types of sweet meals.