{"id":18183,"date":"2017-07-12T10:27:29","date_gmt":"2017-07-12T08:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/?p=18183"},"modified":"2022-05-04T17:12:05","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T15:12:05","slug":"the-tomato-extract","status":"publish","type":"ricetta","link":"https:\/\/visitsicily.altrama.com\/en\/ricetta\/the-tomato-extract\/","title":{"rendered":"Tomato pur\u00e9e (l’astrattu)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Significant superstitions of an atavistic peasant culture that today raise a smile. It was in fact a rite, that of the extract, absolutely feminine; linked therefore to the cycles of the moon, where women were priestesses<\/em> destined to celebrate in a condition of absolute purity<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Traditions aside, this condiment is still today the essential basis of many traditional regional recipes. Used when cooking meat or sauces for a long time, or simply to add extra flavour to tomato sauce<\/a>, it can be added directly to the preparation while it is cooking or dissolved in a little water.<\/p>\n

To make a kilogram of astrattu<\/em>, the ingredients<\/strong> can be counted on the fingers of one hand: 20 kg of dry and sugary tomatoes (the ideal tomato is the Siccagno<\/em>, grown without extra watering in the Madonie<\/a> mountains), a few tablespoons of excellent extra-virgin olive oil (to “taste” the subject better, continue reading here<\/a>), a few large vine leaves, a few dried bay leaves, and salt to taste.<\/p>\n

The list of tools<\/strong> required is much richer and more “specialised”:<\/p>\n