A passion and dedication of ours at Mia Emilia is to bring the best of Italy to our customers here in the USA. In saying the best of Italy, we mean the best ingredients and best tasting products, of course, but we also mean the best experiences. Our hope is to offer your family a taste of Italian life.
Today, we are excited to introduce you to a new supplier that offers delicious baked foods from a village called Jelsi in the region of Molise on Italy’s Adriatic coast. It is there that we find the passionate Cianciullo family making biscotti, cornetti, and taralli, just to name a few specialties!
Francesco Cianciullo says it is the memories of baking in the kitchen with his father that made him want to start his business and one day to pass it to his son, Pasquale.
Using the finest ingredients, and traditional, artisanal methods, they offer the taste of an Italian family kitchen to customers around the world. Their products are not mass produced, as they strongly value quality over quantity. At Mia Emilia, we are thrilled to be able to bring such special treats to our customers, as well as our own families.
What makes these Italian products so special? In Italy food is an experience, and a different one from what we are used to here at home.
Breakfast in Italy traditionally is much lighter than our bacon, eggs, biscuits, and pancakes, and it is such fun!
No shuffling down to the hotel lobby in pajamas, as we often see stateside. In Italy, one gets dressed for the day before ever stepping out of the hotel room, home, whatever the case may be.
If your hotel offers breakfast, it is usually a delicious array of pastries baked with fillings like hazelnut or fruit jam, a selection of cheeses, and some fresh fruit.
The most fun breakfast, however, is to eat it with the locals stopping into a bar on the way to work. Bars in Italy are more like coffee shops to us. Open the door and it is joyfully noisy with chatter, hissing espresso machines, and “a domani!” “Until tomorrow”, when the whole scene will repeat itself and neighbors will gather again for a quick caffe and cornetto to start their day.
I love this experience. It is always so exciting, and after a day or two of visiting the same bar, you will be greeted like locals.
For a limited time, so that they will be at their optimal freshness, Mia Emilia is offering Cianciullo’s croissants (cornetti in Italian) available either traditional or with a chocolate-hazelnut filling, and pignettes (brioche buns). One bite of any of these, especially paired with our Caffe EDOR espresso, will give your morning a uniquely Italian start!
Another wonderful custom in Italy is aperitivo! Order a drink, typically an Aperol Spritz, in the afternoon or evening and it will always be served with a bowl or two of snacks. One is plain, salted potato chips, and the other is almost always a type of taralli.
We might be tempted to call them crackers, but taralli are much more impressive than that! Taralli are baked snacks that are perfectly crunchy and often infused with an herb or spice typical of the region.
Cianciullo’s varieties include the little round shape, typical to what would be served with a drink in Italy and flavored with either chili pepper, or fennel seed, or a longer, braided variety with fennel seed.
Any are perfect complements to a glass of wine with friends, and great conversations.
The conversation aspect of eating in Italy is, to me, one of the most defining parts of the culture. No one orders a beer to chug it and go on to the next place. No one sits down for a meal expecting the check to come as soon as they have declined the dessert menu.
In Italy, when you sit down to enjoy a drink together, you are expected to sit for a good bit of time because you are as much there for the socialization as the refreshment. So, they bring you a snack. They make you feel welcome. They never rush you out the door.
Some of my favorite memories in Italy are the times when my husband and I have decided to sit and have a drink, rest our feet, and revive ourselves. Often, it means a chat with our waiter and the chance to feel like we belong.
In Venice this February, we had walked until I literally separated the sole from my boot, and we went inside a tiny enoteca for a glass of wine and a warm place to rest our tired feet. Instead, we saw they had Ichnusa on tap, a beer we love from Sardinia. We each asked for one, and they were served with a bowl of taralli. Our barman explained that someone who works here is Sardinian, and they are proud to be the only place to have Ichnusa on tap in Venice. He paused to light the Venetian glass chandelier by hand, as he does each evening. Mingling Venetian, Italian, and American cultures together, it was such fun to be there and proved to warm our hearts along with the rest of us on that February evening.
Back home, when we have friends over, we often cook together, make an Italian inspired dish together as we sip a glass of wine and snack on taralli. It feels wonderful to enjoy not only the flavors of Italy, but the culture we so often miss in our hurried schedules.
Authentic Italian products can inspire us to create the moments we long for with the people we love right here at home.
View Mia Emilia’s full line from Cianciullo including authentic cornetti, pastries, and other delicious desserts and cookies, all made with quality ingredients from the land in Molise, and the warm, passionate hearts of the Cianciullo family.
We remind you that the croissants and brioche buns are available for a limited time only to be sold and enjoyed at the peak of their freshness.
Mangia Bene!