Capocollo di Martina Franca DOP al Fumo di Quercia
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Origin
Martina Franca, Valle d'Itria, Puglia
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Description
The signature cured meat of the Itria Valley: pork neck (capocollo) from heavy Italian pigs, cured with sea salt, pepper, wine, and the powdered residue of the local Primitivo grape marc, then briefly cold-smoked over aromatic oak (quercia) and myrtle branches from the Valle d'Itria. The combination of Primitivo marc, oak smoke, and Mediterranean macchia (scrubland) aromatics creates a unique flavour signature. The DOP area is just 8 comuni in the Taranto province. Aged a minimum of 90 days.
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The Thread
—The Calabrian capocollo — cured pork neck with chilli rather than smoke as the differentiating flavour agent Calabria
—Cured pork with wine and aromatic herbs, dried — the Iberian tradition of the same neck or loin cut Spanish
—Cold-smoked pork with aromatic herbs from Corsican macchia — the Mediterranean island parallel French · (Corsica)
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Flavour Context
Pork neck carrying the aromatic smoke of Valle d'Itria oak and myrtle, seasoned with the marc of Primitivo grapes — a product whose flavour is inseparable from eight Pugliese comuni
Pillars V — VII
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