Summer chickpea soup

The quality and authenticity of the ingredients are essential to create special dishes. Investing in fresh, local, seasonal, and organic ingredients not only improves the taste and appearance of dishes but also contributes to overall well-being and environmental sustainability. Every great recipe starts with exceptional ingredients. At LAGALPI, through meticulous and attentive selection, we offer you the best that the Alpine and Pre-Alpine territories provide! For the warm summer days, here is an exclusive, fresh, and excellent recipe.

The summer and cold chickpea soup is a light and nutritious dish, ideal for hot days. Here is a simple recipe to prepare it:

Ingredients:

250g of Chickpeas – Azienda Agricola Mariangela Prunotto
1 cucumber
2 ripe tomatoes
1 yellow bell pepper
1 small red onion
2 teaspoons of Black Garlic Cream – Umami
1 liter of cold vegetable broth
Juice of 1 lemon
4 tablespoons of Ceresio extra virgin olive oil – Tamborini vini
Salt and pepper to taste.
Fresh basil leaves for garnish
A few drops of Apricot Balsamic 3454 – Swiss Mountain Essence

Procedure:

Preparation of the chickpeas: Soak dried chickpeas in cold water for at least 8 hours (or overnight). After soaking, drain and cook in plenty of water for about 1 hour, or until tender, adding 1 or 2 bay leaves during soaking.
Preparation of the vegetables: Wash and dice the cucumber after peeling, the tomatoes, and the bell pepper. Peel and finely chop the red onion and add the Black garlic cream.
Mixing of ingredients: In a large bowl, combine the cooked chickpeas, diced vegetables, onion, and black garlic cream. (Remember to remove the bay leaves used during soaking) and then blend everything until smooth.
4. Seasoning: Pour the cold vegetable broth into the bowl with the other ingredients. Add the lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Mix well and adjust the salt and pepper to your taste.
Resting: Cover the bowl and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, so the flavors blend well and the soup is completely chilled.
Serving: Before serving, stir the soup again. Pour into individual bowls and garnish with fresh basil leaves and a few drops of apricot balsamic vinegar with some cooked and whole chickpeas.

This soup is perfect to enjoy as a starter or light main course on summer days.

Guaranteed success and bon appétit from the LAGALPI team!

chickpeas prunotto — Chickpeas-
Az. Agricola Prunotto Mariangela

black garlic cream — *Cream of Black Garlic – Umami*

oil from the ceresio — *Ceresio Oil – Tamborini Wines*

apricot balsamic — *Apricot Balsamic 3454 – Swiss Mountain Essence*

A magical and special beer

It is said that long ago there lived in Val Veddasca a wise and enigmatic witch named Valdasca. It resided on the highest peak, towering over the villages and surrounding beauty. Valdasca was known for her deep understanding of nature’s secrets and her ability to harness the power of the mountains.
One beautiful summer day, a group of adventurous valley residents decided to undertake a daring challenge. They wanted to create something special, an elixir that would capture the essence of the mountains and honor Valdasca’s mystical presence. Their mission was to create a kind of magic potion that would reflect the ruggedness, tranquility and enchantment of the surrounding landscape, inspired by the magic potions of Valdasca.
So, they gathered the herbs that grew wild in the valley and gathered in the square of the last village. From there, with great excitement, they went into thick forests, crossed bubbling streams and climbed rocky paths as they made their way to Valdasca’s home.

Finally, having reached the summit, Valdasca was waiting for them, her silver hair floating in the mountain breeze. He greeted them with a knowing smile and sensed their intentions. With a wave of his hand, he conjured up a magical cauldron, glittering with ancient symbols and glowing with an otherworldly energy.
The inhabitants carefully poured out the products they had collected near the cauldron. The witch with a mystical look chose a blend of aromatic hops, rich malt and secret mountain herbs. Valdasca, with his deep knowledge of the land, guided them on the proportions and mystical enchantments needed to infuse that elixir with the essence of the mountains.
As the mixture boiled and simmered, the air filled with the inviting aroma . The residents admired the magic unfolding before their eyes, aware that they were witnessing something truly extraordinary.

Hours passed and finally the elixir was ready. The residents, with hearts full of expectation, filled their cups with that mountain liquid. It had a golden hue, like the rays of the setting sun illuminating the peaks, and a flavor that danced on their tongues like the wind rustling through the pines.
With cups raised, the residents made a toast to Valdasca, expressing their gratitude for his guidance and the gift he had bestowed on them. The witch smiled with her eyes sparkling with ancient wisdom and joy.
Hours passed and finally the elixir was ready. The residents, with hearts full of expectation, filled their cups with that mountain liquid. It had a golden hue, like the rays of the setting sun illuminating the peaks, and a flavor that danced on their tongues like the wind rustling through the pines.
With cups raised, the residents made a toast to Valdasca, expressing their gratitude for his guidance and the gift he had bestowed on them. The witch smiled with her eyes sparkling with ancient wisdom and joy.

The first Veddasca Valley Beer was born.

Today we want to reintroduce this magical and unique beer, following Valdasca’s ancient recipe to restore the possibility of quenching one’s thirst with the magical elixir that embodies the spirit of the mountains and the enchantment of our Veddasca Valley.
The legend of mountain beer, brewed under the watchful eye of a wise witch, continues to be passed down from generation to generation.
It serves as a reminder that in the most unexpected places, when nature and human creativity intertwine, the result is something that captures the essence of a place and the magic of a moment.
Proud to offer you VEDDASCA BEER, born in the heart of the Veddasca Valley and raised among ancestral myths and traditions.

The purchase of Veddasca Beer contributes to Veddasca Valley area enhancement projects.
Veddasca Beer Enhances the area and lets you enter the magical world of good witch Valdasca

St. John’s Night

We are approaching the night of St. John’s Day, which falls between
June 23 and 24, the magical night to begin the preparation of Nocino.

According to ancient Italic tradition, nocino should be prepared by an experienced woman. She should climb barefoot on the walnut tree during the night of St. John’s Day and pick the precious fruits with her bare hands, without using sorte tools that could spoil the fruits and disperse their precious properties. The liquor made from the hulls of walnuts (strictly odd) was able, according to local beliefs, to bring health, well-being and wealth.

Not to mention the magical properties of nocino, in fact, it is said that as early as the 6th century AD, the day when unripe walnuts were harvested “the witches, at the head of whom was Diana, swarmed by the thousands into the skies on their way to the great sabbath held under the walnut tree of Benevento.”

Thus, the walnut was a tree related to the female world and to witches in particular. And thanks to the “witch tree,” it was possible to prepare a “magical” mixture made of unripe walnuts, prepared by women and known to ward off the evils that afflicted the rural populations of times past.

The unripe walnut husks macerated in spirit (alcohol) produced an alcoholic extract with numerous medicinal properties: it was digestive, anti-parasitic, eradicated fungi, bacteria and viruses, and killed intestinal worms (including tapeworm); and it is easy to understand how until the Middle Ages that drink, rich in tannins and with virtues so valuable for health could be considered as a “miraculous” mixture worthy of crossing the centuries through the transmission of family recipes from generation to generation.

Perpetuating legends and traditions, we offer you some of our Nocini, always special and even a bit magical !

Noos Nocino – Manifattura Branchi

Nocino Nostrano Ticinese – Fratelli Corti

Nocino Ticinese – NOCÌ – Gialdi Wines

Nocino Ratafià del Ticino – Tamborini Wines

The Nocino, and the fame you didn’t expect

The lagAlpi shop hosts various drinks with an important reputation. Absinthe, Damassine, Genepì, are all illustrious guests of the fervent alpine imagination, which certainly does not lack imagination. If naming these drinks immediately recalls the history they carry, the association isn’t so immediate when it comes to the Nocino. Yet, this historic liqueur has a lot to tell us, you just need to know how to listen …

The Nocino, properties & uses

The nocino’s a dark-colored and dense-looking liqueur. It can be served at the end of a meal as a digestive and is used by many as a tonic and as a remedy for liver aliments.

To tell the truth, the use of walnut husk as an ingredient for medicines or liqueurs dates back to ancient times. And today, there are many applications that see the nocino protagonist of treatments purify the liver and antiparasitics. The tannins naturally contained in this digestive help digest proteins, kill bacteria and parasite.

The myth of San Giovanni

It’s incredible to believe, but the feast of St. John’s Day ( June 24), numerous legends bordering on the sacrilegious are linked, and one in particular-the one we are interested in now-is the one that has witches gathered around a walnut tree in a mysterious propitiatory dance.

In fact, the Walnut is a tree with a not exactly good-natured reputation. In fact, the Walnut is a tree with a not exactly good-natured reputation. Of him, among other things, it is said that the cross of Jesus was made, while Dionysus, blinded by anger, chose his features for the sad fate of his beloved Caria (we have already talked about this fame in another article dedicated to walnut oil, which you can find here).

It is therefore no coincidence that the witches collect the branches for their magical rituals, while the hulls, which in the shortest night of the year are still unripe, are collected by them to ensure vitality to the plant.

This is where the legend that binds Nocino to the night of San Giovanni was born. It’s precise during the night between 23 and 24 June that the woman judged to be the most skilled in the preparation of the digestive (or, in other versions, a virgin) will have to climb the walnut tree, barefoot, to collect the still unripe fruits.

Does this seem like a slightly complicated way to make a liqueur? If so, you must recognize that our producer Manifattura Branchihas no shortage of courage. Its Noos, in fact, is produced exactly according to tradition, and with every sip, you can savor the mystical energy of the shortest night of the year …

The origins of nocino and the myth of Picti

But where does Nocino come from? So far be it from us wanting to do the work of professional historians, it is nevertheless fascinating to take for granted the story that tells of the strange encounter that Julius Caesar‘s soldiers had in Gaul …

Here, in the origin of the legend according to which the Walnut tree was the twitches’ tree, the Roman soldiers found themselves faced with disturbing warriors who, to scare their enemies, dyed their faces with a greenish-brown paste. It was a tincture made from unripe nuts. This strange concoction of nuts, honey, and other fermented fruit was then drunk by the fearsome roosters, which in this way took the courage necessary to enrage the battle.

It seems that such a concoction is the distant ancestor of nocino and that these fearsome and ruthless adversaries are its first producers. The Romans called them “Picti,” that is, paintings, precisely because of their faces marked by … nocino!

The Ratafià, to seal agreements and pacts

Many of you will also know nocino as Ratafià. In fact, in many places, especially in northern Italy and Italian Switzerland, this is the official name of the walnut liqueur, while the term nocino has appeared more recently. This is also evidenced by the materials collected for the Vocabulary of the dialects of Italian Switzerland (circa 1920). The description of this walnut liqueur is found only under the heading ratafià. This term indicates various liqueurs obtained from fruit, alcohol, sugar, and substances aromatic and widespread in the Mediterranean area.

But why “ratafià”? It was an ancient tradition to consume a solid alcoholic beverage to seal a pact or agreement. The etymology is traced back to the Latin rato fieri used by ecclesiastical writers, which means “to be ratified”. Hence the fiat installment, rata fiat: ““that it is ratified.”

The Ratafià del Ticino of our producer Tamborini takes inspiration from this fascinating tradition Ratafià of Ticino from our producer Tamborini whose secret recipe seems to come directly from a certain Father Gaucher of the monastery of Santa Maria dei Frati Cappuccini in Bigorio sopra Tesserete, who has been producing this tasty liqueur since time immemorial of walnuts.

The aperitivo savior: Gruyère crostini with Dolcetto gelatin

You know that moment when, planning an aperitif for an evening with friends, you have no other idea but to make very ordinary sandwiches with salmon? Well, we have the perfect solution: delicious Gruyère crostini covered with red wine gelatin!

Easy and quick to make, it’s an explosion of flavor full of originality. Also, if prepared with the right ingredients, they represent the perfect alpine aperitivo, in spite of those super popular (and bland) appetizers made with salmon and tuna.

In our shop, you’ll find the key ingredient for this recipe: the red wine gelatin of the Mariangela’s Prunutto Agricultural Farm, made from the red wine Dolcetto, a wine with a dry, pleasantly bitter taste, moderate acidity, good body, and harmonic. In fewer words, perfect to be paired with cheese like the Gruyère.

Small suggestion: choose a Gruyère that isn’t too seasoned, in a way that it will melt and blend perfectly with the gelatin.

Ingredients for 4 servings

200 g di Gruyère DOP
1 loaf of fresh bread with nuts
1 jar of red wine gelatin

Preparation of your crostini with red wine gelatin

Cut the cheese into small pieces. Slice the bread and toast it briefly in the hot oven. Transfer the croutons to a platter, sprinkle them with Gruyère flakes, add a teaspoon of red wine vinegar jelly on each, and serve.

The real Dry Martini….homemade

If you love the Martini, this experiment is a must: try to do it yourself.

It’s really simple and fast; the only secret is to select the ingredients with extra care and follow the glass cooling procedure.

Not everyone knows that to prepare the Martini, the only thing needed is to “stain” the gin with white vermouth. To do this, however, a specific technique is used, called Stir & Strain: it involves mixing the cocktail with ice in the mixing glass and then filtering it into a cooled glass.

How to cool it properly? Simple, putting the glass in the freezer until it freezes, which is about 5 minutes.

Once you have finished your concoction, you must serve it in the glass dedicated to him, the Martini glass, with the famous inverted conical shape that is also used for Daiquiri, Margarita and Manhattan.

The touch of class is given by the olive: choose a fleshy quality with a good balance in terms of flavor, acidity and sweetness, such as Nocellara.

And now, let’s get to the main ingredient of our Martini: Gin. For a dry but aromatic and full effect, nothing better than Swiss Premium Dry Gin by The Alpinist.

If, on the other hand, you like to experiment and don’t disdain the idea of giving a further alpine touch to your cocktail, try the Gin Genepìdi o2Vie: it will be a symphony of flavors!

Ingredients for your homemade Dry martini

60 ml di gin
10 ml di vermouth dry
lemon zest
ice
green olives

Preparing your Dry Martini

To prepare the Dry Martini, first, fill your mixing glass with ice to cool the sides of the glass. With the help of a strainer, then block the ice and drain the excess water into a cup.

Pour the gin and then the dry vermouth directly into the mixing glass.

Mix everything with the bar spoon. Pour the contents of the mixing glass into the cooled cup in the freezer.

Accompany the martini with olives or lemon zest that you can serve in a separate glass filled with crushed ice to keep them fresh.

CimaNorma, a Ticino fairytale that never ceases to enchant

It all started next to a waterfall, whose water, throwing itself from the mountain, produced energy. It was the beginning of the twentieth century, and between Torre and Dangio, a brewery was coming to life in the Blenio Valley, Canton Ticino.

Times were difficult in the Blenio Valley. The not so generous land did not give enough fruit to survive excellently, and many Bleniesi were forced to migrate. Among them the Cima brothers.

La fabrique du chocolat Cima

Once in Nice, they discovered with surprise a new trend, the chocolate. Everyone wanted it, and what everyone wants often bears good fruit. So they began to produce it and became experts in the art of chocolate makin. Then, in 1903, with their pockets full of money, they returned to their native land determined to trade the Cima chocolate.

So they did, but luck didn’t smile at them for long. Just 5 years later, in the night between 28 and 29 August, the River Soja overflowed. The factory was almost destroyed.

The (unfortunate) beginning of CimaNorma

Another repatriation helped them: Giuseppe Pagani had become rich in London as a restaurant owner and had good relations with the Swiss Consumers’ Association, now known as Coop. Pagani won them over as customers and bought Norma, a second factory in Zurich, to meet delivery obligations. Thus, the CimaNorma factory was born.

In 1915, however, another misfortune struck the developing company. CimaNorma was the victim of a devastating fire.

The golden years of CimaNorma

But after the descent, we know, there is the ascent, and this is how, after these unfortunate events, a period of flowering and growth began.

In 1920, the CimaNorma employed nearly 500 people in the Blenio Valley. In the 1950s, the village of Dangio-Torre was even richer than the city of Lugano.

CimaNorma profoundly influenced the lives of its workers and citizens of the Blenio Valley by creating a chocolate village. It provided the male workers with houses, the female workers a hostel, where the nuns taught them home economics and good manners, and the clerks had their little church.

Il 1968, l’Annus horribilis

But then, again, the fall. In the night. Because the Swiss Consumers’ Association ended the collaboration, everything ended quickly: In 1968, the chocolate company Cima Norma closed its doors, and everyone was fired. The Blenio Valley did not recover for a long time.

However, as the factory emblem says: Adversa Coronant; despite adversity, CimaNorma persists to this day.

The turning point and the dream of CimaNorma

Between 2001 and 2009, the architect Marino Venturini rcreated lofts within the factory spaces. A few years later, timidly, a new era starts, the foundation “The Chocolate Factory”, which gives new life to the former industrial complex of Torre-Dangio, transforming it into a dynamic laboratory that hosts cultural and artistic productions from all over the world.

In 2017 Venturini, who in the meantime became the owner of the building, relaunched the CimaNorma Collection, brand with a limited edition.

But the real turning point comes in 2019 when the entrepreneur Abouzar Rahmani Abouzar Rahmani buys and relaunches CimaNorma in all respects.

The legacy continues…

Today, the old factory, now a museum, no longer houses the actual production of chocolate, yet it remains the symbol of an era of dream and great work that still throbs in the heart of many bleniesi.

Meanwhile, production has moved to Rancate, where Domani Food SAproduces chocolate in its modern plant, made from seed to tablet in Switzerland, with the best organic ingredientsof sustainable origin.

In line with the respect and trust in the tradition typical of CimaNorma, Domani Food has given new life to the chocolate of the Blenio Valley by looking at the demands of modern consumers and promoting a balanced approach towards nutrition.

A new life for CimaNorma and a new dream for chocolate made in Ticino …

Fresh, cooling, and scented. The Geppetto cocktail!

It is known that on hot summer days, which are now starting to crowd our last weeks, there is nothing better than retreating to a verdant mountain hut, between the breeze that descends lightly from the peaks and the distant ringing of some goat.

Not always, however, all this is possible, and we often find ourselves gasping in hot afternoons surrounded by smog and concrete.

Yet all is not lost. With a simple gesture, you can restore harmony and freshness wherever you are … just have some ingredients available!

And so, as the good alchemists we are, we’ll put together a magical filter made of fresh scents and tantalizing aromas a refreshing and regenerating cocktail like few others – the Geppetto cocktail.

Thanks to this symphony of aroma brought by its main ingredient – the American grape brandy Lacrima Vitis from our producer Tamborini. Balanced, aromatic, and genuine, it has an intense and persistent flavor, perfect to be combined with the bitter-sweet taste of grapefruit.

The Geppetto cocktail – which takes its name, as is natural, from the brandy – would not have the same bite without the final note of absinthe. Let’s be clear; it’s a note, a slight dissonance that we will perceive, especially at the end. But it is crucial, and therefore better not to waste it with unsuitable absences.

We recommend the very aromatic Absinthe Mogador from Larusée, aged for 18 months in oak barrels previously used for an assembly of Syrah-Mourvedre-Cabernet from the famous producers of the D’estoublon Castle in the valleys of Provence.

A unique aroma alchemy that we are sure will make your hot summer afternoons fresher and lighter.

Ingredients for your Geppetto cocktail

4 cl of Lacrima Vitis grappa
7 cl of pink grapefruit juice
2 sprigs of rosemary
2 cl of sugar syrup
ice
2 drops of Mogador absinthe

Preparation of the Geppetto cocktail

Squeeze 1 pink grapefruit juice and strain it.
Put the ice on your shaker.
Add the grapefruit juice, the absinthe and the sugar syrup.
Add the brandy.
Shake vigorously for 20 seconds. Don’t be afraid, in this heat you can shake for a few more seconds to lengthen the drink. It must be a light aperitif, not an alcoholic bomb.
Put the ice on the glass.
Pour the cocktail, using the strainer to filter.
Serve the Geppetto cocktail and enjoy the summer.

A chocolate cake… for everybody!

It’s a simple but consistently effective recipe that we offer you today. It’s a very soft chocolate cake suitable for breakfast and a tasty snack, which both adults and children will approve.

Ingredient that makes the difference in this case is the Artemis rice flour from our producer Good Rice. Able to give an unmistakable delicate flavor makes our chocolate cake suitable for everyone, including celiacs.

Produced exclusively from rice grown in the Riso Buono company, Artemide rice flour is delicious. It is also decidedly healthier than the refined flours usually used to prepare this kind of cake.

The procedure used by Riso Buono, which uses a slow grinding of the broken wholemeal rice, allows preserving the characteristics and nutritional values of the Artemide Good Rice. As a result, the Good Rice Flour is a gluten-free, product, highly digestible, high nutritional value, and low in fat. Compared to other rice flours, Artemide Riso Buono rice flour is particularly rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

In short, beautiful, tasty, and healthy. All that’s left is to taste it!

Ingredients

200 g Farina di riso Artemide
3 eggs (medium)
125 g sugar
50 g butter (room temperature)
100 ml milk
100 of dark chocolate (+ 1 tablespoon of seed oil)
50 g dark cocoa in powder
1 sachet of baking powder for deserts
1 pinch of salt
Icing sugar (to sprinkle)

Preparation

To prepare the Chocolate Rice Flour Cake, cut the butter into small pieces at room temperature and work it with an electric mixer and the granulated sugar.

Then stir in the eggs, one at a time, and continue mixing.

Add the sifted rice flour and cocoa, add the milk slowly, and continue to mix.

Meanwhile, melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler with 1 tablespoon of seed oil and add it to the mixture.

Finally, add the baking powder for cakes and mix with the spatula (do not use the electric whisk).

Now line a 22 cm diameter cake pan with parchment paper (or butter it) and pour the mixture, leveling it with a spatula.

Bake at 180 ° C ventilated mode for about 25-30 minutes.

Always do the toothpick test to check the cooking and avoid raw or dehydrated cake.

Finally, remove from the oven and serve the warm cake sprinkled with icing sugar.

Fruit vinegar, how and why to use it

With the arrival of the heat, it is difficult to find a better dish than a nice salad with seasonal vegetables and fruit. Fresh and nutritious, it is both healthy and meets the taste of almost everyone.

To make your salads even tastier, today we want to talk to you about fruit vinegar. Yes, of fruit, because contrary to what many think, there are not only wine or apple vinegar, but a quantity of colorful and delicious vinegar that will surprise you.

There is as much vinegar as there are varieties of fruit, and their presence in the kitchen makes each dish imaginative and original. Yes, because the fruit vinegarand their presence in the kitchen makes each dish imaginative and original. Yes, because fruit vinegar is an excellent salad partner, it is equally happy to combine with meats, fish, even desserts. But let’s go in order.

What is the fruit vinegar?

Like all vinegar, fruit vinegar is also obtained thanks to Gram-negative bacteria of the genus Acetobacter, which oxidize the ethanol contained in wine cider and, in fact, in the presence of air and water in fruit—turning it into acetic acid.

Strawberry, apricot, pear, raspberry vinegar … the result is an acidic liquid with vague references to the fruit from which it was produced.

How to use it

Rich in antioxidants, fruit vinegar help strengthen the immune system and have an alkalizing and detoxifying effect, so much to purify the body.

Excellent for salads, to create delicious marinades, dressings a fruit salad is also suitable as a flavoring for water. A trend that comes from America sees them used in the creation of tasty and thirst-quenching drinks. Just add a little vinegar to a jug of ice water to make a detox drink, which aids digestion and fights constipation.

Apple vinegar, how to use it and its properties

Particularly rich in mineral salts, it’s the best known, and not surprisingly. It has a long series of beneficial properties, including antioxidant and rebalancing of the bacterial flora. In addition, it is an excellent ally of the line as it helps to perceive the sense of satiety.

Our producer Moulin de Severy produces a delicious apple pulp vinegar, ideal for country salads and to blend the fish of our rivers. It also goes well with sweet and sour cuisine and various apple dishes. It also goes well with sweet and sour cuisine and various apple dishes.

Pear Williams vinegar, for those who love the Orient

An essential ingredient for those who love oriental cuisine is the pear Williams vinegar from our producer Moulin de Severy. Enhancing the complex flavors of Asian dishes also lends a fruity touch to salads.

In addition, it is helpful for those suffering from cystitis as it can change the pH of the urinary tract, making life more difficult for viruses and bacteria.

Rasberries vinegar, ally of meat, fish and…tired legs

If you suffer from microcirculation, problems, raspberry vinegar could be an excellent natural remedy. Like all red fruits, raspberry is also an excellent antioxidant, perfect for preventing those annoying problems such as tingling, always cold hands and feet.

In the kitchen, raspberry vinegar is excellent for giving a pinch of fruitiness to a seafood salad or a fish or red meat marinade.