MORNING GOLD

It is supposed to have been a Sicilian who said,

"Al mattino le arance sono d'oro, a pranzo d'argento e alla sera di piombo."  ("Oranges are gold in the morning, silver at lunchtime and lead in the evening.")

Whilst there seems to be some evidence that they can slow down the digestion the later in the day they are eaten, I have to admit that for me, they are always "gold"! In particular, my spremuta of fresh Sicilian orange juice in the morning, from November to February when the oranges are at their best, sets me up for the day. No self-respecting Sicilian bar owner would allow less than the finest spremuta to be served in his establishment, so  I bid a fond farewell to the juice at the end of February or, at the latest, mid-March. (This is why, when you visit Sicilian tourist sites in summer and see stalls offering spremuta, you won't see any Sicilian drinking it, because he or she will know that the oranges have either been imported or frozen.)

Imagine my surprise then, when this morning the local bar owner greeted me with,"This morning we have spremuta! They brought me oranges from Noto and they're good, so we are serving spremuta this week! But of course, when they offer me oranges from Spain, I don't take them."  There we have it: Oranges from Noto are OK but if they come with more food miles than that, they are rejected. And that is why this morning's spremuta tasted so good!

Whilst on the subject of fruit juice, if any of you have been to Sicily recently you may have noticed pomegranate juice on sale at tourist sites. The properties of the pomegranate have been rediscovered recently and there are companies producing excellent organic juice. But the fruit is out of season in summer so the juice, despite a few pomegrantes being on display, is unlikely to be freshly squeezed on the premises. Think about it - how much juice do you get out of a pomegranate if you try to squeeze one at home? There is nothing wrong with the commercial versions and they are very refreshing. They also make a passable, though non-traditional, granita.

But I'll stick to my "morning gold" while it lasts, thanks!

MORNING GLORY

There are, in my opinion, two ways of seeting yourself up for the day: one is a full British breakfast [without egg, for me] and the other is a freshly squeezed Sicilian orange juice.  On the right you see the first of the season:

As I've mentioned before, no self-respecting Sicilian barman will squeeze a non-Sicilian, out-of-season orange and, even though the orange season started a month ago, our local bar did not deem the fruit good enough for juice until this week. And long may things continue thus!

FATTI DI CRONACA - 7

Family Day

Catholic organisations are planning a massive demonstration in Rome for May 12th, "Family Day". Its purpose is to call for legislation which supports the "traditional" family but actually it is anti-Dico [the proposed diritti e doveri dei conviventi law, which will grant more rights to cohabiting couples regardless of their sexual orientation]. It is somewhat ironic, then, that the demonstration is to take place on the 33rd anniversary of the referendum which put the possibility of divorce onto the statute book in Italy! Many single parents have said that they will join the demonstration to show that their households constitute families, too, whilst some gay groups have announced their intention to hold their own demonstration on the same day, for the same reason. Watch this space!

A Fruitless Proposal

The EU has announced its intention to allow synthetic "fruit juices" [containing no fruit] to be sold in supermarkets alongside "real" fruit juices. This has caused much concern in Sicily, which produces wonderful fresh fruit juices, as it could hit the island's economy hard. I am usually pro-EU, as many of you will know, but this does seem to me to be one of its more nonsensical ideas: you have something good, natural and popular produced by one of your members, so instead of supporting its production, you go and threaten its survival by allowing rubbish to be displayed next to it!