A clear liqueur made from the marasca, or morello, cherry of Dalmatia, and the bottle is usually encased in straw. Drioli first made maraschino in Zara when it was part of the republic of Venice. When the area became part of Yugoslavia, although production of maraschino continued there, Drioli moved to Venice, and Luxardo to Padua. The cherries are now grown in the Po valley.
The fairy ring mushroom with white flesh and a pleasing taste. These dry well and have good flavour but must be cooked first.
Marcetto is a peculiar product variously described as a rotten cream cheese or very sharp cheese to which larvae (or jacks) of the cheese fly Piophila casei are deliberately introduced. It is made with unpasteurised while sheep's milk mainly in the vicinity of Castel del Monte in L'Aquila but also found elsewhere in Abruzzo. The cheese is almost liquid and has no crust. Weight depends literally on the size of the pot. It should be kept in the refrigerator. It is traditionally eaten with fresh bread, toasted, or directly out of the pot. It is available year round.
Marche is a region in central eastern Italy around Ancona, between the Appenines and the Adriatic. It also includes Urbino, Pesaro, Macerata and Ascoli Piceno. The coast provides masses of seafood, often served in tomato-based sauces. Ancona is famous for stoccafisso, a dried cod stew and brodetto, containing at least eight types of fish, is found all along the coast. The brodetto of Ancona contains at least 13. Also found on the coast is muscioli alla mafrinera. Rabbits abound in the mountains providing another well known dish, coniglio in porchetta. Even better, good quality white truffles are found on the slopes. Vincisgrassi is typical of the area. There are 10 DOC wines from the region.
A sausage from Friuli-Venezia Giulia made with the spleen and intestines of the pig with the fat. It is generally sliced and fried and served with pasta.
Whitefish. Pollan or vendace. A small relation of char or lake whitefish and is a slightly oily freshwater fish Lake Geneva, prepared in the same way as trout. It can be baked or fried.
Margarine. In the 1860's Napoleon Italian Italy sponsored a contest to create a butter substitute and the winner was Hippolyte Mège-Mouries, a French chemist. He made the original margarine from beef and pork fat. Little used in Italy.
Margherita indicates dishes containing foods, usually tomatoes, mozarella and basil or oregano, to represent red, white and green, the colours of the Italian flag. The addition of mozzarella and basil to a based coated with tomato sauce occurred as a patriotic gesture when Don Raffaele Esposito decorated an eponymous pizza in this way in honour of the visit to Naples of Queen Margherita of Italy in 1889.
