Picture: Almonds in blossom on the last day of the Almond Blossom Festival, Valle dei Templi, Agrigento
For us sunshine-starved North Europeans a trip to Sicily in the month of February is like time-travel to the month of May. The island light and warmth have already started to make Spring flowers bloom and while Sicilians are still wrapped up for Winter we could so easily scandalise them by stripping off, running and jumping into the clear inviting sea for a swim.
For the classical world Sicily was the land where Spring was reborn every year. When Dis compelled Persephone to come down to his kingdom it was the lake of Pergusa at the island's centre that opened to let her in. Maddened by grief and pain her mother Ceres looked for her daughter everywhere until she reappeared at Winter's end then and every year bringing the Spring with her. The lake of Pergusa is there still; a large pond fringed by reeds, an incongruous motor-racing track, hotels and Summer houses. But if you're of a mythical frame of mind you can make your way up to the Rocca di Cecere ('Ceres' Stone'), a rocky outcrop near the town of Enna that looms above the lake, to look down on the water and feel a sense of the mystery of the changing seasons.
Picture: Wild fennel, market stall, Siracusa
In the markets of Sicily stalls are laden with fresh green-leaved vegetables from spinach to cardoons, from the familiar bulb fennel to 'baby' fennel and its mountain-growing cousin the wild fennel (finocchio selvatico) which the Sicilians love so much. Fields covered with polytunnels on the island's Southern coast yield fresh tomatoes and aubergines but market stalls are laden with the dried produce from last year's scorching Summer: Cherry tomatoes, 'date' tomatoes, red peppers, tiny raisins ('uve passolini') and all kinds of dried herbs sold loose from large jars or in knotted plastic bags for one or two euros.
Picture: Dried goods shop, market, Siracusa
Whole shops and market stalls are devoted to selling dried and preserved produce: Tins of tuna, jars of tomatoes, beans, rice, tuna and mullet bottarga, wind-dried sardines, salted anchovies, salted capers, branches of oregano and bay, spices, candied peel, pesto made with tomatoes and almonds (Trapenese) or alla Siciliana (with pistachio). And then there are the pistachios themselves from Bronte on the slopes of Etna; emerald green, soft and sweet. Sweet also means torrone, jams to be eaten by the teaspoon for breakfast, Modica chocolate and clear island honey.
Picture: market stall, Capo, Palermo
Each market from Siracusa to the Capo in Palermo is the perfect antidote to supermarket shopping. Everything fresh is to be cooked and eaten on the same day and almost everything else can be stored without refrigeration. It's this simplicity which inspired Gustosecco in the first place and coming back here to these busy warrens of tiny streets crammed with the ingredients that inspire me is to dive headfirst into warm Spring after a long, cold Winter.
Picture: 'Date' tomatoes from a named grower, market stall, Siracusa
Picture: Dried sardines on sale, market stall, Capo, Palermo
Please come back soon for a second helping of Sicily...
