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• The Basics of Sicilian Cuisine
• Vegetables - The Foundation of Sicilian Cuisine
• Citrus fruit - Sour Flavors for Sicilian Cuisine
• Salt - White Gold from Mountain and Sea
• Wild Herbs - Cooking with the Treasures of Nature
• Olive Oil - The Symbol of Mediterranean Cooking
• Pasta - More than 200 Varieties in Sicilian Cuisine
• Fish and Seafood - No Longer Recommended!
• Meat - Not the Focus in Sicilian Cooking
• Dolci - Sweet Secrets of Sicilian Cuisine
• Holiday apartments in Sicily

Sicilian cuisine is a product of the island's turbulent history. Greek colonists introduced olives and wine to Sicily, Romans conquerors introduced wheat, and the Spanish a variety of different vegetables. But it was the Arabs perhaps who had the most lasting influence on Sicilian cuisine, bringing with them two mainstays of today's Sicilian culinary experience: citrus and sweets. They also left behind their magnificent spices.

Artichokes, eggplant, cauliflower, beans, fennel, tomatoes, and zucchini all play major roles in Sicilian cuisine. Thanks to the favorable climate, various varieties are available all year round.

In the best sense, vegetables in Sicily are fresh, plentiful, and cheap. And as a result, Sicilian cooking is about understanding and preparing vegetables.

Some Sicilian vegetable varieties differ from those in more northern countries. Cauliflower in Sicily can be green or purple. Courgettes are available in lengths of up to one meter. Aubergines can be slightly sweet, and are distinguished from others around the world by their purple-white color and round shape. When it comes to tomatoes, only very ripe ones are used in Sicilian cooking. The solid, still greenish tomatoes are set aside for salads.

Goethe described Sicily as "the land where the lemon trees blossom". And it's true: lemons are found in such abundance they are usually bought and sold by the kilo.

Lemon juice plays an important role in cooking artichokes. For details, see the recipe Sicilian Artichoke Pizza.

Lemon juice is also the main ingredient in two characteristically Sicilian treats - Granita, an ice-cold lemon dessert, and Limoncello, a sweet lemon liqueur.

Today salt is taken for granted as the most everyday of spices. After all, these days it costs almost nothing. But in the distant past, long before industrial salt production, it was a very different story - thus the name "white gold". In Sicily in those days, the most famous place to find salt was the sea near Trapani.

Of course, extracting salt from the sea is much too expensive in today's world of mass production. Trapani's sea salt is thus something of a delicacy, a special ingredient in Sicilian cuisine.

Because of the pressures of the bottom line, Sicily's salt is taken today from the mountains. One of the most famous salt mines in Sicily is located near Agrigento. Here artists have carved out a bona fide cathedral from inside a massive salt cavern. It's used among other things for worship services and for concerts.

Sicilians like to cook with wild basil, fennel, bay leaves, oregano, and wild capers. However, it's best not to simply try and gather these in the wild. Some can be easily confused with other things.

There isn't any real danger of being harmed, but you might still regret it if you're not careful. With capers, for example, these are often pickled and must be rinsed before used in cooking - and at that, they are only added at the end of the cooking process.

When it comes to cooking with olive oil, one probably doesn't have to say much. Over the years, it has made its way into the recipes of northern countries, though it's often replaced with sunflower and other types of oil.

In Sicily, though, olive oil is much cheaper and is available in great abundance. This is thanks in part to the many different varieties of olives.

Italian noodles are made from hard wheat. Sicily happens to be the ideal place to grow hard wheat.

No surprise, then, that historically, Sicily was the granary of the ancient Romans, and that today, you can buy pasta noodles by the truckload in any Sicilian supermarket.

Nevertheless, it's very important to note that when it comes to Sicilian cooking, fresh pasta noodles are often called for. These are sold 'homemade' at many Sicilian small markets.

1000 km of coastline is the reason why there are so many recipes using fish in Sicilian cuisine. But now the overfishing of the Mediterranean has reached disastrous proportions.

On the list of 'approved' fish on the WWF's sustainable seafood list, there's not a single wild fish of the Mediterranean sea. This has led the author of these lines to give up fish altogether.

Even today innards are very popular in Sicilian recipes. The famous Restaurant Antica Focacceria San Francesco in Palermo, for example, serves up bread baked with spleen and lungs and bills it as 'fortifying' for young people 'down on their luck'.

The reason why there is this openness to organ meats is that historically, poverty has been a cold, hard fact for many centuries in Sicily. This is also why meat and dairy products haven't assumed a place in Sicilian cuisine that they might have in the cuisines of other countries.

What is widespread - and delicious - are sweets of all kinds, which play an important role in Sicilian cuisine. In every town there are a variety of bars (cafes), and each one with anything to offer has its own selection of ice cream, delicious sweet pastries, and of course, cannoli. Cannoli are deep-fried pastry shells that are rolled up and filled with among other things, ricotta and chocolate chips.

But take care! A common mistake made by visitors to Sicily is to enter a bar and ask for a 'cannoli'. In Italian, the word 'cannoli' is plural. If you want just one, ask for 'un cannolo'. Chances are, you'll want more than one.

Cuina Tips shows you how to enjoy Sicilian cooking even when you're not on our sunny island. But it's true that the food is twice as delicious when you are are on holiday, enjoying it on the terrace of your holiday apartment - overlooking, of course, the beautiful Gulf of Palermo.

In general, apartments in Italy can be pretty basic. Why waste time decorating them when people spend all their time at the beach or asleep? Well, there's some truth to this, but only for the typical Italian summer holiday.

For northern Europeans, however, Sicily out of season is very interesting. And especially in winter, these guests will stay longer. For them, a holiday apartment is more than just a place to sleep.

Here are a few examples of winter holiday apartments with a little bit "more":

Mer et Soleil   ⇒ Info

• Holiday apartments by the sea
• Private bay
• Nestled in a pine grove
• Secure parking
• Distance to the sea:  50 m
• Distance to train station:  3.5 km

Villaggio Santino   ⇒ Info

• Holiday apartments right on the water
• Private bay
• Surrounded by lush Mediterranean greenery
• Secure parking area
• Distance from the sea:  50 m
• Distance from train station:  3 km

Villa Marie   ⇒ Info

• Holiday house right on the water
• Rocky inlet with swimming platforms
• Quiet location
• Very well-maintained
• Distance from the sea:  30 m
• Distance from train station:  4 km

Villa Caterina   ⇒ Info

• Spacious Villa in traditional style
• Large Mediterranean garden
• 6 separate holiday apartments
• Perfect for families
• Distance from the sea:  0.8 km
• Distance from train station:  0.6 km

Casa Maria   ⇒ Info

• Quiet Old Town location
• Perfect for budget-conscious holidays in Sicily
• 8 separate apartments
• 2 with large roof terrace
• Distance from the sea:  1.3 km
• Distance from train station:  0.5 km

Casa Chloé   ⇒ Info

• Historic town center
• Friendly, lively neighborhood
• One apartement with large roof terrace
• Colorful indoor lighting  with  Philips Hue
• Distance to the sea:  1.1 km
• Distance to the train station:  0.1 km
• Gas heating during winter holidays

Casa Enza   ⇒ Info

• Small penthouse
• Living area:  50 m²
• Roof terrace:  130 m² with panoramic views
• Colorful indoor lighting  with  Philips Hue
• Distance to the sea:  1.2 km
• Distance to the train station:  0.2 km
• Comfort heating for winter holidays

Casa Panorama   ⇒ Info

• Small penthouse
• Living area:  35 m²
• Roof terrace:  25 m² with panoramic views
• Colorful indoor lighting  with  Philips Hue
• Distance to the sea:  1 km
• Distance to the train station:  0.1 km
• Comfort heating for winter holidays