Caseificio Macri Our last stop on the tour is the


pizzeria of Dave and Rynn’s friend Salvatore. We start early, around 5 p.m., because Friday is a busy night for this restaurant. A tour of Salvatore’s kitchen is amazing: it’s spotless, gleaming. We learn later that once, as a guest chef in an upscale restaurant in Naples, Florida, he shooed out the kitchen staff and spent hours cleaning before he would agree to cook there.


These people do what they love, and then they find a


way to make a living doing it. The result is always a superior product.


His pizza is unlike anything we’ve


ever eaten. So much for pepperoni; this pizza’s topped with octopus! Around 10 p.m., Salvatore asks us


if we want dessert. We’re sleepy and full, with an early departure looming in the morning, but of course we say yes. He disappears into the kitchen and emerges forty-five minutes later with a torte he’d made from scratch, right then, just for us. On top is a message: “Good- bye by Paradise.” We think he meant from (he doesn’t speak English). But his message is clear: we’re special—and so is he.


That’s the theme everywhere


we’ve been—from Gulfi Winery to Frantoio Mafrica to the Nduja produc- ers and the Calabrian markets. People here don’t just go through the motions, the way Americans so often do. They’re vested in their work. For them, it isn’t about cramming as much into the


day as they can. There is a pride in craftsmanship that we don’t often see in the United States—except maybe with our local farmers’ markets and CSAs. These people do what they love, and then they find a way to make a living doing it. The


result is always a superior product. That night we pack our bags,


carefully wrapping little things that will remind us of southern Italy—a jar of Nduja, a tin of bright-green olive oil, wine—know- ing that the most valuable things


Creamery Introduces Authentic Italian Cheeses to States


by Kyle Carter D


eciding on their honeymoon to quit their Fortune 500 jobs, David and Rynn Caputo moved from the United States to Calabria, Italy, to attend a master’s


culinary program in traditional regional Italian cuisine. After traveling across all 20 regions of Italy, they knew they were destined to make their culinary pas- sion their life’s work. Upon returning to the states and recognizing the void of cheeses they had grown to love, the idea for a creamery was born and aptly named after their sons, Giovanni and Matteo—the Caputo Brothers. Caputo Brothers Creamery is the only US producer of cultured/fermented


cheese curds that can be stretched into fresh mozzarella (fior di latte), straccia- tella, burrata and even aged cheeses like scamorza and provola. The curd is sold frozen, which pauses the fermentation process. Buyers can then thaw the curds when they are ready and stretch them into the freshest, most flavorful cheese possible. This technique allows them to enjoy the cheeses the way they were intended—on the day they are made. Caputo Brothers Creamery, based in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, has produced handcrafted, authentic Italian cheeses since 2011.


Kyle Carter is director of culinary experiences for Caputo Brothers Creamery. For more information about the creamery, call 717-850-6045 or visit CaputoBrothersCreamery.com.


natural awakenings July 2014 29


we’ll bring home won’t be in our bags; they’ll be in our hearts, minds and memories.


Melinda and Bob Varboncoeur are the publishers of Natural Awakenings in Chattanooga and Knoxville, TN.


Goodby by Paradise


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