Description
Abbamele is a traditional product of Sardinia. Some says that it is also among the most ancient product of the Sardinian cuisine.
However, it is basically cooked homemade honey and pollen with the addition of either lemon or orange rinds.
Do not underestimated it, though! The method of production of Abbamele seems simple, but it is not.
The net weight in the glass pot is standard 250 g.
- Taste: sweet, caramel, viscous, lightly bitter aftertaste, intense.
- Scent: delicate, very unique and typical, reminds of caramel, honey and oranges.
- Outer appearance: mahogany color with golden shades, as viscous as honey.
Our suggestion for:
- Food pairings: the typical pairing is with salted ricotta and Sardinian sweet such as pan di sapa and tirricas, but you can also taste it on top of ice creams, fruit salad, yogurt and pannacotta.
How to prepare for serving: at room temperature add a table spoon of Abbamele to one of the food pairing suggestion. Whether the abbamele has crystallized, let water bath for 10 minutes at 50°C.
How it’s made?
First of all, after the so called “spremitura dei favi” to extract honey is done, the honeycomb is not thrown away due to a remaining 20% of honey still present inside. They are kept in recipients to continue extracting honey, and then, when they are almost empty they are dived into warm water (50°C – 122°F), thus the remaining quantity dissolves. Furthermore, with a helping tool or simply with their hand, artisans try to break the honeycomb in order to achieve the maximum extraction while stirring the solution. When the broken wax start floating it is put away for candles, and the honeyed water is filtered with linen cloths twice.
Secondly, the water is poured into a huge cauldron and heated. This process is called “bollitura di raffinazione” (refining boiling). It is in this part of the process where either lemon or orange rinds are added, and all the impurity get eliminated.
Meanwhile, the heat and the continuing stirring make water more and more viscous, abbamele maker must not stop stirring, otherwise, the compound would attach to the bottom of the cauldron getting caramelized and eventually burnt. The light golden color gets darker due to Maillard reaction, and the taste becomes sweeter and sweeter due to sugar concentration.
It is only when the liquid has the same consistency of honey that the heating is interrupted and Abbamele is let cold and rest before potting.
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