{"id":993,"date":"2018-07-30T14:13:44","date_gmt":"2018-07-30T14:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=993"},"modified":"2018-07-30T14:13:44","modified_gmt":"2018-07-30T14:13:44","slug":"the-salt-flats-of-trapani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=993","title":{"rendered":"The Salt Flats of Trapani"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you go wine tasting in Marsala (and you really should if you visit Sicily) less than two hours drive from Palermo, you will likely want to stop for lunch.\u00a0 You can try to find a restaurant in the town of Marsala, but to be honest the town is rather dull.\u00a0 The people in the wineries recommended a few places, but it seems they were only open for dinner.\u00a0 But then the server at Cantine Pellegrino<\/a> suggested we drive up the road a short way, \u201conly 10 minutes away\u201d to Mamma Caura\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Mamma Caura\u2019s restaurant on the beach in Trapani<\/em><\/p>\n

As is often the case when you get advice from the locals, they don\u2019t have a true sense of distance on roads they know so well.\u00a0 She then spoke the most dangerous words of advice: \u201cYou can\u2019t miss it.\u201d\u00a0 As long as we hugged the coast and watched for signs for the ferry, we\u2019d be fine.\u00a0\u00a0 And in fact, we were.<\/p>\n

What she didn\u2019t tell us is that the road itself was worth travelling.\u00a0 It took us past the salt flats of the next town north, called Trapani, where they take salt from the sea.\u00a0 (The most desirable salt in France is called fleur de sel<\/em> and its Italian cousin is sale marino<\/em>, which comes from Sicily\u2019s western coast.)\u00a0 Sea water is pumped out of the Mediterranean into shallow, squares\u00a0 pools, or pans, set up on the shore where the water evaporates and leaves salt with mild flavor, moist texture, and tiny, irregular grain sizes.\u00a0 The salt is harvested and piled up into small hills that remind us North Americans of snow after a blizzard.<\/p>\n

Salt has been made here this way for many centuries, even before the Romans.\u00a0\u00a0 The pumps were driven by windmills (evidently a recurring theme in this issue of Power Tasting<\/em>) and a few are still there, more for show than for practicality.\u00a0 Motorized pumps do the work these days.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Which brings us back to Mamma Caura\u2019s.\u00a0 Yes, it was easy to find and it is on the beach near the ferry jetty that takes people to the nature preserve on San Pantaleo island.\u00a0 The food is simple but enjoyable. Indeed, what\u2019s not to like on a very hot day when you enjoy a fresh and crispy tuna salad with a bottle of white wine (Donnafugata<\/a> Anthelia, from the winery where we had just visited). \u00a0And the view is wonderful!\u00a0 In front of you are the salt pans, the mounds of salt, and a magnificent windmill.\u00a0 A few boats round out the vista.<\/p>\n

After lunch you can walk out to the windmill, learn more about the history and the process and buy some salt at the shop.\u00a0 It comes in small or large packages and in a variety of colors.<\/p>\n

One word of caution, though.\u00a0 It can be very hot on the beach.\u00a0 We were there in mid-September, not the middle of the summer and we broiled, even under Mamma Caura\u2019s outdoor pavilion.\u00a0 You should still go; just have a nice cold<\/em> bottle of white wine with your lunch and enjoy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you go wine tasting in Marsala (and you really should if you visit Sicily) less than two hours drive from Palermo, you will likely want to stop for lunch.\u00a0 You can try to find a restaurant in the town of Marsala, but to be honest the town is rather dull.\u00a0 The people in the … Continue reading The Salt Flats of Trapani<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":996,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993\/revisions\/996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}