Gastronomy: A Culinary Journey to Delight Your Senses

The gastronomy of the Corsican cottage is closely linked to the main local products: the cultivation of chestnuts and citrus fruits, pork charcuterie, sheep's milk and cheese. Corsica is a land rich in monuments steeped in history, it is also rich in its culture, in its renowned crafts; a land where traditions are alive and where gastronomy holds a primordial place.

It offers succulent charcuterie with its Prisuttu, which is a delicious lean ham from half-wild pigs that feed on acorns or chestnuts, its Figatelli, its liver sausages, its Coppa made from loin that will thrill your taste buds. Can we talk about Corsican Terroir and Gastronomy without mentioning the wonderful Chestnut Polenta? Which goes so wonderfully with a wild boar stew.

And its goat cheeses and its sheep's milk Brocciu, which are used in both savory and sweet dishes, such as the most famous of desserts, the famous Fiadone. But Corsican gastronomy also combines with seafood. What a treat to enjoy beautiful tails, lobster, fish like sea bass, or oysters from the Diana pond by the sea in the evening.

And the wines? This small piece of land boasts no fewer than eight AOCs, each vying with the other for their wines, rich in aromas and flavors. Corsica is also home to its honey, olive oils, and markets. We'll explore these topics together.

It is traditionally a mountain cuisine, even if fish products have become more important, mainly thanks to the disappearance of malaria from the coasts and the Corsican tradition of oyster and mussel farming inherited from the Romans. There are two types of olive oil in Corsica, one is greener, it is produced in December and January, from young olive trees and olives at the beginning of ripening. The other is a yellow oil, specific to Corsican culture, it is made from olives picked under century-old trees around May.

We will not be providing an exhaustive list of Corsican products here, but rather a presentation of the products that you absolutely must try:

- Locally caught fish in all its forms: grilled, baked, in soup, and the essential "bouillabaisse".

- The very renowned charcuterie, which owes its taste largely to the quality of the pigs raised in freedom, feeding almost exclusively on chestnuts and acorns: Figatellu (liver sausage), Coppa (pork loin), Lonzu (pork tenderloin), salamu (sausage), prisuttu (raw ham).

- Cheese: sheep and goat.

- Brocciu: a delicate preparation made from sheep's or goat's whey, benefiting from a Controlled Designation of Origin. It can be enjoyed on its own, sweet or savory, and is also used in the preparation of many recipes (cannelloni, omelets, doughnuts, pastries).

- Chestnut flour: still handcrafted, it serves as the basis for many dishes, including "polenta," the most famous, and pastries. Chestnuts once played a key role in the island's economy.

- Olive oil, tasty and healthy; it bears witness to a Mediterranean tradition where the olive tree was king. A quarter of the orchard is located in the Balagne region.
- Honey: the extraordinary variety of maquis flowers that provide the bees with their nectar gives this honey a very special taste. Corsican honey now benefits from a Controlled Designation of Origin.

And all the other products: citrus fruits, biscuits, confectionery, original liqueurs including Myrthe liqueur, or citron (a typical Corsican citrus fruit). Not forgetting aquaculture products: mussels, oysters and smoked trout from the DIANA and URBINU ponds.