On arrival in Malta, we had a few weeks left of the year to experience Malta's local cuisine.
Only joking! We could not buy this until after the new year! I have no idea where it was made, but certainly not in malta!
We quickly became aware of the local staples. Wine, cheese, olives, seafood, pork, oranges, dates, figs, honey, and fruit jams. Our flat has a great view over small fields, rather like allotments, and I love watching the farmers working them by hand.
the view from our balcony
local family planting potatoes
watering
Walking around Gozo, the island where we are staying, I was struck by the amount of vegetable growing. The land is carved up into very small plots. The crops are mostly vegetables, similar to they ones we grow in Australia, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbages, broad beans, the common annuals.
Granny's carob syrup - very sweet, seems like mostly sugar.
Pommegranite jelly and Prickly pear jam, again both very sweet, not much flavour. I think they are mostly tourist fodder as I have yet to find any menu's in Malta including Pomegranate, Prickly pear, or carob
There are orchards, mostly of citrus, and pomegranate, but also some stone fruits. Many olive trees, and vineyards, but all on a small scale.Carob trees, and almonds grow wild, as do prickly pear, and bamboo. The locals use the prickly pear as wind breaks, and shelter for their seedlings, as well as harvesting the fruit for jam and licquer.The bamboo is used for training climbing veg, and constructing shade structures, including shades on roof terraces and pergolas.
cactus is rampant
The Pomegranate licquer was a disappointment unfortunately.
The soils appear thin like ours, and limestone rich. The boundaries of the fields are lined with limestone walls. The other thing we noticed were many small huts around th landscape, we thought that they may have been shepherd's huts, but they were built as hides for bird trappers. They are very numerous accross the island, not so numerous are the birds. But that may also have something to do with the profuse number of stray cats roaming around.
The most appealing thing about Gozo agriculture is the lack of mechanical input. The majority of fields are tilled by hand, some watered by hand held hose, weeded, and harvested by hand
The one exception being a small hand held cultivator that they walk behind, to till the soil, and prepare trenches for planting. the ingenious thing about this little machine, is that when they have finished on the field, they can replace the blades with wheels, which then allow it to be used to tow a trailer, giving the farmer a nifty ride home with his utensils. I love this idea for our ecovillage.
the machine up close
with trailer attached
the cultivator in action
Our meals here have been an adventure, I was expecting a spicy, middle eastern influence. But I would have to say that the food more resembles Greek cuisine to me. (I thought that Moroccan food would be spicy too - very disappointed) English is the national language along with Maltese, which is just as well because there are a lot of consonants in their words, and there is a lot of toungue curling and sort of grunting. It sounds a bit like a mixture of French and Arabic. I cannot pronounce most of the town names. So just as well the menu's are all in english. Here is what we have been eating:
Fishing is a very important food source
Fish for lunch at Xlendi -and pics of the local trade for Andrea! Also at Xlendi, local icecream! It has been a while!
A Gozo traditional Christmas treat, made with dates, a bit like a sweet bagel.
Our first Gozo shopping trip, in the recreated village of Bethlehem!
Michael shops at the market
We also bought a traditionally made basket to carry our goodies home.
The boys come home from the local bakery with these Gozetan delights
The Gozo Salt pans - yay finally - local salt
Lunch at Otters in Marselforn
bread with ANCHOVY paste!
local rabbit
Local wine - we have found most of the reds here quite mild, almost like rose. This one was a little better.
octopus
rabbit stew - a local specialty
