Some products need no explanation if you're Calabrian. Crusco peppers crumbling in your hand, the jar of chili that always sits open on the table, the jam made with June lemons. You know them before you even lift the lid.
For those who don't know Calabria, these products are a discovery. For those who grew up there, they're what's been missing. On Braalla you'll find them chosen from artisan producers in Altomonte and the surrounding province, people who work with local ingredients and whom we know in person.
Crusco: the pepper that turns crunchy
Today, on Braalla, you can make that same gesture again. With the same products, the same land, the same hands that make them.
Crusco pepper is one of the most Calabrian things there is. In some areas the dialect name is "zafarano". It's called "crusco" because, after drying and a quick fry in olive oil, it turns as crunchy as a chip, but with a sweet, fragrant, unmistakable flavor.
It's crumbled over pasta, legumes and meat, or eaten just as it is, like a snack. It's one of the oldest products in Calabrian cooking: in some families there are still people who hang them in bunches outside the door in summer and fry them in November.
The one you'll find on Braalla is called Zafarani Cruschi, made the traditional way. Sun-dried peppers, ready for the pan or already crunchy.
Calabrian preserves
What was put away in summer to eat in winter. Baby artichokes, pearl onions, scapece, tomatoes. Every jar is a season, preserved.
Chili pepper in every form
In Calabria, chili pepper isn't an extra. It's an ingredient. Cream, jam, pâté: every form is a different way to bring it to the table.
Calabrian artisanal jams
Seasonal strawberries, Calabrian lemons. No preservatives, no industrial pectin. Just fruit and time.
'Nduja from Spilinga
Calabria's signature cured meat. Soft, spicy, spreadable. Here in a 180g jar, so you always have some close at hand.
Our producers
We don't choose from a catalog. We know the people behind every product.
Bottega Barbieri
Bottega Barbieri works with ingredients from Altomonte using a simple method: respect the season, add nothing that isn't needed, make things the way they were made at home.
The preserves are made in summer, when the vegetables are just right. The jams are cooked slowly, without industrial pectin. The chili peppers are prepared while still fresh. It's not a big company. It's a bottega, in the truest sense of the word.
Monteporo
Spilinga is the home of 'nduja. That's not a marketing line: it's the place where this cured meat was born, and where it has been made for generations with carefully chosen pork and Calabrian chili peppers.
Monteporo makes its 'nduja following Spilinga's traditional recipe: soft, spreadable, with a bright red color that comes only from real chili peppers. No shortcuts, no compromises. What you'll find on Braalla is the real thing.
How to use these products in the kitchen
They're not decorations. They're ingredients. Each one has its moment, its place at the table.
Crusco
Crumble it over baked pasta, legumes or grilled meat. Eat it on its own as a snack. Put it on bread with olive oil. It's one of the most versatile seasonings in Calabrian cooking.
'Nduja
On warm bread, on pasta, on scrambled eggs. Melt it in a pan and it turns into a sauce in two minutes. With an 'nduja warmer, you can bring it straight to the table and let everyone help themselves.
Chili cream
Spread it on bread, stir it into pasta at the end of cooking, use it to add flavor to soups and legumes. One teaspoon changes the taste of a whole dish.
Chili jam
Pair it with aged cheeses, fresh ricotta or cold cuts. The sweet and spicy contrast works on a sharing board, on bruschetta, or simply with some bread.
Fruit jams
Calabrian strawberries and lemons on your morning bread. Lemon marmalade also goes well with fish and white meat, and strawberry jam with fresh cheeses and yogurt.