Grapes Mostarda
In the past it was called "the sauce of the poor", because it was prepared with fruit scraps and the grapes left in the rows after the grape harvest. On the contrary, today grapes mostarda - characteristic of the whole area of Monferrato and included in the traditional agri-foodstuffs recognized by Regione Piemonte - is gaining approval at table, combined with polenta, boiled meat, cheese, or as a frozen sherbet.
Preparing it is a long and complex process: it is necessary to cook the must (of Barbera, Nebbiolo, Dolcetto, and Moscato grapes) until it has reduced to a third, add the autumn fruits - quince, pumpkin, pear, fig, plum, walnut, hazelnut, orange and lemon peel - and let it cook for 4-5 hours. Once ready, the grapes mostarda looks like a jam, dark for the must and not spicy. It can be preserved for one year if you put it in hermetic seal glass jars when it is still hot, for three years if sterilized.
