Olive trees thrive nearly everywhere in Apulia, whose production of more than 200 million liters a year accounts for nearly half of Italy's total volume of oil. Four types have been singled out for DOP: Colline di Brindisi, Dauno, Terra di Bari and Terra di Otranto. The region is also an important source of organic produce, accounting for about 10 percent of the nation's total.
Pasta, from the region's supplies of durum wheat, range through variations on maccheroni, spaghetti and lasagne to the small shells called orecchiette (or strascinati) and cavatieddi, served mainly with vegetables or tomato sauces, usually with garlic and peppers. Rice is also esteemed, notably in tiella, which refers to an earthenware baking dish, though the name may have derived from the Spanish rice dish of paella. Tortiera is a casserole, whose various ingredients are gratinéed with pecorino or caciocavallo or pane grattugiato, breadcrumbs which substitute for cheese in many southern dishes.
The Adriatic and Ionian seas provide a wealth of seafood and frutti di mare. Especially prized are oysters and mussels from beds in the Gulf of Taranto, though the range includes octopus, cuttlefish, squid, anchovies, sardines and sea urchins.
The Murge plateaux provide grazing land for lamb and kid, the preferred meats, though the diet is enhanced by beef and poultry and pork as the base of an ample array of salumi. Cheeses cover the southern gamut of pecorino and pasta filata varieties, though among the latter burrata (whose name refers to the buttery softness of its cream-filled interior) stands out from the towns of Andria and Martina Franca. The hard cheese called Canestrato Pugliese, named after the canestre or reed baskets in which it was formed, is protected by DOP. Part of the Caciocavallo Silano DOP is in Apulia.
Apulian bakers specialize in the flat focaccia (or puddica) and variations of pizza from both wheat flour and potatoes. These include calzoni, calzuncieddi, panzerotti and sfogliate, in which the dough is folded over a filling and fried or baked. Biscuits are also popular, especially the doughnut shaped frisedde and the curly taralli. A rich array of pastries and sweets is enhanced by such ingredients as ricotta, almonds for marzipan, candied fruit and honey.
As Italy's most prolific grape producer, Apulia has been a perennial source of potent red wines shipped north for blending. But lately the quality side of production has come to the fore, represented by 25 DOCs, the most of any southern region. Notable among them are the crisp whites of Locorotondo and Martina Franca, the reds and rosés of Castel del Monte and the Salento peninsula, where such appellations as Salice Salentino, Brindisi, Copertino and Primitivo di Manduria have been gaining admirers outside of the region.
