Table of Contents
Discover typical dishes of Aosta Valley cuisine
So, you’re planning to visit Aosta during your next trip to Italy and now you’d like to know what are the typical products of Aosta? Well, make yourself comfortable because Aosta offers you the true flavors of the Aosta Valley tradition.
If you Choose to eat in Aosta, it will be an experience that involves all your 5 senses. The city offers food and wine experiences that will make your holiday in Aosta Valley a bit more special.
It was not easy to choose the best dishes that must be part of a perfect food and wine tour in Aosta. We selected for you just 6 dishes that we love them! In the following article we will show you these culinary delights.
1. Carbonada alla Valdostana
This dish is proudly part of the Aosta’s cuisine dedicated to the specialties of this incredible land, with typical products and raw materials that characterize this area.
This dish is a braised meat cooked for long time in red wine, which gives to this dish a dark red, almost black, color (the charcoal color) which determines its name. The Carbonada dish has a strong flavor and you should combine it with a tasty polenta (a kind of cornmeal mush).
2. The Polenta Concia
The culinary values of Aosta are fully expressed in their traditional Polenta Concia.
A once humble dish that reflects the tradition of this city, enriched with a typical raw material of the region.
The polenta Concia has only 3 ingredients: corn flour, butter and fontina cheese.
These three ingredients are combined in a mixture of flavors after baking, which makes the dish creamy and delicious.
Looking for a place to stay in Aosta?
Choose our charme apartments in the historical center
3. Fondue
Another humble dish from the tradition but very satisfying is the fondue.
Fondue is a typical and delicious dish characteristic of the Alpine area between Aosta Valley, Piedmont, and Switzerland. Over the years there was a small dispute between these regions to establish whose was the paternity and the winner was: the Aosta Valley.
The main ingredient of the fondue is again the fontina cheese. The European Union awarded the Protected Designation of Origin status (PDO) to fontina “valdostana” cheese in 1996.
The uniqueness of the valdostan fondue are the main ingredients and their preparation method, more precisely for the resting technique of the cheese. Before the actual preparation, in fact, the fontina cheese, cut into thin slices and covered with milk, should be left to stand for a few hours, or better one whole night.
The cooking process will then proceed adding other ingredients, until it is just creamy at the right point. Et voilà, a simple dish meaning conviviality because it is usually served in a single container for enjoy it all together.
4. Valdostan sweet Tegole
We hope you saved some room for these typical delicious biscuits: the Tegole Valdostane. These biscuits made with almonds, hazelnuts and vanilla are disc-shaped and combined with an excellent Valdostan wine.
In this case also, the simplicity of the typical products of Aosta represents an added value, despite the few ingredients, these biscuits can satisfy all palates.
5. The Friendship Cup
So we finished our meal but we have to conclude with the typical Aosta Valley coffee, another symbol of conviviality. The coffee is special for the ingredients used and the way it is served. In addition to the Italian coffee, the recipe includes sugar, orange peel, lemon and grappa valdostana.
The drink is served inside the “Cup of Friendship” and you can taste it only after it is literally “started” the liquid and the sugar will be caramelized.
Tradition requires that it is drunk “à la ronde” that is, one at a time and counterclockwise using the different spouts on the cup.
6.The Génépy Liqueur
Now all we can do is to make a toast with a traditional herbal liqueur.
The Génépy is the best-known Aosta Valley liqueur With its typical alpine flavor. It is obtained from the alpine plants of the genus Artemisia, who grows at an altitude of over 2000 m.
The Artemisia is famous for its therapeutic properties. In the 1928 it was declared protected and its collection is still today regulated.
Where can you taste these delights?
The Aosta Valley offers a rich choice of typical restaurants. Many families opened restaurants and typical lodge on the most popular routes, where you can refresh yourself with an energy polenta or other typical products.
It is also possible to organize different Food and Wine Tour in Aosta among the best restaurants and farms where the genuine raw materials of the territory are produced.
Do you want a tailor made food and wine tour in Aosta? Write us!
After this meal all we can do is to take a walk in the historical center of Aosta and living this city from its cuisine to its history.
Discover The 5 Unmissable Places of Aosta