I knew and was impressed with the wines of Pearl Morissette on the Niagara Peninsula in Canada when I visited in 2015, but I was not familiar with the Ars Amandi orange pet-nat from Tenuta Santa Lucia in Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy. I ordered both as I prowled The Waves, a new platform for buying natural wines. All its featured offerings, selected by Rajat Parr, a sommelier and winemaker, and Billy Smith, a sommelier who worked at the Four Horsemen in Brooklyn, must be made from organic grapes, without synthetic additives, and fermented with native yeasts. Off-the-grid choices like mine or less esoteric bottles of Beaujolais-Villages are sold. The website offers a tempting shopping experience, with regular additions, for those ready to shed stereotypes in the glass. Most bottles are less than $40. And, if you prefer, you can leave your choices to the experts.
Greek and Turkish Olives for Your Table
In partnership with small organic farmers in Greece and Turkey, Big Picture Foods of Barrington, R.I., imports simply, slowly cured Kalamata and Amfissa olives, pepperoncini, banana peppers, red peppers and plum wild-forged capers. The banana and red peppers are sliced, and the olives can be pitted or not, all ready to add to salads, to serve with cheeses or to nibble on their own. The company says all the farms involved practice regenerative agriculture, respecting the environment and their workers.
Big Picture Foods olives, 8 ounces; peppers, 9 and 9.5 ounces; capers, 4.6 ounces; all $5.99, bigpicturefoods.com.
Pistachio Ice Cream Gets a Spotlight
Pistachio isn’t exactly a top 10 ice cream flavor in the United States. Nonetheless, it’s being given a big stage this month at Eataly Flatiron, where the cooking school, La Scuola, is being turned over to Pistacchio from thegelato chef Patrizia Pasqualetti of Orvieto, Italy. (Ms. Pasqualetti now works mostly in California and has come up with assorted pistachio-based confections.) A pistachio milkshake, coffee granita with pistachio whipped cream, Sicilian pistachio gelato made with rice milk, toasted pistachio toppings and more are on the menu, $9.90 to $11.90. They will be available through Labor Day.
Eataly, 200 Fifth Avenue (23rd Street), eataly.com.
Grim Reporting on Farmed Salmon
The journalists Simen Saetre and Kjetil Ostli, who spent five years studying farmed salmon, have written a 365-page exposé in the vein of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” “The New Fish.” In it, they document the problems surrounding the fish — most notably, the diseases and parasites that infect them; the often-toxic measures, like using hydrogen peroxide in ever-increasing amounts, undertaken to prevent massive die-offs; and the muffling of researchers’ and journalists’ efforts to bring the issues to light. One shocking section details how salmon was never on the sushi menu until the late 1980s, after Norwegian trade officials persuaded the Japanese to try it. The book isn’t easy to read, and it might persuade readers to stop eating farmed salmon, harvests of which have increased nearly 10,000-fold since 1970. It does not end on a hopeful note.
“The New Fish: The Truth About Farmed Salmon and the Consequences We Can No Longer Ignore” by Simen Saetre and Kjetil Ostli (Patagonia, $22).
Small-Batch Pasta to Die For
Started on the East End of Long Island during the pandemic by Dylan and Sean Carroll, L’Isolina Pasta uses extruders with classic bronze dies imported from Italy for its rigatoni, fusilli, casarecce and radiatori. They began the business, which was formerly L’Acquolina, after visiting Gragnano, a pastamaking center near the Amalfi Coast. For their earthy, rustic pastas, the brothers import organic durum semolina flour from Sicily and mix it with locally grown red wheat from Amber Waves and Balsam Farms in Amagansett, N.Y. All are sold online, at the East End Farmers Markets and on Fresh Direct.
L’Isolina Pasta, $12 per pound or $30 for three, lisolinapasta.com, $10.99 each from freshdirect.com.
Deviled eggs for a party? Egg salad sandwiches? Or simply farm-fresh, soft-boiled for breakfast? Egg toppers, gadgets that score just the egg shell so it’s easy to scoop the contents or to peel the cooked egg, are somewhat new to the kitchen arsenal. And, now, Williams-Sonoma has introduced a set of two made of stainless steel. They’re great to have on hand, or to give as a house gift.
Williams-Sonoma Breakfast Egg Toppers, $39.95 for two, williams-sonoma.com.
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