Do-it-yourself recipes

In November, in the countryside of Vieste, groups of farmers dedicated to the olive harvest meet in the centuries-old olive groves of which this city is rich. The olive groves of the Gargano look like particular and exceptional sculptures that mother nature had fun creating. The oil that these plants produce is genuine and delicious, with extraordinary and well-known cosmetic properties it has been the oil for soap for centuries, rich in emollient substances, the soap produced is a hard and compact soap with excellent cleaning power. However, since it produces little foam, which I like a lot, I thought about adding a small percentage of coconut oil to our yellow gold.

The oil that is produced in the province of Foggia and therefore also in Vieste, has received the denomination of extra virgin olive oil D.O.P. Dauno Gargano. The oil produced from olives harvested using the stripping method by 30 January and pressed within three days since harvesting receives this denomination.

The "liquid gold" flavors every dish giving the typical cuisine of the Gargano an unmistakable flavor that greatly contributes to enhancing the quality of the various ingredients that make up and characterize any element, I thought then: why shouldn't I accept this invitation from La Saponaria and produce a soap worthy of my land? I took up this opportunity with both hands, because producing soap is like entering a magical world, having a space to relax after the stress of the day and, in addition to remembering my origins, when my grandparents produced soap at home. This explains why I really love making every type of recipe that comes my way, however, this time thanks to you I made my own recipe, typical of the area where I live where olive oil is produced in abundance !! "

When I was little my mother sent me to collect hazelnuts under the trees in the lawn of my house, because being a child I slipped well under the branches ... alone I was bored, but if there was someone with me (my younger sister or my father, often) it became a challenge to whoever collected more hazelnuts, and it was immediately much more fun!

I wanted a soap with hazelnuts, precisely those from my parents' house, which I now collect together with my partner when we go to lunch on Sunday (also because in the meantime 25 years have passed, and my poor mother certainly can't get herself down in all fours under the hazelnuts!) and I wanted it to taste like chocolate too, because chocolate with hazelnuts has always been my father's weakness. And I also wanted it to taste a little like honey, because as a child I loved when Maurizio who has bees brought us the honeycombs with honey, and we had to put everything in our mouth and then spit out the wax (with which I then played as with the modeling clay!).

And so, thinking about the things in my home, when I was little, I created a very sweet soap, which smells of good things!

The dandelion flower fills the fields of the Bergamo plain, while the elder flowers color the banks of the corn fields white. The lime tree, with its scent, and the mountain pine rise on the Orobic pre-Alps. Dandelion root and elderflower have therapeutic value in cases of acne-prone skin. Linden oil has moisturizing, emollient and anti-inflammatory properties. Mountain pine, represented here by its essential oil, has balsamic properties.

Recipe submitted to the "Saponi e buoi dei paesi tuoi" homemade soap contest. Why does it represent the proverb "Saponi e buoi dei paesi tuoi"? Cedar has been a significant economic resource in the past in almost all the countries along the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria. Now, production has decreased due to rampant construction, but there are still some cedar orchards. It's a fruit as bitter as these places but rich in skin-softening substances. There are also cosmetics made from cedar.