Making Wilden: Fratelli Ferrante

Restarting from simple things, revolutionizing the way we live. Behind every little cultural action, it lies a true passion. It’s the respect for nature that moves our projects and those makers close to Wilden.herbals’ vision. The fil rouge binding them is the desire to see the world with new eyes. That’s one of their stories.

Fratelli Ferrante are two brothers – Tommaso and Stefano. Tommaso is an Agriculture graduated and has studied the soil and its expressive potential from a scientific point of view in Catania. Stefano has explored the concept of taste and now creates unique recipes and food combinations for the family business. Together they are Fratelli Ferrante – and they have told Wilden.herbals what’s really inside every preserve.

What is your philosophy?

When we started our lab, we had a very precise idea. Years after years, it’s still here. We want to make both traditional and innovative products that have deep roots in the territory. We want to use local ingredients that have been cultivated respecting nature.

What does “rediscovering soil” mean to you now?

To us it means to go back to the countryside and to get to know it deeply. It means to talk to farmers and to understand how they work, then encouraging them to adopt a healthier, sustainable approach for our environment. This will improve the final product and its taste. In our small way we are glad to support many little activities devoted to agricultural products of inestimable excellence. Our mission is to value their fruit of the work with our preserve.

A childhood memory with food

Aunt Enza’s caponata. She lived just where we built our lab: I remember we were used to eat it here during summertime. I can still feel that atmosphere filled with lightheartedness and happiness it could create. It was really sensational.

When we made our La Caponata in our lab, we used her recipe, the one handed down from our mother. That’s the product that we, as brothers, worked the most on – maybe because we wanted an uncompromising quality. We’ve seen people crying after tasting our caponata: they told us that it brought back memories of their own grandmas and their recipes. We were also moved by the same feelings when we tasted what would become the ultimate recipe of our La Caponata.

How do you make your products? 

Our products usually come from raw ingredients that we choose for their typical, unique and seasonal qualities. Then we test them in order to understand how to bring out their best and to respect their essence.

Our apricot jam is an ode to the fruit itself and it really tastes like fresh fruit. As for our Cotto di Carrube, it’s a concentrated carob syrup with no added sugar: the sous-vide process changes the taste, gives it more complex notes and intensifies some flavors without distorting its essence. In both cases the raw ingredient is always at the very centre of the recipe,  kept intact with a distinct taste.

What does “healty and wild” mean to you?

I believe you cannot be healthy and wild without being free. For us being free means to be able to choose the products we love the most. Surely it is hard to enter the market at first. But when our products are appreciated and understood we realize that market trends can be changed.

If we have to choose among our products, we think Gocce Xtra is the perfect representation of your healthy and wild philosophy: very common local chili peppers going through a spontaneous fermentation thanks to indigenous lactic acid bacteria and to wild yeast. The result is a sauce with a unique yet complex taste that boosts the fruity and funky chili peppers’ notes. Perfect to give a rock twist to every recipe.