An important complement of our cooking courses in Tuscany are visits of farmers' markets around our cooking school in Chianti. For our farmers market tours Seamus will guide you through a rich panorama of flavors and colors. In the open-air stalls you will find out how to identify the freshest porcini mushrooms, why you should ask for a prosciutto sliced by knife, how to take care of fresh artichokes, and much more. Seamus will point out which ingredients are exclusively local, and will advise you on how to use these ingredients in simple and tasty dishes.

As a supplement to the market visit, Seamus will take you to gourmet shops where you can discover ingredients not found at the produce market. For example, you can taste organic marmalades, preserves and chestnut compotes, a marvelous selection of cured meats and salami, aged cheeses and rare balsamic vinegars. Usually the market tour takes place before a cooking course, so that when we are at the market we can directly buy the ingredients that we will be using in the kitchen.

Chianti Kitchen, The Tuscan School of Cooking of Chef Seamus de Pentheny O'Kelly - Tuscany, Italy - info@chiantikitchen.com