Generality
Taralli (also known as “tarallini”) are baked goods consisting mainly of flour, oil, white wine and salt; they often contain fennel seeds and chilli.
The original cooking of the taralli is divided into two phases: the first is carried out in boiling water (until they emerge), the second takes place in the oven after drying them and requires a "high temperature (until they become well golden). places it is customary to fry them rather than bake them in the oven, but this leads to an increase in digestive effort.
On the contrary, to obtain a light recipe, it is necessary to reduce the fats by reducing the quantity of extra virgin olive oil in the dough.
To view the details of Alice's recipe on the "Light Apulian Taralli" click here.
The taralli appear as small golden rings. They are composed by forming a 4-5 cm long pasta vermicello, subsequently closed by overlapping the vertices. The inner diameter is about 1-1.5cm and the outer diameter is about 3-3.5cm. A tarallo weighs about 5 g.
The nutritional characteristics of taralli are quite similar to those of other baked products such as breadsticks, croutons, crackers, etc. The most significant difference concerns the lipid profile which, in the case of taralli, is better than foods prepared with lard, butter and hydrogenated / bi-fractionated vegetable oils.
At the table, taralli can replace bread (even if they do not have the same nutritional characteristics) and accompany recipes of various kinds. Some "special" taralli may contain very special ingredients, such as sugar, icing, etc.
However, taralli seem to have more relevance with "snacks". In Italy they are also available packaged, inside convenient single-portion bags or in larger containers (the latter also handcrafted).
Their practicality has made it possible to classify them among the "finger foods", ie foods to eat with your fingers.
Homemade Taralli
Light Apulian taralli
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Nutritional Characteristics
Taralli are products that should belong to the III fundamental group of foods, namely that of "Cereals, derivatives and tubers".
On the other hand, the higher fat taralli have an energy breakdown that favors lipids over carbohydrates. This makes them scarcely relevant to this whole, even if the same is not true for the leaner versions.
Taralli are highly energetic foods, with a caloric intake that varies between 400 and 550kcal.
Energy essentially comes from carbohydrates (up to 65% for the lean versions) or from lipids (over 60% for the fat versions); proteins are marginal and do not reach 10%.
The fatty acid profile is in favor of monounsaturated. Carbohydrates are mainly complex. The peptides are of medium biological value.
Taralli contain a good amount of fiber. If prepared exclusively with oil, they do not bring cholesterol.
As far as minerals are concerned, taralli show an "excellent quantity of sodium coming from cooking salt. The quantities of potassium, magnesium and iron are modest.
With regard to vitamins, the level of thiamine (B1) is appreciated.
NB. If the taralli were produced with wholemeal flour, the quantities of minerals and vitamins would be much higher.
Taralli are NOT foods suitable for clinical nutrition for overweight. They are NOT even suitable for diets against hyperglycemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertriglyceridemia.
They are not relevant to the celiac diet, but have no contraindications for lactose intolerance.
Taralli with oil respect the requirements of vegetarian and vegan philosophy (the ingredients are exclusively of vegetable origin).
The average portion of taralli, if used as a snack, corresponds to 15-25g (for a total of 70-120kcal, i.e. 3-5 pieces).
Taralli VS Fresh Bread
In the ordinary diet, taralli should NOT replace low-fat bread.
If you want to use them for this purpose, it is advisable to intervene on the nutritional composition of other ingredients, reducing the use of seasoning fats in other recipes.
This reduction should be at least 5-15g of oil per 100g of taralli (5-15g of oil correspond to 45-135kcal). The width of this interval is not accidental, since the taralli recipes are not all the same (some products can show a very significant caloric difference compared to others).
Furthermore, it must be specified that the total humidity of the taralli is not higher than 10%, while that of fresh bread reaches 35%. The 25% difference significantly affects the concentration of macronutrients and total calories.
Ultimately, taralli can bring up to 250kcal more than fresh lean bread; moreover, between one tarallo and the other there could be even 150kcal of difference coming from the lipids.
To give a practical example, in a dinner consisting of:
- Meat 150g.
- Lettuce 50g.
- 100g bread (4 slices).
- Total extra virgin olive oil 20g (about 2 tablespoons).
if you want to insert taralli instead of bread, you need to change the portions as follows:
- Meat 150g.
- Lettuce 50g.
- Fat taralli 55g (about 11 pieces of 5g l "one) or lean taralli 65g (about 13 pieces of 5g l" one).
- Total extra virgin olive oil 5 or 10g (about half or 1 whole soup spoon).
Production Area and Tradition
That of taralli is a typical recipe of the Puglia region, which enjoys the recognition of Italian Traditional Agri-food Product (P.A.T.), conferred by the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies (MiPAAF).
They are also produced in the surrounding regions (Calabria, Campania, Basilicata, Lazio, Molise and Sicily), although sometimes with quite different recipes (for example the Aviglianese tarallo from Basilicata).
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