a TALE of two
TOMATOES MEET GIN’S MOST UNLIKELY BOTANICAL WRITTEN BY JEFF CIOLETTI PHOTOGRAPHS PROVIDED BY MOLETTO GIN
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hen most spirits producers talk about gin botanicals, it’s unlikely that anyone’s short list includes “tomato.” But there are some European distillers hoping to change that with some new products that have recently entered the U.S. market. One of those is Moletto Gin, from Motta di Livenza, in the province of Treviso, Veneto, Italy — the heart of Italian distilling country, best known as the epicenter of grappa production. Moletto combines juniper from the Alps and Mediterranean maquis with four types of tomatoes — San Marzano and three others that are a closely guarded secret. Co-founder Mauro Stival wanted to create a truly Italian gin, capturing some of the country’s signature flavors. The obvious botanical candidates would have been along the lines of basil, rosemary and, perhaps, celery, but Stival felt those ingredients would have been a bit too pedestrian. He had his eureka
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moment when he was at home eating one of Italy’s most iconic contributions to global cuisine. “I was ordering a pizza, and my eyes went directly to mozzarella, and I thought, ‘Mozzarella gin,’” Stival recalls. “After three seconds, I said, ‘What a stupid idea!’” His mind quickly turned to another core ingredient of pizza: tomatoes. “You put [tomatoes] in pasta, lasagna, pizza, everywhere,” Stival says. “It’s the real color of Italian food tradition.” At first, it was easier said than done. It’s one thing to say you’re going to create a tomato-flavored spirit; it’s quite another to find the right varieties of tomatoes whose flavor and aroma are stable enough to consistently assert themselves in a gin. Stival notes that it took about 16 months to lock in a recipe. “We distill every single ingredient separately, and after that we blend with pure alcohol from wheat,” he
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