Culinary Escapades - Culinary Classes

With influences from culinary traditions ranging from Arabic to French there is much to learn about Sicilian cuisine and this culinary escapade will inspire and teach you to make your own dishes on your return home.

For those particularly interested in releasing their inner Sicilian chef there are also special lessons :

• Sicilian Caponata Cooking Lesson
• Handmade Pasta Cooking Lesson
• Chocolate Class
• Pizza Lesson
• Sicilian Pastry Lessons

Within the 230 hectare Verdura Estate there are 2,000 olive trees, 3,000 orange trees, 250 almond trees, 150 prickly pear cacti, 120 pomegranate trees and 50 lemon trees. The "garden" extends over 2,600 square meters of land, where organic vegetables as well as aromatic herbs including artichokes, aubergines, tomatoes, peppers, melons, red peppers, beans, rosemary, sage, mint and wild fennel are grown.

Verdura Societa Agricola farm products are handpicked every day and used by the Executive Chef in the resort's four restaurants, as ingredients in the cocktails at Granita Bar and in cooking lessons with guests. This year Verdura Societa Agricola has produced the first extra virgin olive oil, a blend of traditional Sicilian olive varieties (Cerasuola, Biancolilla and Nocellare), which are picked manually and cold pressed within a few hours from harvesting in order to ensure the best tasting results, as well as to retain all its organoleptic properties.

Verdura extra virgin olive oil has a deep bright green color with an elegant and harmonious bouquet of typical local aromas on the nose: orange blossoms, artichoke, mint and basil. This olive oil is to be found in all the resorts restaurants, but it is also a precious ingredient at Verdura SPA. Together with aromatic herbs it is used for the natural treatments and massages thanks to its nourishing and softening properties.