Luigi Rocca started canning and drying ceps that were picked in the beautiful valley where he had settled after leaving his native Liguria.

In those times, plenty of mushrooms, which were picked in Valtellina, were taken to the factory, sorted out, weighed and then selected for the different production phases. In autumn, such comings and goings at the factory began late in the afternoon and continued until at night. Men and women, burdened with their delicious loads, lined up in front of the room where the fresh mushrooms were purchased. They worked until late at night, washing the mushrooms and preparing them for either boiling or drying process. That was the secret for obtaining a white, fragrant-smelling product, even after the transformations that the mushrooms had to undergo. Two very rare, perfectly preserved specimen of such ancient tinned foods - tiny mushrooms put into jars in an orderly way and covered with oil - are still today kept at the factory!

The mushrooms were cooked into water with little vinegar, salt and natural flavours (mostly laurel). Then, after putting them into the jars and after boiling the jars, the mushrooms were prepared in oil or pickled adding light spices.

At the factory, they also prepared more refined canned foods, like the numerous recipes based on mushrooms cooked with garlic and parsley, stewed mushrooms, etc. which were mostly eaten with meat or with the traditional "polenta".

Finally, part of the mushrooms was dried, while the best crumbs were reduced to a fine powder, a fragrant-smelling and tasty aromatic substance used to season numerous dishes. Today, in addition to the traditional ceps, Rocca uses various kinds of mushrooms to prepare masterly recipes by the founder's son Emilio, a connoisseur very keen on cookery who is also the author of original recipe books dated the early XX century.

To Emilio Rocca, in fact, we owe most of the products that we can offer today to our clientele. He prepared sauces, studied techniques used to prepare canned meat, fish, game, jams and vegetables and meticulously wrote them in its hand-written recipe books. Our firm carries on the Rocca family tradition and, still today, thanks to a long and solid experience, we prepare our specialities using wholesome products only, including aromatic herbs and sauces.

OUR PRODUCTS

• In olive oil

• Mushrooms "alla milanese": cooked with garlic and parsley (from our original recipe)

• Uncooked

• Cep paste

• Truffle-smelling cep paste

• Cep powder "Profumo di bosco"

• Musk mushrooms, Yellow Family Mushrooms, cultivated mushrooms, wood mushroom assortment "Fantasy", three-mushroom assortment in olive oil