Strong like Dad 

 Order by Friday, June 10th at 10 AM PST 

for guaranteed Father's Day arrival.

Not for the faint of palate... 

Real licorice, we're not talking Good & Plenty, has a very strong flavor and it's very polarizing - people seem to love it or not want anything to do with it. But if you or the Dad in your life loves licorice, you may not find anything cooler than this.  

While it's never really made sense to us that certain flavors would appeal more to men than to women, it did seem to hold true in an office tasting a couple of weeks ago. For whatever reason, the men in the office loved this product and most of the women found it to be...not their favorite. Once we realized what was happening, it made it pretty easy to decide on which holiday this product would make its debut. 

Inside this jar, two of Calabria's most iconic   

products - figs and licorice - are combined to create one of our most intoxicating and esoteric items.

The Garritano family produces specialties from the bounty of local figs in Calabria. In particular, they work with the fig called Dottato, a variety of fig whose annual crop has plummeted from 650,000 tons in the 1950's to a minuscule 10,000 tons this year.  

One might think it'd be enough of a pleasure to taste this rare fruit in its pure form. However, here the figs are cooked and preserved in one of Calabria's most arcane gastronomic specialties. Liquorizia, the licorice liqueur that the Garritano family uses in this product is nearly impossible to find in the US. The figs are slowly cooked while the liqueur reduces and sweetens. As the flavors meld, the figs become swollen with smoky, bittersweet notes. The intense flavor of the figs and their syrup makes these a pretty potent digestive. We enjoyed them the most in lieu of an actual dessert - just a few biscotti and a glass of whiskey or dessert wine. 

Order for the special introductory price of $18.00 (usually $20.00)

*We have a very small amount of this product in stock, so if you're interested, do not hesitate. 

Italians don't think of cookies the same way we do.

Suffice to say, you wouldn't be likely to see Oreos on the shelf

at the local sweet shop in Torino.

What you might find, however, is one of the exquisite creations from Primo Pan, a nearly 100 year old bakery in Battifollo specializing in classic Italian cookies. The lands around the bakery are teeming with fields of grain and most importantly, corn.

The stone-ground corn of the region can be found in many forms locally, but these cookies are one of our favorites. They have a deep, golden color and a crunchy texture with loads of sweet corn flavor.

We forgot to consider pairings while we inhaled the first bag, so we paid a little more attention on the second one. Believe it or not, they taste fabulous with a big red wine, like a Dolcetto from the same region. And for a mid-day snack, we enjoyed them with a tall glass of iced tea spiked with

ginger syrup.

Order for the special introductory price of $9.50 (usually $10.50)

Special introductory pricing on the Fiquorizia and the Foglie di Mais  

will be available through Father's Day, June 19th.   

Offer valid online only at MarketHallFoods.com.