In Apulia, this is what they call the bunches of tomatoes hung up for winter storage
Today, cherry tomatoes are available all year round, but they often lack flavor and rot quickly. Grown in greenhouses, they do not receive the sun and heat they need.
It would be good practice to use, out of season, the hung "cocchia" tomatoes.
In the middle of summer, my family and I would prepare the cocchie of tomatoes.
My father had a vegetable garden behind the house that he tended with passion, and at the time of harvesting the cherry tomatoes, my mother and I would package these wonders.
We made a lot of them, also because we had a big family. A very flexible wire was used, and after cutting it to form a large elongated ring, we began to place the "little legs" of the tomatoes.
Behind our house, we had a courtyard and a large shed with wooden beams. Each beam had large nails where we hung the tomatoes. Along the beams, my father placed butcher's broom branches to keep away the mice. These tomatoes lasted all winter and were used in everything.
In every recipe, we used these delights.
In winter, I would place some of them on the hot ashes of the brazier along with olives and chili pepper. With this mix, I prepared tasty sandwiches. I took the end of a small loaf of bread, remove the crumb, and stuff this mixture into the cavity. Even today, the mere memory makes my mouth water.
