A Guide To Italian Bruschetta

Sometimes, a piece of toasted bread with some flavorful toppings is all you need to solve an appetizer, a quick lunch, or a partner in crime for your wine, beer, or cocktail. Enter bruschetta – pronounced broos-keh-t-tah please, not broo-sheh-tah - the easiest, breeziest Italian appetizer we ever did see. But first, let’s deconstruct this simple, rustic app and discover “what is bruschetta”.

Fresh and ripe tomatoes and high-quality ingredients are the secret to a great Italian bruschetta.

Bruschetta and crostini are almost always used interchangeably, and in all honesty, we can’t find a good reason why not. It all starts with a base of toasted, cracker-like bread, that can hold up to whatever seasonal produce or spread you decide to put on top. The idea is that the crusty bread is hearty enough but also thin so you can easily bite into it, think a simple hors d’ oeuvre size. The bread is  be toasted or grilled, and rubbed with garlic and premium extra virgin olive oil. And that’s the base for bruschetta.

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Now come the toppings, and here’s the real beauty of bruschetta. There are no rules – even if people often think you MUST have tomato on top of bruschetta, that’s not really how the Italians do it. Rather, use what’s in season, or what’s in your pantry. If you want to go the tomato bruschetta route, make sure you pick good quality, ripe tomatoes, in season. Making fresh tomato bruschetta in winter really makes no sense – there are so many other flavorful options to try! Leave tomato for summer. The real rule is use good quality ingredients. They will really shine over the plain and simple bread. Use peaches! Pears! Eggplant! Fresh herbs!

Bruschetta offers endless options and flavor combinations.

One of our favorite combos for bruschetta?

Prosciutto and fresh mozzarella topped with fresh basil and a drizzle of good balsamic. What about caramelized onions and brie? Or figs and Iberico? Goat cheese and pears? Go foraging in your produce drawer and go nuts (which are also a great topping, by the way!). Use fresh or dry herbs for topping – you can also keep our bruschetta spice blend handy, a carefully curated spice mix of garlic, black pepper and sea salt in the perfect proportions. Shop Bruschetta Mix

And there’s nothing wrong with having a few pantry bruschetta options available -like our line of Tealdi’s ready-to-serve Bruschetta spreads, made in Italy with the freshest ingredients in a variety of combinations. This helps you for last-minute get-togethers, or when you want to foolproof your appetizers. When experts have taken the guesswork and perfected the recipes for you, and you only need to open and serve, there’s something to be said for the marriage of flavor and practicality. Some of Tealdi’s options are Classic Bruschetta: made of tomato pulp, olive oil, salt and flavored with garlic and oregano so to give you the strong taste of high-quality raw materials at each bite. For a more luxurious twist, there’s the White Truffle a sumptuous blend of Italian tomatoes and aromatic Italian Alba truffles. There are many options available – check them all out here.

And there you have it! The basics of bruschetta, explained! Go shopping for bruschetta ingredients or give any of our bruschetta recipes a whirl.