Which Wine With Googootz?

I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member." - G. Marx

The bells and chimes are making a racket outside. The remnants of Tropical Storm Eduard are fleeing northward, overhead. It’ll probably make it in time to O’Hare before American Airlines does. Down below, on the terroir-stressed soil of Texas, we are in full-harvest mode. And just in time for the weekend, we have the cucuzza crop starting to hit. For Southern Italians, cucuzza is sacred, in fact there is a Sagra della Cucuzza in Calabria. Then again, they have a Sagra for almost anything, even a Sagra Cassata Siciliana.

But today the cucuzza is front stage and center. My son sent me a picture of the Cucuzza Squash Drill Team in California, so it seems a likely time to break out the old “Which Wine With” post format, for the second time this week, and give it a fling.

In preparation for that I emailed a couple of bloggers across the country to see what their choices were, along with a few old hands in this forsaken terroiritory. So let’s get started.

Then I heard from The East Coast, and Marco Povero.
His answer was a little longer

“Are you grilling it or having it tomatoes & pasta? These points are
important.”

I answered, “Doesn't matter-For the blog-You tell me-Subito-Grazie1000.”

His speedy reply:
“2006 Etna Rosato Scilio Sicilia
2006 Vesevo Greco Di Tufo
2006 Alticello Fiano Cantele Salento Apulia
2006 Costamolino Argiolas Vermentino Di Sardegna.”

A true Southerner trapped in the cold Northeast.

A short text to Tracie and she, being a foodie, also pressed, “Depends how it's made.”

Must be girl’s night out …. Any who, she followed with “...either a light red (Grignolino) or a deep rose'!”

Back to Curacao Mojitos and Jell-O-shooters girls, thanks for txtng bck.

Then I got on the phone with Tony the Bone and Joey the Weasel. They were heading to a party with a bunch of women. Or rather, “colleagues.” Don’t ask.

Tony answered “Riesling.” Could he have been a little more specific? They were rolling up to the party house.

Joey the Weasel mumbled a couple of inaudible suspects and then settled on a rather respectable Conti Zecca-Donna Marzia, Malvasia Bianco, from Puglia. Party on, ragazzi.

That wasn’t so difficult now was it?

Today I also found out the Koreans love cucuuza too. They have another name for it, sounds kinda like googootz.

But googootz thrives in the old Italian neighborhoods, one the East coast, up in Chicago, down here in Texas, and especially in Northern Louisiana (the cucuzza capital of the world), oh, and yes in California. It is loved in old Oraibi too, once had a friend who was a Hopi and he loved the stuff. He liked to dry it out to make ceremonial rattlers for some of the dance rituals. That’s right.


Women love to grow and pick googootz. The older ones even know how to cook it. My Nonna’s knew how to. My mom used to cook it for my dad and us kids. My mom’s recipe was good. It seems that everybody’s mom has a special recipe.

Some of those old Italians just loved to see how long it could get. They have contests in Canada to grow them at unbelievable lengths.

The plants take over the yard. And then they produce the fruit and they really go to town. I mean, before it’s over everybody is giving the stuff away. A little goes a long way.

The Northern Italians sometimes make fun of the Southerners love for cucuzza. I don’t know why, I think they just like to find anything they can to make fun of them. Kind of the way the old schoolers from the East Coast would taunt those who lived in the Southern states of the USA. Just plain ‘ol ignorance, manifestations of archetypical pathology. Probably don’t like accordions either.

Wine wise, for me? I’d go with a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Cerasuolo or a light Calabria red like a Gaglioppo or a Ciro. There’s also a deeply colored Ciro rosato that would work. I could also go with a Cerasuolo di Vittorio (not a rose’) though it is a wee bit lighter than some Sicilian reds. I could also enjoy it with some of the Gruner Veltliner whites I tried last week, especially some of the Smaragds from Wachau. There, I got that in.

But if you could have one wine, only one, what would it be? Operators are standing by.

In the meantime, back to practicing. I can’t wait for the Sagra Cassata Siciliana, hoping to be invited to play with Beatrice again. Yeah, right.


My Cucuzza ~ by Louis Prima

My Cucuzza
Cucuzza bella
She's my pizza pie with lotsa mozzarella
With Cucuzza
I wanta be
'cause Cucuzza is so crazy over me
Cucuzza grows in Italy
They love it on the farm
It's something like zucchini
Flavoured with Italian charm
I call my girl Cucuzza
'cause she's sweet as she can be
She loves to hear me say
"Cucuzza please babotcha me"

My Cucuzza
Cucuzza bella
She's my pizza pie with lotsa mozzarella
With Cucuzza
I wanta be
'cause Cucuzza is so crazy over me

Now you can have your pasta
And your chicken cacciatore
I'd rather have Cucuzza
'cause for me it means amore
So when the moon is shining bright
On dear old Napoli
I dream of my Cucuzza
She's the only dish for me

by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy