So here you are in Italy. You’ve been practicing your vocabulary, and you feel ready to go out and test your skills by doing a bit of shopping.
Well, let’s take it nice and easy and begin with il supermercato (the supermarket), that shouldn’t be too difficult because you can just get what you want off the shelves without having to ask too many questions, right?
O.K. let’s see what’s at the top of la lista della spesa (the shopping list). Latte (milk), good, nice and easy. Now, where on earth have they hidden it?
Ten minutes later: Accidenti! (damn!), am I going to have to ask someone already?, I’d better work out what I need to say…… ‘scusi, dove si trova il latte per favore? (excuse me, where is the milk please) ……. hmmm yes that sound about right, coraggio (be brave) let’s give it a go. You ask an old man who is filling his carrello (trolley) with olio di oliva (olive oil) that is ‘in offerta’ (on offer) this week. ‘Eccolo qua signora / signore’ (here it is madam / sir) he answers.
On the scaffale (shelves) in front of you is a veritable cornucopia of packs and bottles: white bottles with bright yellow labels, green and white cartons, and even blue bottles with red and white labels that look like they should contain candeggina (bleach)! Yes, now that you look more carefully, some of them actually have the word latte written on them. But where to begin?
Well luckily you’ve brought Serena’s handy ‘Guida al Latte’ (Milk Guide) with you.
| Tipi di Latte più Comuni |
Most Common Types of Milk |
| Latte Intero – minimo 3,5% di grasso |
Full Fat Milk – minimum 3.5% fat |
| Latte Parzialmente Scremato – tra 1,5 e 1,8% di grasso |
Semi Skimmed Milk – between 1.5 and 1.8% fat |
| Latte Scremato – meno di 0,5% di grasso |
Skimmed Milk – less than 0.5% fat |
Each of the above can be:
| Latte Fresco pastorizzato |
Fresh Pasteurized Milk |
| Latte Uht, anche detto ‘Latte a Lunga Conservazione’ – dura intorno ai tre mese. |
UHT milk (pronounced ‘oo akka tee’ in Italian), also known as ‘Long Life Milk’ – keeps for about three months |
| Latte Microfiltrato – dura intorno alle tre settimane se mantenuto freddo |
Micro Filtered Milk – keeps for about three weeks if kept cold |
All of the above are usually Latte di Mucca (Cows Milk), however, you will occasionally be able to buy Latte di Capra (Goats Milk). Alternative milks such as Latte di Riso (Rice Milk) and Latte di Soya (Soya Milk) are available for vegans, or others who for whatever reason cannot digest normal milk.
Comments:
James DeAngio:
How do they keep milk on the shelf without refrigeration?
Serena:
@James DeAngio Scaffali refrigerati!
Saluti da Serena
Fatoom:
Grazie!
that was so useful.. i have tried few of them since i arrived and it took me a while to understand
i prefer ” il Scremato”
🙂