Scouting new foods on a recent trip to Italy, Brad Hedeman of Zingerman's Mail Order returned with a suitcase full of new flavors for Zingerman's Culinary Adventure Society. Named the Best Food Club in the U. S. by the Food Network, the Culinary Adventure Society offers a year of food surprises (shipped in quarterly installments) that are rarely available outside their home region. The Italian journey yielded a surprising number of finds, even from a country renowned for its cuisine, and will be featured in the installment slated to ship on Dec. 17.

"The prune and star anise jam from the town of Faenza is incredibly complex," Hedeman reports. "In Sicily, I found a wild fennel pesto unlike any I've tried before." Traveling more than 4,000 miles, Hedeman crisscrossed Italy meeting artisan producers, including a panettone producer in Umbria, traditional taralli makers in Puglia and an "antique" chocolate producer in Sicily. Other finds for the December shipment include balilla rice from northern Italy, buckwheat pasta from the Marché region, a spicy grape preserve from the Piedmont region, and a licorice and mint chocolate bar from Calabria.

The American appetite for new foods from Italy appears to be as strong as ever. One of the trip's discoveries, Roasted Fig Balls from Calabria, was introduced on Zingerman's eNews in October, and all 250 in inventory were sold in 10 days.

Hedeman is currently hunting down products for the March installment of the Culinary Adventure Society. A limited number of memberships are available due to the low production volume of the artisanal food makers that are featured in the club. Customers can sign up for one-, two- or four-month memberships at any time during the year. The food comes with extensive tasting notes and histories of each product, as well as a signed copy of "Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating" by Zingerman's founder Ari Weinzweig.