Cooking Italian food requires two things:  great ingredients and a little patience. 

For the home chef, there's no shortage of products that evoke the Italian coast, but are often filled with sweeteners and sugar. You can now add that bottle of Marsala on the shelf to the list. Real Marsala, is a Sicilian wine that contains zero corn syrup.  Rustic and flavorful, it's served with dessert or as an aperitif to the meal. 

Marsala wine is a fortified wine produced in the region surrounding the Italian city of Marsala in Sicily. It received Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) status in 1969, and the European Union grants Protected designation of origin (PDO) status to Marsala. Most other countries limit the use of the term Marsala to products from the Marsala area.

What makes Marsala wine special is its unique taste derived from using only Sicilian indigenous grapes and a complex winemaking process. It is crafted from a mix of grapes like Catarratto, Grillo, and Inzolia. The growing conditions and harvest vary depending on the type of grape.

Marsala is produced using white grape varietals, namely Grillo, Inzolia, Catarratto, and Damaschino, among others. The ruby colour of Ruby Marsalas is obtained from red grape varieties like Pignatello.

Marsala wine is commonly used in Italian cuisine to add flavour to dishes such as chicken marsala, pork chops with mushroom marsala sauce, and risotto. Its cooked grape must, or 'Mosto Cotto', gives Marsala its colour and caramel flavour. Moreover, sweet Marsala wine is used to produce rich Italian desserts such as zabaione and shortcake.