The carob tree has enormous potential. It is the emblem of a territory. Which can aspire to an epilogue other than the economic one, with a series of targeted actions. The inclusion of its supply chain in a project with specific purposes can encourage the development of innovative systems. These are the key themes that emerged during the conference promoted as part of the “Go Carrubo – In syde car” project held last night at the headquarters of the Order of Agronomists and Forestry Doctors of Ragusa. The project, financed by the Psr Sicilia 2014/2022 pursuant to Submeasure 16.1 called “Support for the establishment and management of the operational groups of the PEI in the field of productivity and sustainability of agriculture”, aimed to focus attention on the development of adequate cultivation plans to improve yields and productivity, on the improvement of fruit processing techniques obtaining a flour that meets the demands of the food industry and on the identification of suitable ways of using flour in the preparation of foods.
After greetings from the mayor of Ragusa Giuseppe Cassì; of the director of the Agriculture Inspectorate of Ragusa, Giorgio Carpenzano; and Giuseppe Iacono, vice-president of the Order of agronomists and forestry doctors of Ragusa, representing the president Giuseppe Dipietro, the speakers went into detail about the project phases carried out. The freelance agronomist Giuseppe Cicero highlighted that the characteristics of rusticity and ease of agronomic management make this plant adaptable to all soil and climate conditions of the national territory, highlighting that belonging to the large legume family, as well as its biological characteristics , give it the great merit of being useful for improving soils. The agronomist Gaetano Alessandro Guarino, consultant ProSea Srl, partner of the Go Carrubo operating group, addressed the salient points of the project, clarifying that the partners were typical agricultural companies in the Ragusa and Modica area in which the cultivation of carob trees does not represent the main activity and that the identification of the plants was done with signs and identification codes.
The agronomist and agricultural entrepreneur Giovanni Maltese, partner of the Go Carrubo operational group, spoke about the “Field trials” clarifying that “the carob tree is a plant that represents the territory and that a specific purpose has been included in this project in response not only to the needs of the territory, but also and above all to those of farmers”. The agronomist Leandro Nigro, Sata Srl consultant, focused his attention on the “Adoption of control and certification procedures”, illustrating the steps for the drafting and adoption of the production specifications, with the evaluation of the nutritional analyzes carried out during design and obtaining product certification. The first agronomist researcher Antonio Giovino, scientific director of Crea headquarters in Palermo, spoke on the “Genetic and morphological characterization of Sicilian carob accessions (Ceratonia siliqua L.)”, specifying that in this work 19 accessions were morphologically and genetically analyzed and that overall, 13 quantitative characters relating to leaf, legume and seed were considered. “To investigate genetic diversity – he said – 9 fluorescently labeled Ssr primers were used, indicated as polymorphic in the literature”.
Finally, the food technologist Luigi Gurrieri, consultant Pro.Se.A. Srl, partner of the Go Carrubo operating group, intervened by clarifying the “Transformation and tasting tests” carried out, focusing, for example, on the uses of carob syrup which we find as a sweetener, as a base (ice creams, granitas, jellies, etc. ) and with other ingredients (spreads, desserts, jams and more). The project leader is Sicilian carob flour srl, responsible for transformation tests, assisted by 13 other partners representing the project supply chain. Which has among its objectives the transformation of production into flour, the control and certification of the process, the drafting of production regulations and the development of techniques to improve the use of carob flours.
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