From the Apulian barrattiere to the capa di morto to the mulberries, the Campagna Amica Seals have risen to a record number of 1650, the specialties of biodiversity made in Italy at the table saved from extinction thanks to the work of farmers, included in the new 2024 census, curated by the Biodiversity Observatory established by the scientific committee of Campagna Amica.
A heritage of the Italian peasant tradition whose return to the table was made possible by the commitment of the 750 “custodian” farmers registered by the Campagna Amica/Terranostra network, of which over half (56%) are young people under 40, and 15% are very young people under 30. A quarter are certified organic, while almost half are located in partially or totally mountainous municipalities.
Among the new specialties entered in the census is the barattiere, a typical vegetable from Puglia, whose peculiarity is to have the consistency of a melon but the typical flavor of fresh cucumber. It has a round shape and a green skin, which encloses a crunchy, watery, greenish pulp inside, which turns pink when it reaches maturity.
“The defense of biodiversity is the true added value of agricultural production made in Italy, with an important impact also on the national economy, starting from tourism – declared the director of Fondazione Campagna Amica Carmelo Troccoli -. Investing in distinctiveness is a necessary condition for agricultural companies to stand out in terms of quality of production and thus face the globalized market by safeguarding, defending and creating local economic systems around the value of food”.
“A scenario that demonstrates the centrality of the Made in Italy holiday of the national food and wine heritage that is spread throughout the territory and on whose valorization many of the opportunities for economic and employment development depend – specifies Coldiretti –. Food is therefore the most important item in the summer holiday budget so much so that for many tourists it has become the main motivation for the trip with the boom in food and wine tourism also thanks to the numerous valorization initiatives, from festivals to wine routes”.
Among the seals of biodiversity in Puglia, there is the azzaruolo, a small fruit that is very good and tasty but little known, it is called “lazzeruolo”, azzarruolo, azzaruolo, to the capa di morte, known as chepe de murte” or “Grucciolo”, this kohlrabi characterized by the lower part that resembles a large turnip, from the mugnolo, considered the poor cabbage of the farmers, progenitor of the broccoli, today in danger of disappearing, to the sporzia, a parasitic plant of the broad beans, as it feeds on the chlorophyll of the latter, sweet with a slightly bitter aftertaste and the farmers transformed it into a delicious food after having rediscovered it, up to the sponzale, belonging to the same family as onions, they are small bulbs with an edible green stem and to the cardoncelli, a wild vegetable with a slightly sweetish taste.
Behind every product there is a story, a culture and a tradition that has remained alive over time and best expresses the reality of each territory, concludes Coldiretti Puglia in underlining the need to defend this heritage of Made in Italy from trivialization and from the push for standardization and flattening downwards because good food together with tourism and culture represent the strategic levers determining a unique production model that has won by focusing on the values of identity, biodiversity and the bond with the territories.
