The green pistachio of Bronte Dop, a Sicilian speciality

And’excellence in the Italian food and wine scene, the Pistacchio verde di Bronte DOP is also known as “green gold”. Produced in a small village in theSicilian hinterlandnot far from the Etna Park, this small fruit is appreciated internationally.

Cultivation and harvesting of the Bronte DOP green pistachio

Despite being exported all over the world, the Bronte PDO green pistachio is still being sold grown according to local traditions and customs. The trees grow in this area spontaneously and their own natural life cycle it is respected, as was once done, in order not to alter their balance and not to weaken them. There collectionso it happens every two years, to give the plant time to rest and strengthen. Speaking of harvesting, this is still done by hand starting from the first week of September, after the first rains. Once harvested, the fruits are spread out in the sun on large cloth sheets, where they will remain to dry for three or four days.

Curiosity

Anciently the pistachio came shelled by hand using a bird’s eye lava stone. Everything is fine moth The shelled pistachio got stuck in a hole in this stone and was hit with a hammer in such a way as to leave the fruit intact. In the postwar an army general was intrigued by this procedure whose noise reminded him of gunfire. That’s how he came up with the first one machine for mechanically shelling these fruits: it was a kind of pistachio machine gun!

The plant frastucara

In Sicilian the green pistachio of Bronte DOP is called frustula and the plant is said frustura. Surely the production area of ​​this particular variety of Pistacea true affects the organoleptic qualities of this small fruit. Pistachio trees grow in the area of ​​the Etna Park are rocky terrain covered with volcanic lava between 300 and 900 meters of altitude.

These trees, which could grow up to 10 m in height, are actually pruned by farmers to make harvesting easier. The plant, which withstands extreme climatic conditions very well, can live up to 300 years and in particular the native species from which the green pistachio of Bronte DOP is obtained can grow again even after being overwhelmed by volcanic lava.

How to recognize the green pistachio of Bronte DOP

Unfortunately, here we enter into a delicate issue, as a theme of food counterfeiting revolves around the Bronte DOP green pistachio. Very often, in fact, pistachios from other areas are actually sold under this denomination, or even those of foreign production that have nothing to do with the Made in Italy fruit.

But recognize the real green pistachio from Bronte DOP it’s quite easy if you know these of his three features peculiar. First of all you have to look at the shape: Bronte pistachios are from elongated shape and tend to be twice as long as their width. Another prerogative of the Bronte pistachio is that it is colored bright pastel green, while the skin around the fruit is purplish. Finally, it may be useful to taste it: the real PDO Bronte pistachio is flavored and sweet in a natural waywithout the addition of flavourings.