Fruit, vegetables and pulses

Vesuvius apricots (crisommole)

Vesuvius apricots (crisommole): twenty-three varieties born on the volcano

On the slopes of Vesuvius, generations of growers picked out their own apricots tree by tree, calling them crisommole and giving the varieties names like boccuccia, pellecchiella and vitillo. They grow in small orchards on sandy volcanic soil among other fruit trees and vegetables, and are picked by hand in June and July. A Slow Food Presidium and a Campanian PAT.

• Very sweet but fragile fruit, too perishable for big wholesale markets
• Yellowish flesh that is crisp, juicy and rich in sugar
• Each variety has its own character: boccuccia lightly sweet-sour, pellecchiella intensely fragrant

How to enjoy it. Eat them as they are, freshly picked and properly ripe. Vesuvian tradition also turns them into jams, sweets and apricots in syrup, a job for the large, round vitillo.

Production areas

Campania

Season

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