Fruit, vegetables and pulses

Pietrelcina artichoke

Pietrelcina artichoke, a Slow Food Presidium: rain-fed, tender, bunched with river rushes

Brought to Pietrelcina, in the hills near Benevento, around 1840, this artichoke grows without irrigation on small plots worked entirely by hand. Before harvest the young heads are tucked under the plant's own leaves, which makes them tender and fleshy. It is a Slow Food Presidium and a traditional agri-food product (PAT) of Campania.

• Green bracts brushed with violet, a colour the leaf covering makes deeper
• The central head, called mammarella, measures some 10-15 cm across
• Sold in bunches of four or eight, tied with rushes gathered on the banks of the Tammaro

How to enjoy it. In the village it is above all stuffed with a filling of bread, potatoes, chicory, meat, eggs and pecorino; its tenderness also suits pasta sauces and flans. The season is short: April and May.

Production areas

Campania

Season

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