Fruit, vegetables and pulses

Smooth chickpeas of Cassano delle Murge

Smooth chickpeas of Cassano delle Murge, brick red to almost black

Thin, smooth skins, round seeds and a colour that shifts from one chickpea to the next: this is the landrace that farmers in Cassano delle Murge and nearby towns have resown every year for generations. It grows unirrigated on the limestone soils of the Alta Murgia, and since 2007 Slow Food Presidium growers have brought it back.

• A fine, smooth skin and a roundish, medium-to-large seed
• A single handful runs from brick red to a brown so dark it is nearly black
• Sown by hand, beaten with wooden sticks and winnowed in the wind, with no chemical weedkillers

How to enjoy it. Soak for forty-eight hours and cook for about two in salted water; then sauté them with bay leaf and pork rind, or with chilli and fried onion. They can also be blended into a purée.

Production areas

Apulia

Season

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