Fruit, vegetables and pulses

Longobardi violet aubergine

Longobardi violet aubergine: a club-shaped purple fruit from the Cosenza coast

It grows only in Longobardi, a hill village above the Tyrrhenian coast of Cosenza province, where locals call it milingiana violetta. Small growers and seed keepers have brought it back into the vegetable plots after years of decline, and it is now a Slow Food Presidium. Picking is done by hand, in successive passes from late June into early November.

• Smooth, glossy skin in deep purple that pales to white by the stem
• Firm, greenish-white flesh, dry rather than spongy, with very few seeds
• A long club shape, from plants up to 1.5 metres tall trained on stakes

How to enjoy it. It has many uses, but the village dish is milingiana sutt'uagliu: slices are salted, pressed, steeped in vinegar and jarred under extra virgin olive oil with oregano and chilli.

Production areas

Calabria

Season

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