Meats and cured meats

Ventricina di Montenero di Bisaccia (Molise cured pork)

Ventricina di Montenero di Bisaccia: lean leg, sweet paprika, eighteen months of patience

Montenero di Bisaccia makes Molise's most renowned ventricina, from pigs raised in the village on cereals and dried pulses. Lean leg meat and hard fat, seasoned with fennel flowers, sweet paprika and salt, are packed into a pig's bladder and aged for about a year and a half. It is listed as a traditional agri-food product (PAT) of Molise.

• Only lean leg meat in chunks, set against pieces of firm, hard fat
• Fennel flowers and sweet paprika on the nose, with a hot version that adds chilli
• Sealed under melted lard at the end of ageing, which carries it through the summer heat

How to enjoy it. Enjoy it freshly sliced, just as it is. In Molise it also goes into the sauce for cavatelli, a plain fresh pasta of egg, flour and water known locally as cuzzutill.

Production areas

Molise

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