The Mountain Potato of Nebrodi is a Slow Food

Sicily boasts a new garrison Slow Food, it is the Potato of the Nebrodi Mountains cultivated in Floresta, Ucria and Raccuja municipalities of the province of Messina! Slow Food, a famous non-profit association committed for years to give value to food, has assigned the garrison to the Nebrodi potato in order to safeguard and promote this product and its cultivation territory. With this recognition, the territory of Nebrodi, rises to six presidia considering the real pasta of Tortorici, the beans of Carrazzo, the provola, the small olive and the black pig!

The potatoes of Nebrodi protected by the new Presidio are three: one is yellow with pink skin, another is yellow with yellow skin, the third is completely white. These are three local varieties, which the farmers of Nebrodi cultivate from generation to generation since the nineteenth century. The first written testimony on these varieties dates back to 1914, and is found in an extract of the Sicilian yearbook "la trinagria".

Mountain potatoes are grown in limited areas within the Nebrodi Natural Park, at altitudes ranging from 700 to 1300 meters above sea level, sowing takes place in May and harvesting in late summer in September. The twelve local producers who adhere to the garrison explain that these potatoes until about thirty years ago were widespread, while in recent years they have been preserved mainly in family gardens and small farms.

"The recognition obtained by the mountain potatoes of Nebrodi gives the right emphasis to a product that is a real garrison for a land suffering depopulation" says Giuseppe Mormino, Slow Food Representative of the Presidium and member of the Slow Food Terra Madre Nebrodi Community.

The potato with the pink skin, with cooking remains intact and therefore lends itself to being fried, baked and in a pan. The potato yellow peel has a taste being softer, it is ideal for enriching soups, soups and omelettes. The biancone is little compact, less suitable for a long storage and also used for soups and soups.