A broccoli a stone's throw from the snow-capped mountains and moreover in an area where two opposing winds arrive from the north and the south? Of course yes, when it comes to Torbole, a charming village of two thousand souls overlooking Lake Garda, a paradise for sailing sports and surfers from half of Europe, who come here to compete in international competitions. The mountain is the Baldo, a mountain massif of the Garda Prealps of 2218 m between the provinces of Trento and Verona, which imposes itself with a breathtaking view of the lake, a destination for stays and winter holidays. The winds are the Pelèr which blows from the north in the first twelve hours of the day and the Ora, so called because it arrives punctually every afternoon at the same time, which blows vehemently throughout the afternoon.
However, these are thermal winds, ie linked to the heating of the earth and water. Warm winds that mitigate the winter rigors of this postcard village. And here, between the mountains and the lake, Torbole broccoli is grown, called, for the reasons just mentioned, "son of the wind". Protected from winter frosts this vegetable it can grow easily in the colder months. It has a very limited production area, between the banks of the Sarca river (in the locality of Linfano) and Torbole sul Garda, and is produced in limited quantities exclusively by 5 local producers, who harvest it in the short period ranging from November to the end of February.
Due to its characteristics, Torbole broccoli has rightfully become part of the Slow Food Presidia. In recent years, even a Torbole broccoli committee was born, which includes citizens, producers and local restaurateurs: a first step towards the valorisation of this humble vegetable with excellent organoleptic characteristics, protagonist of the Mediterranean diet.
Luca Rigatti, owner of a mainly organic wine and olive-growing company that produces organic Torbole broccoli in the winter months, recalls that with the help of Slow Food, the vegetable has become very popular among consumers: “From about 20/30.000 seedlings that were planted about 20 years ago, we have reached 120/130.000 today. The production disciplinary indicates a specific area where it must be planted. The seeds are handed down from father to son and every year they are obtained from broccoli planted the year before. The seeds are sown in June and then when the seedlings have about 2/3 leaves, at the end of July and first of August, they are transplanted into the field. The harvest begins in early November and lasts until February"
Broccoli has therefore entered the local gastronomic offer and is interpreted in various recipes, traditional or innovative: it is eaten boiled or raw, in chunks, as an accompaniment to carne salada, or lake fish preserved in salt, or as a condiment for pasta; dumplings and soups are made with the leaves. An excellent opportunity to taste it is the annual promotional event that takes place in Torbole in mid-December. The Torbole Broccoli Festival, organized by the Broccoli Committee of Torbole, Alpini di Torbole, the Galeeando Association and the Sbigolada Committee of Torbole and with the sponsorship of the municipality of Nago-Torbole, includes a series of food stands offering local specialties such as orzotto al broccoli served with toasted bread , the broccoli leaf pâté and the apple and ginger broccoli tart.
Within the variegated cabbage-broccoli family, Torbole broccoli (brassica oleracea var. botrytis) constitutes an ecotype in itself as over time it has lost some common characteristics and has acquired new ones, improving and refining its flavour. It has a yellowish, ball-like corymb inflorescence. If left to grow, the plant, which grows to a height of almost one meter, is filled with yellow flowers. The seeds, of a dark red colour, are cultivated towards the end of June and protected from excessive insolation with frequently wet mats. The seedlings are ready for transplanting after a month, when they have 5 or 6 leaves, and their planting out in the open field is still done manually.
Broccoli grows rapidly and without special care, other than being watered regularly in the first weeks after transplanting. The brocola is small, on average 4 ounces, but it must be considered that even the innermost leaves are edible. Farmers use manure for fertilization and collect just 100 thousand specimens every year. The seed is handed down in the families of the gardeners: everyone has always cultivated this broccoli which is now also being studied by the technicians of the Agricultural Institute of San Michele all'Adige. Like all broccoli, it is a vegetable particularly rich in priceless mineral salts such as calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, vitamins and has an antioxidant function.
«It is a unique product of its kind - underlines the deputy mayor of Nago-Torbole Luigi Masato - which arrived in the mid-eighteenth century from the Veronese, it has always been present on the tables of the Torbolani but in a fluctuating way. Even though I know the advantages of an ally like the wind, I have often wondered what the secret of such a characteristic product was. Thanks to the administration, we turned to the University of Trento which collaborated with the Mach Foundation.
«We tried to understand what the nutritional and sensory characteristics of Torbole broccoli were - explains Fulvio Mattivi, professor at the Agriculture Food Environment Center - and among the most cultivated vegetables it is the richest in glucosinolates, stable compounds synthesized by the plant which, thanks to an enzyme, they produce anticancer principles». «Steam cooking is the most appropriate - adds Mattivi - to preserve the nutritional characteristics (almost 98% compared to immersion cooking which leaves 45%). The ideal is 10 minutes for the flower, 5 for the leaves. If you let it thaw, you get a spicy aroma. The advice is frequent consumption in small doses. Torbole broccoli has a high content of glucosinolates, maximum in early harvests, higher than Romanesco, all cauliflowers, cabbage and savoy cabbage”.
In addition to what was stated by Prof. Mattivi, it should be remembered, among other things, that an international research made known by the Mario Negri Instituteperformed on a large set of data, found the positive effect of the family of cruciferous to which broccoli belongs together with cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and turnips against various types of common cancer. The beneficial effect of cruciferous vegetables is believed to be due to their high content of various antioxidant substances and vitamins, including carotenoids, polyphenols, vitamin C and folate. Furthermore, they contain high doses of glucosinolates, whose main degradation products (indoles and isothiocyanates) have anticancer properties, in particular on tumors of the digestive tract, liver, lung and breast.
Entry into the Slow Food Presidium that it organizes guided visits to the harvest fields of Torbole has achieved the aim of drawing attention to this tasty resource of the territory and thus avoiding the further loss of good land for cultivation: the suitable agricultural areas - underlines Slow Food - unfortunately, are undermined by urbanization that spreads in one of the most pleasant corners of Trentino.
