Buckwheat returns to Valnerina, a gluten-free food, also suitable for those suffering from diabetes and cholesterol, thanks to a project by the University of Florence and the Umbria Region carried out by Daniele Giovannoli, of the Tamorri Vera farm in Cascia. Giovannoli was asked to experiment with the seeds of this precious and almost unknown food, once widely cultivated in the central Apennines and which suffered an inexorable abandonment in the first decades of the twentieth century, due to the difficulties in the production processes, the satisfactory and massive imports from abroad.
«Of all the producers involved in the project, only I continued to try, year after year, until I found the right timing for its cultivation at these altitudes. We are, in fact, above 600 meters and the buckwheat suffers from the cold but needs rain. This year, to be honest, we had more difficulties up here due to the drought than the Coronavirus, because the land is really dry» says Daniele, 39, an organic farm like those of the past with 50 sheep and 22 cows, bees and hens and then the fields of spelled, lentils, chickpeas, cicerchia, barley and wheat.
Used partly for animal feed and partly sold in grains for soups, risottos and salads, or transformed into flour for biscuits, bread, pizzas and pasta, buckwheat is rich in mineral salts, in particular iron, zinc and selenium and antioxidants is gluten-free and therefore provides an important contribution to the diet of celiacs. «What is on the market, consumed above all in the northern regions, even has - says Giovannoli - a price lower than our production cost. For example, we do natural drying, without machinery, and it takes time and energy. It is difficult to enter a market by offering a product with a higher price if its characteristics have not yet been valued. With the Slow Food Presidium we want to raise awareness of the product and its quality and therefore expand sales opportunities which are now limited to certain buying groups and private individuals».
The history of this Presidium began after the 2016 earthquake when Slow Food took action to support the area and enhance its varieties, including Valnerina buckwheat. The Presidium is supported by Davines – the sustainable cosmetics company in Parma that makes professional hair products favoring ingredients of natural origin – which also uses their waste and the non-edible part for its creations. Davines' commitment to the Slow Food Presidia does not stop at Umbrian buckwheat, but concerns a total of 12 Italian products at risk of extinction used in the cosmetics of the Essential Haircare line (find out the history of the Slow Food Presidia supported by Davines here through the story of who produces them).
The name of buckwheat evokes distant origins (its domestication area has been identified in the mountains of southern China) and an affinity with grasses. In reality, the grain is similar to that of cereals, but the botanical family is different (Polygonaceae).
It is moderately resistant to cold, but needs a regular supply of water: for this reason it has spread throughout the Alps and in the Apennine areas of central Italy. The plant has a short crop cycle (about 120 days), which allows for rotations with other products (winter legumes and cereals) and does not require fertilization or chemical treatments.
It blooms at the end of May and a very special honey is obtained from the foraging of its white and pink flowers. The harvest takes place from the end of August to September. In many cases, buckwheat is still hand-scythed and collected in sheaves which remain in the field for 15-20 days, so that it can fully ripen.
In Valnerina the presence of buckwheat has already been attested since the Middle Ages and in some writings of the time it is also mentioned as a medicinal plant. Its health properties range from the low lipid content to the high biological value of the proteins, even higher than legumes, to the absence of gluten. Buckwheat contains a glucoside called rutin, a phytochemical compound that tones the walls of capillaries reducing the risk of bleeding in people with hypertension and improving microcirculation in people with chronic venous insufficiency.[17] Dried buckwheat leaves to be used for infusion are marketed in Europe under the brand name “Fagorutin.”
A characteristic recipe of the area is the buckwheat and lentil soup, another typical local product: after having boiled the lentils together with the herbs, the grains of buckwheat are cooked directly in the cooking broth, the lentils are added at the end of cooking and seasoned with raw extra virgin olive oil.
Fagopyrum esculentum, this is the scientific name of buckwheat, due to its nutritional characteristics and food use, has always been commercially placed among cereals, even though it does not belong to the Graminaceous family. Its arrival in Europe is dated in the late Middle Ages on the coasts of the Black Sea. From there it then spread to Mecklenburg and the Eifel (Germany) where it is documented in the fifteenth century with the name of Heenisch, i.e. today's Heidenkorn, i.e. say “grain of the pagans”. In the 1621th century it arrived in Switzerland where it is known by the name of Heyden or Heidenkorn, while in the mid-XNUMXth century the plant is documented for the first time in Italy in a deed relating to the properties of the Besta family of Teglio in Valtellina with the name of formentone. The plant was later introduced into the Duchy of Modena in XNUMX by the merchant of Jewish origin Donato Donati. More recently, some researchers have pointed to the eastern Himalayas as a probable primary domestication centre.
