Talk about Taranto and the first thing that comes to mind are the bad news pages on its environmental problems, on the damage caused by atmospheric pollution, on the serious repercussions on human health of a city scourged by a bad industry which with its emissions has sown mourning and tumors affecting even innocent children.
Ma Taranto it also contains many pages of good entrepreneurial-industrial stories, and among these a prominent place is recognized for the history of its mussel farming, an ancient history that dates back to Roman times due to the unique environmental conditions that have allowed it to develop a thriving mussel farming business over the centuries, not surprisingly defined the "Gold of Taranto". And the people of Taranto have always filled their tables with this gold. They love them raw, in the form of pepper cooked only with oil, garlic, pepper, in the form of soups, in pasta combined with tubettini or spaghetti or even tubettini with beans and mussels or in the unsurpassed Tiella with rice and onion
Now the Taranto black mussel has become a Slow Food Presidium a recognition that even goes beyond the intrinsic qualities of the product, which challenges the prejudices that have afflicted the Apulian city for years, primarily for environmental reasons, and symbolizes the rebirth of a community which has the origins of its history in mussel farming.
Over thirty underground springs from the Murge guarantee an extraordinary sweetness
Over twenty mussel farmers from the Apulian city are participating in the project which provides for the breeding of the Taranto black mussel according to a disciplinary that not only guarantees the traceability and product quality, but also respect for the marine ecosystem in an area that has long been at the center of the environmental debate
Taranto Gold has its own mine and is the Mar Piccolo: “an internal body of water – explains Luciano Carriero, contact person for the Presidium producers – which is a very special ecosystem, characterized by presence of 34 underground springs of fresh water from the Murge that flow into it It is precisely to the constant supply of fresh water that we owe the extraordinary sweetness of the black mussels of Taranto: in fact, these sources, as well as perfect thermoregulation, ensure control of the salinity of the water».
The benefits are reciprocal: if the mussels have found here the ideal habitat to develop, they themselves act as a "filter" of the water: «If the mussels disappeared from the Mar Piccolo today, the ecosystem would change radically - he explains Marcus Dadam, director of the Palude Vela regional nature reserve of Taranto and member of theAdvisory Board di Slow Fish, which collaborated in the development of the Presidium –. They are an important element, which helps to keep the resilience of the environment high, guaranteeing important ecosystem services such as the recycling of excess nutrients present in the water column".
The challenge of 20 farmers in an extraordinary oasis: all against old stories of environmental pollution
That's why, for Carriero, recognition as Slow Food Presidium it is «an opportunity to relaunch a sector that has experienced a period of crisis for unjust reasons. We work in highly controlled waters – he continues – but unfortunately Taranto is only mentioned for environmental pollution. This image has penalized us, even though we are working in an extraordinary natural oasis».
A Taranto mussel farming is a very serious and very ancient matter: the first documents that refer to black mussels date back to 1525, and already in the 16th century the rulers of Taranto wrote precise rules to avoid the overexploitation of the coastal lagoons.
"Of these clams – explains Bisignano – there are testimonies in the works of the ancient classics, from Horace to Virgil, and more than ever in the Magna Graecia period, when fishing and simple farming took on industrial importance. In particular, from the glands of the Murici, Murex trunculus and Murex brandaris (in the local vernacular Cueccel villan and Cueccel gentil), the purple was obtained to dye the clothes of the Roman emperors, through a real chemical extraction industry located in the area where today there is the military arsenal, whose terraces on the small sea were created by depositing tons of waste shells from the processing of the same murex. A prime example of circular economy".
“The best, cleanest and fairest aspect of Taranto – commented Carlo Petrini – is therefore represented by the 21 mussel farmers who have already decided to believe in the Slow Food Presidium, drawing up a strict production specification. Among these many young people who, breathing in that historical Taranto vocation linked to the sea, face working life strong in sound principles. In full respect of the environment, in fact, the specification imposes the use of exclusively biodegradable and compostable nets and nets, both for cultivation and for marketing. But compliance with particular standards is also required which guarantee the maximum quality and traceability of their mussels.
Un food product it can therefore be a symbol of great hope for entire communities. And at the same time it is able to characterize a new social context that enhances those virtuous examples that interact with the territory and the ecosystems in which each of us is constantly immersed with passion and care.
