The inevitable ingredient of Italian cuisine, ready to immerse itself in extra virgin olive oil and create the perfect base for a healthy and tasty dish, becomes the protagonist of the green revolution. We are talking about garlic, an excellent ally in the kitchen and for our health, thanks to its many virtues. Rosa Ferro and her husband Alfonso Esposito, owners of the farm “Il dono dell'erba” have created iThe first sheet of paper made from garlic waste. A refined and completely eco-sustainable idea that allowed him to win the Coldiretti Green Oscar for Campania in the 5.Terra category.
The farm "The gift of weed” is a young agricultural reality based in Ottati, in the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park. Born from the intuition of Rosa Ferro and her husband, both open to experimenting with eco-sustainable techniques but always with an eye to tradition. Graduated in Environmental Sciences, Rosa Ferro left the city and the office to devote herself entirely to her first great passion: agriculture.
In this young and fresh agricultural reality there is a vegetable garden, emmer, myrtle and dog rose berries, potatoes and broad beans. But it was the white of the garlic tunic that caught the attention of the young entrepreneur: "When you plant you have to start from the bulb, the first step is to open the garlic, consequently the root and the tunic remain, which immediately become waste . Day after day shelling the whole garlic gave me an intuition, based on an idea eco friendly, which refers to the principles of the circular economy, to a model of production and consumption capable of reducing waste, which reuses and recycles materials and products, generating further value”, declared Rosa Ferro.
An ancient variety of garlic was planted in these lands with scarce water resources and, with each processing, a large quantity of organic waste is produced, which is made up not only of the garlic tunic but also of its root. So he began to experiment, using water, a tunic of garlic and corn starch. The tunic and the roots are left to macerate in water, then minced and poured into a sieve together with the starch, until a compact pulp is obtained which can be worked. He experimented with this technique for months, to obtain a sheet that retained its roughness, craftsmanship, all with a low environmental impact.
Therefore, the 0 km paper is made in the autumn period, when the company sows the garlic and it is possible to collect the waste, that is the tunic that covers the clove and the root of the bulb. Every year, based on the quantity, paper and objects are produced, still in limited series.
Without chemical components and without waste. The result? An elegant paper for writing or drawing, but also a design object: it has imperfections that distinguish it and at the same time enhance it. During processing it is possible to add natural dyes that the tunic absorbs. Rosa Ferro is the example of Italian ingenuity: that of restarting for a greener future and zero waste.
