Carciofo Violetto di San Luca
San Luca Violet Artichoke
In the first half of the last century this was one of the main crops of the hills south of Bologna. Violet artichokes are common enough in Romagna, but the clay of the Bolognese hills gives this one a fresh green taste with liquorice root behind it, and the older growers remember it being known and wanted across the region, a matter of both income and pride. It went with the emptying of the countryside in the 1970s; the farms that carried the best fields are now houses with ornamental gardens.
Designation
- Certification
- Slow Food Presidium
- Category
- Fruit, vegetables and cereals, fresh or processed
Where it is made
the hills south of Bologna
How it is made
The cycle runs September to the following July. The plant wants clay that drains, kept loose and aerated, careful watering and none too much of it in spring, no chemical weedkillers, and feeding twice, in summer and spring. The prized heads are the first and second.