Fagiolo Zolfino del Pratomagno
Zolfino Bean
Small, round, sulphur-yellow with a pale eye. It is also called Fagiolo del Cento, for the hundredth day of the year on which it was sown, or Burrino for the way it eats. Beans reached Tuscany, so the story goes, by way of Charles V, who gave them to Clement VII; alongside the common Cannellini and Toscanelli the hills still grow rarer sorts, of which the Zolfino is the best.
Designation
- Certification
- Slow Food Presidium
- Category
- Fruit, vegetables and cereals, fresh or processed
Where it is made
between the Arno and the Pratomagno, Arezzo province
How it is made
Grown between 250 and 300 metres, sometimes as high as 600. It wants poor ground and will not take the lowlands, its roots being too shallow to bear any waterlogging, so it is sown in April, often on terraces under the olives where water drains away through the drystone walls. Thin-skinned but able to stand three or four hours of cooking, it turns dense and buttery; the old way is to cook it overnight in a flask or earthenware pot left in the bread oven. Harvest runs from late July into early August.