On the slopes of Etna – about 900 meters above sea level – stands Bronte, a small town famous throughout the world for its pistachio. Also called “green gold”, the Bronte pistachio is a variety of pistachio with Protected Designation of Origin (DOP in Italian), as well as a Slow Food presidium. Cultivation and production represent an important source of income for the small Sicilian town in the province of Catania, so much so that – at least so they say – every family owns at least one plot of land used to cultivate pistachio. In fact, throughout the town, there are more than 3,000 hectares of land cultivated with pistachio.
The Bronte pistachio harvest is biennial and is done in odd years, between the end of August and the beginning of September. Each pistachio plant produces from 5 to 15 kg of “tignosella” (the peeled and dried fruit), with maximum peaks of 20-30 kg for the older plants. In even years of non-harvesting, the so-called “pruning” is carried out by removing the growing buds by hand, a tradition that is lost in the mists of time, probably dating back to the Arab domination of Sicily and testimony to a peasant culture according to which, thanks to a year of rest, the plant absorbs from the lava soil the substances necessary to obtain a richer, more colorful and tastier fruit for the following year’s harvest.
It may be due to the land, it may be due to the volcanic air or the favorable temperature, but certainly the Bronte pistachio cultivation, unlike products of American or Asian origin, mostly with yellow seeds, produces truly valuable fruits. The green pistachio from Bronte is sweet, delicate and aromatic. And above all, it is unique in the world, and for this reason it is highly appreciated and requested in both European and global markets.
In Italy, it is highly appreciated for the originality of its taste and its adaptability in cooking and pastry making, where it is used above all to prepare cakes, pastries, nougats, mousses, confetti, gelatos and granitas, but it is also delicious in first and second courses dishes. But the green gold of Bronte is also so appreciated because it manages to maintain its unique flavor for a rather long period, especially if stored in a cool, dry place.
To discover the green pistachio of Bronte more closely and see the processing phases, we visited Bacco, a company founded in 2006 that has quickly become a point of reference for the production of pistachio-based products: cream, pesto, crunchy and even chocolate. We had the opportunity to see the pistachio groves up close, climbing (in the true sense of the word) on the lava stones in which the trees are planted. Pure mountain air and a lot of passion from the people who grow it. Here’s the real secret ingredient of Bronte pistachios! Thanks to the company that hosted us, we saw some stages of processing of pesto and preserves, and we also discovered that one of the flagship products is… panettone! During the Christmas period, the company reaches a production of pistachio panettone that is the envy of more famous companies. Well, summer has just ended, but here we are already looking forward to Christmas.
