The memory of each journey is always linked to some particular taste and smell ….
Let the scent of the chestnuts and the delicate flavour of the Amiatino oil conquer you…
The typical products of the village of Arcidosso
In this wonderful small village that rises at the foot of the imposing Monte Amiata the territory is mostly covered with forests of beeches, olive-groves and of chestnut groves, which play an important role in the economy and in the gastronomy of the country:
Oil :
Every year the olive picking goes from November up to February, and indeed it represents a very busy time for the medium-small farms of the territory. Olives are hand-picked, collected in pierced boxes for aeration and good preservation and taken to the press within seventy-two hours; pressing must take place in the zone of cultivation within twenty-four hours after the olives’arrival at the press. For the exploitation of its valorization a special Consortium working in order to get the DOP certification, was created.
Chestnut:
The harvest of the chestnuts begins in mid September. After the harvest, the best ones are chosen and sold or quickly consumed. Part of the production is also dried in special places said “seccatoi” where the chestnuts undergo the process of desiccation. After that the fruit is divided from the peel and the interior film wrapping it. The dried chestnuts (called marroni secchi) are grinded in order to produce the sweet flour: this latter has been one of the principal food of the inhabitants of the Amiata villages up to few decades ago.
There are a lot of popular festivities, events and festivals during which it is possible to taste the complete variety of these products:
You can taste the “extravergine oil” of local olive oil, even poured on bread, the typical “bruschetta” during the olive oil festivals…… you can’t miss it!!!
In the period of the chestnut festival, when the opening of the wine cellars happens, it is possible to taste the products made of chestnuts as bread, cakes and the famous chestnut beer produced in Arcidosso.
Boiled, braced, raw, glazed or dessicated, transformed into jam, milled and reduced into flour to make “polenta”, frittelle and “castagnaccio”, the chestnut has always been the base food of the population of the Amiata. Therefore Monte Amiata chestnuts have a long tradition based on an active selection among the local varieties and the spread of the techniques for its conservation and its utilisation in the gastronomic field.
The Monte Amiata chestnut is protected by the IGP label in order to spread a more deepened acquaintance of the product and the territory where it grows and in order to favour again the local productions and to defend the quality of the typical amiatino product:
“Marrone”: it is the most valuable chestnut for its taste, its colour is reddish brown; it distinguishes from the others for its shape and its raised vein.
“Bastarda Rossa”: perhaps it is the most beautiful for its shape because it has a little bulging and its reddish colour.
“Cecio”: it is like to the red chestnut in shape but it’s different in colour: it’s much darker than that one, and it is the first to fall down.
“Castagna domestica”: it is the smallest and it is red. It has a slightly lengthened form and so it was always used to make the sweet flour.
The only way to choose the best chestnut is to taste them one at a time!
So don’t miss the special dishes made with the chestnuts of Arcidosso !
