Perhaps some or some of you have already made room in your wardrobe for sweaters, jackets, some light scarves and long pants, while others and others still have not, but, whether you are prepared or not, the calendar says that autumn has unequivocally begun.
Of course, for the nostalgic of summer this and the next will be difficult weeks, during which storing umbrellas, costumes and memories of aperitifs by the sea will be more difficult than ever, but let us at least try to convince you that not all cold comes to harm.
First of all, the arrival of autumn coincides with the beginning of the harvest, one of the most anticipated and magical moments of the year for winemakers, winemakers and wine lovers. Seeing the hills swarming with men and women intent on cutting the precious bunches of grapes while the colors of nature turn towards the warm autumn hues is a priceless spectacle, literally.
And this brings us to the second point: aren't the colors of this season perhaps among the most suggestive that Mother Nature is able to exhibit? And yet the liveliness of the September festivals, the arrival in the woods and gardens of mushrooms and pumpkins, not to mention that September is the month of chestnuts and chestnuts, perhaps the real queens and kings of our local autumn. Closed in their barbed casket, these fruits cover the Romagna undergrowth and beyond, ready to be collected and brought to the table while still hot and steaming. Today we are talking about an excellence of Romagna, a real autumn delicacy that will conquer you with its sweet flavor: IGP chestnuts from Castel del Rio.
Marroni or chestnut? This is the dilemma
It is necessary to start by making a due clarification: brown is not a synonym for chestnut. Ask Emanuele III of Savoy, who already in 1939 promulgated a royal decree to clarify the linguistic question once and for all. In fact, if the classic perforated pan is able to transform both chestnuts and marrons into roasted chestnuts (even if for the latter it is better to talk about brusé, but we will get there), only chestnuts can be defined as the fruit of the chestnut preferred by confectioners and pastry chef.
Obviously, the distinction is not based only on questions of taste and uses in the kitchen, but starts from further away, and to be exact from the woods. The chestnut is the fruit of the wild chestnut, colloquially called "bread tree". The name derives from the fact that, throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, this autumn fruit formed the basis of the diet of poor laborers and peasants, from which they also obtained a soft flour with which nutritious loaves were made.
But it is only with the passage from spontaneous harvesting to rational and scientifically guided cultivation that the chestnuts and chestnuts road took two different directions: in fact, chestnuts are the fruits of "domesticated" chestnuts, created after various crossings and grafts that have allowed improve the quality and shape of the fruit. And it is no coincidence that we talked about shape: inside the hedgehog of a wild chestnut it is possible to find up to seven chestnuts, distinguished by their small size and a more flattened silhouette. From the hedgehog of a chestnut chestnut we will be able to extract a maximum of 3 fruits, all larger in size than the "cousins" just mentioned, with a decidedly different appearance and color.
From the bread tree to the cuccagna tree: the Santerno Valley and chestnuts
Now that we have understood the differences between these two fruits, we know what to expect, in terms of size and color, when it comes to Marroni di Castel del Rio PGI.
But what made these chestnuts so famous, to the point of having earned the precious IGP (Protected Geographical Indication) mark, issued by the European Union only to those agricultural and food products of particular excellence whose quality strictly depends on the geographical origin?
To understand this, we need to briefly investigate the relationship that binds the small town in the Santerno Valley to a fruit with a thorny habit and a celestial taste like brown.
That the chestnut occupies an important position for the inhabitants of the region is testified by the fact that, in addition to those of Castel del Rio, the chestnuts of Marradi are also famous, to which an annual festival is dedicated which can be reached, as well as by one's own means. , via a picturesque steam train ride.
Yet only the chestnuts of Castel del Rio have managed to earn the prestigious IGP mark, which is explained by the historical importance that this fruit of the forest has had and continues to have for the Alidosians. Rio). In fact, in the area, many popular sayings, proverbs and nursery rhymes have the chestnut tree and this fruit as their protagonist (try asking a young Alidosian where the children come from and he will probably answer that they are in the cavities of chestnut plants).
A bond that has lasted since the early Middle Ages, the one between Castel del Rio and the chestnuts, when chestnuts began to populate the hills and woods of Romagna, becoming a source of sustenance of great importance for the local farmers ("Bread tree" remind you of anything?).
But from a source of subsistence to a resource to be exploited and taken care of, the step was short: as we read in a document of the time, as early as 1559 the inhabitants of the Santerno Valley offered the governor of Romagna their best products, on which stands out the typical brown of the area: