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Old Ufita garlic

Slow Food Presidium · PAT · Fruit, vegetables and pulses · Campania

Apulica editorial team · Sources checked:

In brief

History and origin

The valley of the river Ufita lies in the Campanian Apennines, in the north-eastern part of the province of Avellino. Garlic has been grown here since Roman times, and over the centuries farmers selected an ecotype very rich in allicin, the sulphur compound that gives garlic its character, recognisable by its reddish-violet skins.

The Campania Region points out that the valley's soil and the selected ecotypes produce garlic rich in essential oils and very aromatic, enough to earn a name of its own: aglio dell'Ufita. Its survival is owed to local farmers, who passed the seed down from generation to generation.

In recent decades mechanised planting and harvesting led many growers to replace it with white garlic varieties of Spanish origin, and the historic ecotype came close to disappearing. The Slow Food Presidium was set up to bring it back: producers have committed to multiplying it and expanding the area grown. Ufita garlic is also listed among Campania's traditional products.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Antico aglio dell'Ufita · Regione Campania — Aglio dell'Ufita (prodotto tradizionale) · Masaf — Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, XXVI revisione (2026)

Area and method of production

The Presidium area is the territory of Grottaminarda and parts of the neighbouring municipalities: Flumeri, Frigento, Melito Irpino, Gesualdo, Ariano Irpino, Castel Baronia, Carife and Sturno, all in the province of Avellino.

Garlic is rotated with wheat, Ufita cherry tomatoes, cauliflowers and pulses. The technique has not changed: the bulbils, or seed cloves, are carefully selected, produced on the farm or by local seed firms; planting runs from late December to January, sometimes into February and March, and harvesting is done by hand between the third week of May and the end of June. Growers keep water and fertiliser to a minimum, avoid chemical weedkillers and use long rotations.

The bulbs can be lifted while the leaves are still green, and must then be eaten soon, or once the leaves are fully dry, as keeping garlic. In that case the leaves are used to plait the bulbs into the typical braids, which are hung to dry.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Antico aglio dell'Ufita · Regione Campania — Aglio dell'Ufita (prodotto tradizionale)

How to recognise it

Old Ufita garlic is recognised by its reddish-violet skins; the Region describes medium-sized bulbs, white verging on pink. The cloves are irregular in shape, tapered, elongated and curved, with a convex back.

Aroma and flavour are intense, and so is the pungency, due to the high allicin content. This trait stays stable over time and helps the cloves keep: that is why dried garlic, lifted once the leaves have withered and plaited, is available all year round.

Fresh garlic, lifted with its leaves still green, has a short season instead, in May and June, and should be eaten quickly.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Antico aglio dell'Ufita · Regione Campania — Aglio dell'Ufita (prodotto tradizionale)

In the kitchen

In Irpinian cooking Ufita garlic stars in several recipes. Fresh garlic goes into the fresh garlic frittata, a seasonal dish of May and June. It is also the main ingredient of ciambuttella di Grottaminarda, a stew of local vegetables with a sauce of hot chilli, tomatoes, green and red peppers, garlic and basil, itself a traditional product.

The Presidium also mentions spaghetti alla chitarra with garlic, oil and chilli, and ciambotta sturnese, a dish from Sturno made with peppers, potatoes and tomatoes.

These are dishes of the Irpinian countryside, made with the valley's vegetables: peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, and the garlic that gives them character.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Antico aglio dell'Ufita · Sistema Irpinia (Provincia di Avellino) — Grottaminarda

Where to taste it

The heart of production is Grottaminarda, a village in the Ufita valley at 405 metres, about 44 kilometres from Avellino. Sistema Irpinia lists it among the town's typical products, alongside ciambottella, Ufita cherry tomatoes, spantorrone di Grotta and Irpinian caciocavallo aged in caves. On 8 December the interregional Fiera dell'Immacolata fills the streets of the centre with hundreds of stalls.

In the nearby municipalities Ufita garlic is among the products of Ariano Irpino, the largest town in the province by area, with its Norman castle and cathedral; in October Ariano's exhibition centre hosts the Fiera del Gusto Mediterraneo. Flumeri, between the Baronia uplands and the Ufita valley, is a land of wheat, fruit and vegetables.

The best time for fresh garlic is May and June, during the harvest; braids of dried garlic are available all year round.

Sources: Sistema Irpinia (Provincia di Avellino) — Grottaminarda · Sistema Irpinia (Provincia di Avellino) — Ariano Irpino · Sistema Irpinia (Provincia di Avellino) — Flumeri

Protection

When

Where

Campania