APULICA / FRUIT, VEGETABLES AND PULSES
Red onion of the Margherita di Savoia salt pans
Slow Food Presidium · Fruit, vegetables and pulses · Puglia
In brief
- A landrace grown on the sandy strips between the salt pans and the sea, from the Ofanto to the Candelaro river mouths, in Margherita di Savoia, Zapponeta and Manfredonia. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Cipolla rossa delle Saline di Margherita di Savoia)
- The bulb is tender, crisp and sweet, with deep red skins; the names marzaiola, maggiaiola, giugnaiola and agostana refer to when it is harvested. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Cipolla rossa delle Saline di Margherita di Savoia)
- Weeds are controlled without herbicides, by hand or with small hoes made by the growers themselves. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Cipolla rossa delle Saline di Margherita di Savoia)
History and origin
Along the Adriatic coast between the mouth of the Ofanto and that of the Candelaro, in the territories of Margherita di Savoia, Zapponeta and Manfredonia, lies a strip of sand squeezed between the salt pans and the sea. Market gardening on these sands has a long tradition, which the Presidium dates to the eighteenth century: a lease from 1727 already concerns a plot planted with onions in the area of today's Zapponeta, and in the 1929 agricultural land register onions covered about 130 hectares between Margherita di Savoia and Manfredonia.
Alongside the better-known white onion, a red onion was grown on the sands, once as widespread as the other. Over the years it has been almost entirely replaced by other varieties and is now at high risk of extinction: only a few families keep its seed, reproduce it every year and swap it when needed, growing it for the household and for local sale.
Researchers of the BiodiverSO project found it again in 2016 thanks to an agronomist from Margherita di Savoia, a keeper of old varieties, who sows a small seedbed every year to supply young plants to farmer friends. The Slow Food Presidium, supported by the Puglia Region, was set up to bring it back to the fields and the table.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Cipolla rossa delle Saline di Margherita di Savoia · Atlante PAT Puglia (Università di Bari, Regione Puglia) — Cipolla di Zapponeta · BiodiverSO (Università di Bari e Foggia, PSR Puglia) — La cipolla rossa di Margherita
Area and method of production
The red onion of the Saline is a local ecotype grown in the Saline nature area, on sandy soils, genuine beaches, between the salt basins and the sea. Here farmers have never abandoned an old rotation of onions, potatoes, carrots and other vegetables.
The cycle starts from seed kept by the families: it is sown in a small seedbed and the young plants are then transplanted to the fields. No chemical weedkillers are used; weeds are kept down by hand or with small hoes built by the growers themselves, one of the most characteristic features of the Presidium.
The main harvest falls between May and June, and once lifted the onion keeps for a few months. Depending on when it is harvested, people distinguish the marzaiola, the maggiaiola, the giugnaiola and the agostana or agostinella, with slightly different shapes according to the temperatures during growth. Harvested in autumn and winter, before the bulb swells, it becomes instead a spring onion, the sponzale, to be eaten raw.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Cipolla rossa delle Saline di Margherita di Savoia · BiodiverSO (Università di Bari e Foggia, PSR Puglia) — La cipolla rossa di Margherita · Atlante PAT Puglia (Università di Bari, Regione Puglia) — Cipolla di Zapponeta
How to recognise it
The bulb is tender, juicy and crisp, with a high sugar content. The thin outer skins are an intense red with purple tints, and the surface of the inner scales is reddish too: when cut, the onion shows a colour that goes beyond its skin.
Its shape is not entirely fixed: the different harvests, from the marzaiola to the agostana, can give slightly different bulbs, because the temperature during growth affects their development. This variability is typical of a seed that families reproduce themselves.
Compared with the white onion grown on the same sands, BiodiverSO researchers describe it as slightly more pungent but just as appreciated raw, in salads. The project collected samples for morphological and quality analyses, comparing it with the white onion of Margherita and with other local varieties found in Monteleone di Puglia and Peschici.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Cipolla rossa delle Saline di Margherita di Savoia · BiodiverSO (Università di Bari e Foggia, PSR Puglia) — La cipolla rossa di Margherita
In the kitchen
The sources point to two main uses, linked to the time of harvest. Picked young in autumn and winter, as a spring onion or sponzale, it is perfect eaten raw, and the mature bulb is also enjoyed raw in salads.
When fully ripe it becomes a key ingredient in many traditional local dishes, above all seafood ones: octopus, fish soup and wedge-clam soup. It is a natural pairing for an onion that grows literally between the sand and the sea, where seafood dishes are the heart of local cooking.
The sweetness of the bulb, due to its high sugar content, comes with a slight pungency that gives character to sauces and soups. Since it keeps for a few months after the May and June harvest, it stays in the larder well beyond the field season.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Cipolla rossa delle Saline di Margherita di Savoia · BiodiverSO (Università di Bari e Foggia, PSR Puglia) — La cipolla rossa di Margherita
Where to taste it
The red onion of the Saline is to be found along the coast between Margherita di Savoia, Zapponeta and Manfredonia, the strip of sandy shore between the mouths of the Ofanto and the Candelaro. It is an unusual landscape, where sandy vegetable plots stretch alongside the salt basins and the sea, and where onion growing is both farming history and local identity.
The best season is May to June, when the mature bulb is harvested; in autumn and winter the spring onion for eating raw is available instead. Production is small and goes mainly to household consumption and local sale through the Presidium's growers.
On the same sands potatoes and carrots are grown in rotation with the onion, and over time the coastal season has been marked by festivals devoted to local products, such as the razor clam and onion festival in Zapponeta. A visit can combine the vegetable plots with the salt pans and the coast of the Gulf of Manfredonia, at the foot of the Gargano.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Cipolla rossa delle Saline di Margherita di Savoia · Atlante PAT Puglia (Università di Bari, Regione Puglia) — Cipolla di Zapponeta
Protection
- Slow Food Presidium — cipolla-rossa-delle-saline-di-margherita-di-savoia (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Cipolla rossa delle Saline di Margherita di Savoia)