APULICA / FRUIT, VEGETABLES AND PULSES
Pulsano beans
Slow Food Presidium · Fruit, vegetables and pulses · Puglia
In brief
- Two landraces grown for over a century along the coast of Pulsano, near Taranto: one carmine red and one off-white with a small red mark by the hilum. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Fagioli di Pulsano)
- The white one, called della signura because its mark recalls lipstick, is now the most grown as it yields more. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Fagioli di Pulsano)
- There are two sowings: a small one in early spring to produce seed, and the main one in early August, harvested in October. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Fagioli di Pulsano)
- About twenty elderly farmers keep them going; dried, they are available all year. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Fagioli di Pulsano)
History and origin
Pulsano, on the Ionian coast south-east of Taranto, is a farming town, and beans have always held a central place in its cooking. In the cultivated areas along the municipality's coastal strip, two types of local bean have been sown for over a century: one with a carmine-red seed and one whitish, marked near the hilum by a thin red spot.
That very spot, reminiscent of lips painted with lipstick, is said to have given the white bean its dialect name, pasulu ti la signura or tintu, the lady's bean. The little red mark is also a sign of the genetic kinship between the two ecotypes.
Today these beans are kept and grown by only about twenty elderly farmers, and very small quantities are produced, especially of the red one. The risk of losing them is high, both because of the small number of growers and because of a pest, the red spider mite, that attacks the plants. The Slow Food Presidium, supported by the Puglia Region, aims to revive their cultivation by involving new farmers and to bring them back to local restaurants.
Area and method of production
The production area is the municipal territory of Pulsano, in the province of Taranto, and in particular the fields along the coast. The traditional method is based on two sowings, a system that once ensured a secure supply over long periods and is still practised today.
The first is a small sowing in early spring, harvested at the end of July: its purpose is to obtain fresh seed for the main sowing. The second, the main one, takes place in early August and is harvested in October. Before both, the soil is ploughed to a depth of about thirty to thirty-five centimetres.
After harvest the beans used to be dried on cannizzi, the traditional mats used to dry food in the sun. Once dried they keep for a long time, which is why Pulsano beans are eaten all year round. Of the two ecotypes, the lady's white bean is now the more widely grown because it is less demanding and therefore more productive.
How to recognise it
Pulsano beans are two distinct but related ecotypes. The first has an entirely carmine-red seed coat. The second is whitish, with a thin carmine spot around the hilum, the point where the seed was attached to the pod: this is the lady's bean, recognisable at a glance precisely by that mark resembling a lipstick print.
The seeds of both are similar in shape, kidney-like, and about fifteen millimetres long. They are found as a dried pulse, because the harvest is dried and kept throughout the year.
The red bean is now the rarer of the two, since it is less productive and grown in very small quantities. Both are the result of a selection carried out over generations by Pulsano's farmers, who have kept the seed from year to year.
In the kitchen
The traditional recipe calls for the beans to be cooked slowly in the pignata, the earthenware pot placed in the hearth near the flame or on the embers. The evening before, they are sifted and cleaned by rubbing them with water and salt, then left to soak overnight. In the morning they are rinsed and put to boil in plenty of water; once the foam is skimmed off, a red or yellow onion, celery, tomatoes, a sage leaf and, towards the end, a sprig of rosemary are added. Cooking takes at least an hour, and salt is added only shortly before the end.
The dish is served as a warm purée, dressed with raw extra virgin olive oil. But Pulsano beans are used in many other ways too: as a sauce for home-made pasta, with chilli oil and stale bread, with salt cod fillet cooked at low temperature and turnip greens, or with grilled octopus tentacles, a pairing of garden and sea that captures the cooking of this coast.
Where to taste it
The beans are to be found in Pulsano, in the coastal area south-east of Taranto, where the Presidium's few growers produce them in limited quantities. The main harvest is in October, but as a dried pulse they are available all year; the Presidium is also working to bring them back onto the menus of the town's restaurants.
Pulsano is one of the places on the Taranto coast crossed by the official route from Taranto to Manduria: a shoreline of crystal-clear water, gently sloping sandy seabeds and dunes covered with Mediterranean scrub, alternating with low rocks and coves overlooked by coastal towers. From here the coast continues towards Lizzano, San Pietro in Bevagna and the nature reserve at the mouth of the Chidro, while inland lies the Primitivo wine country, with Manduria and its farmsteads.
A seaside stay on this coast can therefore also become a journey into farmhouse flavours: the lady's beans, cooked in the pignata or with octopus, are a way to discover Pulsano's agricultural side alongside its seaside one.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Fagioli di Pulsano · Italia.it (Ministero del Turismo) — Da Taranto a Manduria: la città, la costa ionica e la patria del Primitivo
Protection
- Slow Food Presidium — fagioli-di-pulsano (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Fagioli di Pulsano)
When
- Harvest: July, October (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Fagioli di Pulsano)
- Summer
- Autumn