Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto (fennel)

History and origin

According to the Qualivita Foundation, fennel reached this stretch of the Ionian coast in the fourth century BC with the Greek colonists, who brought it from the plain of Marathon; in Magna Graecia the plant was indeed called marathon.

The bond between the area and the vegetable is written into place names too. The specification recalls that the coastal land between Capo Rizzuto, Capo Colonna and the shore of Strongoli was known as "land for Isola fennel", a way of classifying plots by the product that did well on the markets. Trade is documented from the early twentieth century, and from the middle of the century Isola fennel became an important presence in Italian fruit and vegetable markets, especially from November to May.

In 2022 the European Commission registered it as a Protected Geographical Indication.

Sources: Qualigeo (Fondazione Qualivita) — Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto IGP · ARSAC — Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto IGP: disciplinare · ARSAC — Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto, via libera della Commissione europea alla IGP · eAmbrosia — Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto (PGI-IT-02650)

Area and method of production

The production area covers the whole territory of eight municipalities on the Ionian coast: Botricello and Belcastro in Catanzaro province, Mesoraca, Cutro, Isola di Capo Rizzuto, Crotone, Rocca di Neto and Strongoli in Crotone province. The climate is mild in winter and spring, and the sandy loam soil, with a very shallow water table, puts the plant under controlled water stress that gives crunchiness and juiciness.

It is grown in rotation, with a year's rest, sown directly from July to mid-September or transplanted from nurseries between August and January. Deep transplanting, helped by the light soil, blanches the bulb completely and limits fennel with an elongated "neck".

Hand harvesting runs from the second ten days of October to mid-February for the early type and from late March to mid-June for the late one. After picking, the fennel is chilled, topped by cutting off the green part, trimmed, washed and graded.

Sources: Qualigeo (Fondazione Qualivita) — Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto IGP · ARSAC — Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto IGP: disciplinare

How to recognise it

Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto is a fresh sweet fennel, of the species Foeniculum vulgare, variety dulce or aziricum. It has a very sweet taste and a strong feeling of freshness on the palate, it is crunchy to the bite and its strings come away easily. The bulb, the compact white part, measures 50 to 150 millimetres across and weighs between 200 grams and one kilo.

The early type is flattened at the poles, white with light green veins and a green tuft; the late type is rounder, a very bright white with light green veins. The specification also sets minimum sugar and Brix values.

ARSAC highlights its strong scent, almost absent fibre and persistent aroma. It is also sold ready-prepared or "a mozzarella", with only the edible part and no stalks.

Sources: Qualigeo (Fondazione Qualivita) — Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto IGP · ARSAC — Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto IGP: disciplinare

In the kitchen

Raw, Isola fennel opens or closes a meal like a fruit, accompanies starters of cheese, cured meats, olives and sun-dried tomatoes, and becomes a salad with extra virgin olive oil, salt and, if liked, vinegar, carrots, tomatoes or citrus slices. In Calabrian tradition raw fennel is eaten above all at Christmas time.

Cooked, it is baked with béchamel or au gratin, made into soups and veloutés, fried in batter, used in savoury pies and flans, or puréed as a pasta sauce. Preserves include fennel in oil, pickled fennel and fennel pâté.

Farmhouse cooking also uses the "beard", the small green fronds attached to the stalks: fragrant and tasty, it goes into soups, risottos and pasta, where it pairs very well with anchovies.

Sources: ARSAC (Regione Calabria) — I prodotti DOP, IGP e PAT della Calabria · Qualigeo (Fondazione Qualivita) — Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto IGP

Where to taste it

Fennel fields stretch along the Ionian coast between Botricello and Strongoli, around Isola di Capo Rizzuto and Crotone, and the season runs from autumn to early summer.

In Isola di Capo Rizzuto the vegetable has its own festival. The specification recalls the fennel festivals of the 1980s in the central Piazza del Popolo, the Farmers' Festival held since 1990 alongside the feast of the patron saint, the Madonna Greca, and the Sagra del Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto, now a yearly event between late April and early May.

The area combines the sea of the Capo Rizzuto marine protected area, the Aragonese castle of Le Castella and the coast between Capo Rizzuto and Capo Colonna: an Ionian itinerary in which fennel, raw or cooked, is the taste of the season.

Sources: Qualigeo (Fondazione Qualivita) — Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto IGP · ARSAC — Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto IGP: disciplinare · Italia.it (Ministero del Turismo) — Isola di Capo Rizzuto

Protection

• Protected geographical indication (PGI) — PGI-IT-02650 (eAmbrosia — Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto (PGI-IT-02650))

When

• Harvest: January–June, October–December (ARSAC — Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto IGP: disciplinare)

Where

Calabria