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Vairano giant lupin

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

Apulica editorial team · Sources checked:

In brief

History and origin

Lupinone di Vairano, gigante di Vairano, lupinaccio: the names by which this pulse is known all say the same thing, namely the uncommon size of its seeds. It is an old traditional crop of the Alto Casertano, in the area of Vairano Patenora, on the border between Campania and Lazio.

Here the volcanic soils are acidic, just as the lupin likes them, which is why the area has always suited it. In the past, to remove the bitterness from the seeds, they were packed into large sacks and left for weeks in the waters of the Volturno river.

Over the years cultivation shrank, replaced by more profitable crops and by lupins arriving from abroad. Some farms, however, kept the seeds of the local variety, and the Slow Food Presidium, supported by the GAL Alto Casertano, aims to revive it by handing seeds to new growers and bringing fertile but abandoned land back into use.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Lupino gigante di Vairano · Regione Campania — Lupino gigante di Vairano (prodotto tradizionale)

Area and method of production

The Presidium covers the municipalities of Vairano Patenora, Tora e Piccilli, Pietravairano, Caianello and Teano; the Campania Region also mentions Presenzano and Marzano Appio, likewise in the province of Caserta. The plant grows to a metre and a half, with white flowers and deep green leaves.

It is sown in October and November and flowers from mid-May to late June: it loves heat, and the higher the temperature, the more flowers and therefore pods it produces. In July, shortly before full ripeness, the plants are cut or pulled up and left in the field to finish drying.

Threshing is traditionally done in the early hours of the morning, on days that are not too humid, because the heat would split the pods. The seeds, beaten out, cleaned and sorted, are dried slowly for at least three days and stored in dry places, in wooden barrels or jute sacks.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Lupino gigante di Vairano · Regione Campania — Lupino gigante di Vairano (prodotto tradizionale)

How to recognise it

The fruit of the giant lupin is a long, flattened pod holding up to six seeds. The seeds are beige, roundish and large: they reach a centimetre and a half across, much more than an ordinary lupin.

Like all lupins, they are bitter when raw and cannot be eaten straight away. They are soaked in cold water for a day, blanched for a couple of minutes and then left in brine for three days; the regional sheet describes three days in water followed by brine.

The Region stresses that, although reduced, production is still appreciated locally and across the province precisely for the qualities of this seed.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Lupino gigante di Vairano · Regione Campania — Lupino gigante di Vairano (prodotto tradizionale)

In the kitchen

Once sweetened in brine, lupins make a simple, tasty snack. Tradition also serves them as a starter, with olives and pumpkin seeds, as a small shared nibble.

They are above all a festive food: the Campania Region describes them as a fixture on the stalls of patron saint festivals, where people eat them while strolling.

Dried, lupins keep for a long time and are available all year; brining them takes a few days and can be done at home too, following the steps of soaking, a brief boil and resting in salted water.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Lupino gigante di Vairano · Regione Campania — Lupino gigante di Vairano (prodotto tradizionale)

Where to taste it

The giant lupin is found in the Alto Casertano, around Vairano Patenora, Pietravairano, Tora e Piccilli, Caianello and Teano, villages on volcanic land on the border with Lazio, where the Presidium is bringing the crop back even to fields long left uncultivated. In July, at harvest time, the cut plants lie drying in the fields before being threshed at dawn.

The most authentic way to taste it is at the area's patron saint festivals, where brined lupins are always on the stalls. The Slow Food Presidium page lists the farms growing the local variety.

Harvest is in July; dried, the lupins are available all year round.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Lupino gigante di Vairano · Regione Campania — Lupino gigante di Vairano (prodotto tradizionale)

Protection

When

Where

Campania