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APULICA / FRUIT, VEGETABLES AND PULSES

Violetta di Ostuni aubergine

Slow Food Presidium · Fruit, vegetables and pulses · Puglia

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In brief

History and origin

The violet aubergine is an old variety from the market gardens of Ostuni, the white town overlooking the olive plain between the Itria Valley and the sea. For many years its survival depended on a few keepers: the variety has come down to us thanks to seeds saved by an elderly farmer, which made it possible to grow it again.

That recovery gave rise to the Slow Food Presidium. The town of Ostuni lists it, together with the Ostuni round almond, among the results already achieved in enhancing the city's medieval market gardens, a project that also looks towards a seed house and a Park of Apulian vegetable biodiversity.

The violetta is therefore both a vegetable and a piece of urban history, bound to the gardens of medieval origin around the town.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Melanzana Violetta di Ostuni · Comune di Ostuni — Convegno «Gli orti periurbani di Ostuni e il futuro Parco della biodiversità orticola pugliese»

Area and method of production

The violetta is grown in Ostuni's market gardens, the cultivated plots on the edge of the old town that the council describes as a heritage worth enhancing for their history, biodiversity and landscape.

Harvesting is by hand and staggered: the plants crop for a long time and the fruits are picked one by one as they ripen, from mid-May to October. It is slow work that means going back along the rows again and again, but it allows each aubergine to be picked at the right moment.

Its recent history shows how much the seed matters: without the seed saved by a single farmer the variety would have been lost, and the Presidium was created precisely to bring it back to the gardens.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Melanzana Violetta di Ostuni · Comune di Ostuni — Convegno «Gli orti periurbani di Ostuni e il futuro Parco della biodiversità orticola pugliese»

How to recognise it

The violetta is recognisable at once by its elongated, almost pear-like shape and by the colour of its skin, a pale violet that gives it its name. The skin is thin and the flesh firm, with few seeds.

What sets it apart most is its flavour: sweet and free of the bitter note often associated with aubergines. Firm flesh, few seeds and no bitterness are the qualities that make it prized in the kitchen, where it goes into fried, baked and grilled dishes.

It is found fresh during the harvest, from late spring to autumn.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Melanzana Violetta di Ostuni · Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Melanzane arrostite

In the kitchen

The dish that ties it to the town is the melanzanata of Sant'Oronzo, the bake that goes with the feast of the patron saint. The traditional recipe calls for sliced aubergines, battered and fried in extra virgin olive oil, then layered in a dish with fresh tomato and basil sauce, pecorino and, if liked, capers; it is baked in a very hot oven and served at once. In the countryside it was cooked under a sheet-metal lid covered with embers.

Richer versions add hard-boiled eggs, mozzarella or caciocavallo, cured meats or small meatballs, and together with roast cockerel the melanzanata makes up the traditional feast-day menu.

The violetta also suits the grilled aubergines of Apulian farm cooking: slices cooked over embers and dressed with garlic, parsley, mint, basil, oil and a few drops of vinegar.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Melanzana Violetta di Ostuni · Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Melanzanata di Sant'Oronzo · Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Melanzane arrostite

Where to taste it

Look for the violetta in Ostuni, in the gardens on the edge of town and during the harvest months, from May to October. The best time to taste it in its setting is the feast of Sant'Oronzo, the town's patron saint, held at the end of August: the melanzanata is the feast-day dish, linked in particular to 26 August.

In those days Ostuni celebrates its most important occasion, with religious rites, the Cavalcata, the horseback procession of riders in red and gold uniforms escorting the saint's statue through the streets, and fireworks; throughout the feast the streets are lined with stalls and food stands.

From Ostuni it is easy to go on to the Itria Valley or to the coast, where other local specialities of the Brindisi area, such as the Torre Canne regina tomato, show the same care for local varieties.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Melanzana Violetta di Ostuni · Comune di Ostuni — Festa di Sant'Oronzo

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