APULICA / FRUIT, VEGETABLES AND PULSES
Pappaluni beans
Slow Food Presidium · Fruit, vegetables and pulses · Calabria
In brief
- Aspromonte beans grown at 400-1200 m in Delianuova, Cosoleto, Sant'Eufemia d'Aspromonte, Scido and nearby towns. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Pappaluni)
- There is a white type and a purple type with marbled seeds; the climbing plants grow over four metres on chestnut poles. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Pappaluni)
- The coloured ones go into soups and Aspromonte pasta e fagioli with broccoli, potatoes, pork rind and chilli. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Pappaluni)
History and origin
Pappaluni, or Aspromonte beans, is the name of the pulses grown for generations on the middle and upper slopes of the Aspromonte and the Calabrian Serre. Their story is intertwined with that of the villages on the upper Tyrrhenian side of the massif, among them Delianuova, Cosoleto, Sant'Eufemia d'Aspromonte and Scido, where growing methods have been handed down over time.
For the farmhouse cooking of the Aspromonte, pappaluni have always been a staple. In recent decades the depopulation of inland areas had reduced their cultivation; today a new generation of young farmers is reclaiming the land and the traditional crops, and pappaluni are once again an economic and cultural resource for the communities.
In 2025 the pappaluni bean was entered in Calabria's regional register of agricultural biodiversity, which rates it at high risk of genetic erosion, and in 2026 it was presented among the new Slow Food Presidia of Calabria.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Pappaluni · ARSAC — Registro regionale della biodiversità agraria della Calabria · ARSAC — La Calabria a Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2026
Area and method of production
The Presidium area covers Cosoleto, Delianuova, Sant'Eufemia d'Aspromonte, Santa Cristina d'Aspromonte, Scido and Sinopoli, in the metropolitan city of Reggio Calabria, between 400 and 1,200 metres above sea level, within the Aspromonte National Park. Here the cool microclimate, good exposure, soil quality and clear, plentiful water favour balanced plant growth.
The plants are vigorous climbers and can grow over four metres tall: they are supported by chestnut poles, often cut in the local woods. It is a crop tied to the seasons and to manual work, part of a traditional farming system that has helped preserve the area's biodiversity over time.
Harvest is concentrated between August and October. Some of the seed is also kept at ARSAC's Molarotta experimental centre in the Sila.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Pappaluni · ARSAC — La coltivazione dei legumi in Calabria · ARSAC — Registro regionale della biodiversità agraria della Calabria
How to recognise it
Pappaluni come in two main forms: a white one and a purplish one. The coloured form is instantly recognisable by its marbled skin, with shades ranging from green to black, from brown to ochre and violet, often dotted with small reddish spots: no two seeds are alike.
The regional biodiversity register classifies them as Phaseolus coccineus and lists their local names pappaluni, pappalune and pappaluna.
Coloured pappaluni have an intense flavour suited to rustic dishes; the white ones are milder and more versatile. ARSAC highlights in general the high protein content of Calabrian pulses and their quality, linked to their adaptation to their home areas.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Pappaluni · ARSAC — Registro regionale della biodiversità agraria della Calabria · ARSAC — La coltivazione dei legumi in Calabria
In the kitchen
Coloured pappaluni are the favourites for rustic soups and farmhouse dishes. Among the most typical recipes are soups with wild borage and Aspromonte-style pasta e fagioli, rich with broccoli, potatoes, meat, pork rind and fresh chilli, which bring out the beans' intense taste.
The white pappaluni, milder, suit simple side dishes, light soups and drier dishes, also combined with other seasonal vegetables.
Pappaluni have always played an important part in the local diet and are a cornerstone of Aspromonte farmhouse cooking; ARSAC recalls that pulses, thanks to their high protein content, were for centuries a staple of the diet.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Pappaluni · ARSAC — La coltivazione dei legumi in Calabria
Where to taste it
Pappaluni are found in the villages on the Tyrrhenian side of the Aspromonte, between Delianuova, Cosoleto, Scido, Santa Cristina d'Aspromonte, Sant'Eufemia d'Aspromonte and Sinopoli, above the Gioia Tauro plain. The best time is from late summer into autumn, when they are harvested.
These are mountain villages within the Aspromonte National Park, with chestnut woods and clear water, where the young farmers of the Presidium are reclaiming the land and the traditional crops.
A trip along the Reggio coast, for example to Scilla and the Costa Viola, can continue inland, climbing from the plain to these villages to discover a cuisine of pulses and mountains.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Pappaluni · ARSAC — La coltivazione dei legumi in Calabria
Protection
- Slow Food Presidium — pappaluni (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Pappaluni)
When
- Harvest: August–October (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Pappaluni)
- Summer
- Autumn