November, here comes the "Noblewoman" of the casentinese table: the chestnut

November, here comes the "Noblewoman" of the casentinese table: the chestnut

November, here comes the "Noblewoman" of the casentinese table: the chestnut

When the first autumn frost warns that summer is definitely over, the real "Noblewoman" of local gastronomy arrives on the tables of Casentino: the chestnut. For centuries it had the leading role in the nourishment of mountain dwellers, sung and recited in popular traditions, worked in a hundred ways to be, all alone, first or second course, side dish, and sweet too. Still nowadays, in many Casentino families, there is a pan with many holes on the bottom, to roast the "Marroni" on embers and make good roasted chestnuts (here called "bruciate” or "brici"). Recently, however, there is a revival of chestnut flour, for its organoleptic qualities and its sweetish taste. For the local farmers the chestnuts were the "wooden bread", the most common food, which was combined with the "clouds wine", water of course, when there were no other possibilities. The chestnut is currently the most rediscovered fruit, for its processing cycle, which involved entire communities all along the winter months. Edi has reworked that tradition with inventiveness and freshness, in many products: for example in jams, creams, and in chestnut flour Tagliatelle. The value of tradition in a touch of creativity, all within a click.