L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 8 C lose your eyes and image Sicily in all its glory, some two thousand years ago. A precious stone set in the crystal blue Mediter- ranean, she was the envy of every nation: the Greeks con- quered it, longing to settle in such a fertile, beautiful land; the Romans got it back and trans- formed it into the heart of their economy. And then came the Vandals, the Goths and the Byzantines, all the way to the Arabs, the Normans and the Swabians, known for having left an indelible imprint on the island. Fertile, rich Sicily: the granaio di Roma, Rome's own barn, because this was where the capital's best cereals came from. A golden wealth bestowing on this land drenched in sun hues of yellow, brown and ochre, gold and red. The importance of cereals in Sicily is not only aesthetic, of course, nor historical: it has to do also with tradition, heritage and cuisine. Throughout the cen- turies, Sicily had become home to many a variety of wheat that were, in most cases, taken over i n t i m e b y m o d e r n c o m m o n wheat (triticum aestivum), a stronger, easier to cultivate vari- e t y . A n o t h e r c a s e o f p r o f i t destroying tradition: not quite. T h a n k s t o t h e w o r k o f t h e Stazione Sperimentale di Grani- coltura per la Sicilia — which s t a r t e d i n 1 9 2 7 — t h e g r a n i a n t i c h i d i S i c i l i a ( S i c i l y ' s ancient grains) have been redis- covered and catalogued, and important knowledge about their n u t r i t i o n a l v a l u e a n d h e a l t h properties made public: these cereals yield less than common wheat, but they are more nutri- tious and much richer from an organoleptic point of view. In other words, they are not as profitable, but they are much better for you. These are also the cereals that made of Sicily the cradle of Italy's opulence, the same grains the Romans ate and that fed Ital- ians for centuries; they are the root itself of our country's nutri- tion, the centre piece of our ancestors' tables. Among them, the ancient tim- ilia or tumminia, one of 32 culti- vars typical of the provinces of Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Enna, Messina, Palermo, Ragusa and Trapani. This grain was already known by the Greeks, who used to call it trimeniaios and histori- cal sources attest its presence throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Indeed, tum- minia was a very popular wheat variety in the region up to the years before the Second World War. Tumminia is not only impor- tant for the history of the region: recent research proved that its flour has lower gluten content than common wheat, and that is particularly rich in fibers, vita- mins and oligo-elements. A true manna, rich in nutrients and lighter to digest than most other grains. Considering all this, it's not surprising to know tumminia flour had been used for the pro- duction of bread for centuries. The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity tells us that tum- minia durum wheat is good for b o t h p a s t a a n d b r e a d . I t i s "extremely fragrant and quite nutritious, and, thanks to the use of sourdough as a natural yeast it lasts for a long time." This rich, healthy gift of Sicily is the main ingredient of a very popu- lar type of bread: the pane nero di Castelvetrano. Castelvetrano black bread is delicious and part of Sicily's own heritage, yet, because of the fact tumminia wheat is not as commonly grown as it used to be, it is also a product at risk of extinction. This is why it is a Slow Food Presidium, an indica- tion that "sustains quality pro- duction at risk of extinction, pro- t e c t s u n i q u e r e g i o n s a n d ecosystems, recovers traditional processing methods, safeguards native breeds and local plant varieties." This is where things get curi- ously interesting, because tum- minia bread has become pretty popular around the world and has been selling, forgive the pun, like hot cakes. Filippo Drago, a t u m m i n i a w h e a t p r o d u c e r , e x p l a i n s i t s f l o u r i s m o r e digestible because it contains less gluten and that, thanks to tumminia's own characteristics, there is no need to use pesticides. And the bread? The bread used to be the food of the poor: rustic and nutritious, it was the bread Sicilians ate during the war, the alter ego of those white loaves favored by the rich that common people could not afford. Things change, though, especially in a time where all that is traditional a n d c u l t u r a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t i s rediscovered and appreciated. With its dense and crumbly texture, tumminia bread is sweet and slightly nutty, dark and fra- grant, and people have been lov- ing it. How did it go, though, from humble loaf of the poor, to ultimate international delicacy? Well, in the early 2000s young f a r m e r s i n S i c i l y d e c i d e d t o invest in its cultivation, as they felt it was part of their heritage and culture as much as it was a cultivar or a food ingredient. And off they went, so, restoring the old mills and re-converting their land to tumminia cultiva- tion, with the aim of bringing into the 21st century this old symbol of Sicilian — and Italian — cultural and culinary tradi- t i o n . T h e i r w o r k p a i d o f f , because today tumminia prod- ucts, which include not only bread, but also pasta and grissini, have become popular all over the world, with estimators as far as the US and Australia. Old fash- ioned recipes, such as busiate pasta with qualeddu (a yellow local flower), sausage and tum- minia bread crumbs, have made once more their appearance in r e s t a u r a n t s a n d p e o p l e ' s kitchens, and new ideas, such as tumminia flour pizzas and focac- cias, have appeared, all witness to the growing importance of a grain that, up to only a handful o f y e a r s a g o , w a s a t r i s k o f extinction. The story of tumminia wheat speaks of an almost lost tradition rediscovered and saved from oblivion — and actual disappear- ance — by a younger generation of Italians, who decided to make of their past the starting point and stronghold for their future. In a time of economic struggle and financial difficulties, their choice is emblematic of Italians' ability to be inventive, yet pro- foundly traditional, innovative but always aware of where they come from. It is also a symbol of an ongoing necessity, a yearning p a r t i c u l a r l y v i s i b l e a m o n g younger Italians: that of return- ing to a slower-paced type of life, more respectful of nature, of tradition and history. A more innocent, less frenetic lifestyle, that could be not only the key for economic wellbeing, but also for personal fulfillment and ultimate serenity. Tumminia wheat is an ancient grain of Sicily with a lower gluten content than common wheat © Sergii Gnatiuk | Dreamstime.com People as far as the US and Australia discovered and love Tum- minia bread © Oleksii Lukin | Dreamstime.com The bread made with Tumminia flour has a very nutty, dense tex- ture and a deep, fragran aroma © Oleksii Lukin | Dreamstime.com W h e n t r a d i t i o n b e c o m e s t r e n dy : t h e story of Sicily's tumminia bread CHIARA D'ALESSIO LIFESTYLE FASHION FOOD ARTS DESIGN

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