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cicerchia

grass pea

Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) that used to be sown between rows of corn in the Marche, Umbria and Abruzzo, and was near extinction. Like the roveja, the tasty little yellow cicerchia di Serra de' Conti, grown in the Marche, is in the Slow Food Presidium and is currently making a comeback; drought resistant, and able to grow on poor soil without causing any environmental impact, it is increasingly attracting interest beyond its good taste in soups and stews or puréed; cicerchia flour is also used to make pasta.

In Abruzzo, cicerchie are made into a kind of polenta called fracchiata.

Abruzzo

Lazio

Le Marche

Molise

Puglia

Slow Food

Umbria

Vegetables

Text © Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls

Image by Quaaludes, Creative Commons Attribution