Slow Food safeguards the Santarcangelo di Romagna water onion

The delicacy of ‘zvòla da aqua’ from Santarcangelo di Romagna (RN) is such that it even deserves a Presidiothe sixteenth that Slow Food recognizes in the matter of onions Traditionally cooked on a wood stove or wrapped in foil and placed in the embers, it is today used to fill delicious piadinas but also to prepare some sweet dishes. “With its white color and golden skin, it has an important size which can reach up to a kilogram in weight – he explains Fabio Polidoricontact person for the four producers participating in the project – Its great sweetness, moreover, also allows it to be consumed raw, in salads”.

“It is a real treasure for the people of Santarcangelo, who love it so much that they are nicknamed ‘zvùléun’, that is, big onions – he echoes Serena Boschi, Slow Food representative of the Presidium – Since it doesn’t keep for long, two or three months at most, today the attempt is to also use it to make processed foods so as to make it increasingly attractive on the market”. In particular, sowing takes place in January, transplanting of the seedlings in spring and harvesting between mid-July and the end of August.

Cultivated extensively in the past in lands crossed by numerous canals and water ditches, the water onion today it is relegated to small surfaces and is jealously looked after by a group of farmers, obstinate guardians of the seed and, above all, of biodiversity.