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finding the forgotten fruits
Il
Parco ha voluto accettare la sfida della conservazione della
biodiversità delle piante d’uso alimentare, salvaguardando “on farm”
alcune significative cultivar. L’obiettivo è mantenere in vita varietà
locali e antiche, ad elevato grado di rusticità e adatte alle condizioni
ambientali di questi luoghi. Nello stesso tempo, il Parco conserva forme
caratteristiche ed esclusive di paesaggio agrario, nate e sviluppate con
le coltivazioni delle stesse piante.
Recuperare piante alimentari “dimenticate”, insieme ai prodotti tipici e
ai cibi tradizionali di una determinata area geografica, significa anche
mantenere diversità culturali e ricchezze locali.
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conservation
of the cultivated biodiversity
September: the summer ends and it's time to collect.
Even at Bosa we capture the fruits of the last year's crop. They are not
ordinary plants, but some old and rare varieties, often by unusual
shapes and colors. They are mostly local cultivars, that city markets
has put away.
In its natural and agricultural center, the Park has accepted the
challenge of conservation of the biodiversity of plants for food,
safeguarding some important crop varieties. The need to preserve the
agronomic Apuan Alps products meets motivations of agricultural genetics,
but goes even further. There is also the need to keep alive local
varieties, with a high degree of rusticity and adapted to the
environmental conditions of these places. There is also the objective of
ensuring the active protection of those forms and unique characteristics
of the agricultural landscape, created and developed with the
cultivation of thick plants.
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Belfiore Apple (above) - S. Lorenzo
Pear (below)
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"Formenton
ottofile" of Garfagnana
"Apuan Pastinocello"
flower
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You can feel how important redissemination of food plants "forgotten" is,
along with the typical products of a given geographical area, to ensure
also the maintenance of a rich cultural diversity.
In the Bosa foreground there is the "pastinocello" of the Apuan Alps [Daucus
carota L. subsp. major (Vis.) Arcangeli], one of the primitive forms of
domestication of wild carrot, with a tap root, yellow-brown, with a
sweetish taste and a characteristic nutty aftertaste.
Among other local cultivars produced to Bosa during the current season,
there is the red bean Lucca [Phaseolus vulgaris L.], which will be added
in 2010, and other varieties of the same legume (Giallorino of
Garfagnana, stiaccione di Pietrasanta, etc..). The conservation of
agricultural biodiversity has also involved annual plants of ancient and
old selection, such as "egg" eggplant [Solanum melongena L.] and several
tomato varieties [Solanum lycopersicum L.], starting with the "gold
pearl".
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