Description
POMODORINO DEL PIENNOLO DEL VESUVIO PDO
The tomato pomodorino del piennolo del Vesuvio is one of the oldest and most appreciated products of Campania. This variety of tomato is still cultivated with traditional methods, which involve the use of wooden pillars and wire to ensure that the berries do not touch the ground and that they receive the sun’s rays uniformly.
It is round, it weights between 25 and 30 g and it has a firm flesh and a compact pulp. Given the area where it grows, which is rich in sugars and mineral salts, this tomato has a distinctive sweet taste, but a slightly bitter aftertaste.
This variety of tomato is also known as “del Piennolo” and it is its conservation technique that gives rise to its name. Tomatoes are preserved using a traditional method that consists in forming whole bunches of tomatoes, the “Piennoli”. They are harvested between July and August, they are then tied together with a hemp thread to form a single bunch and left hanging in dry and ventilated places.
Thanks to this method, tomatoes ripen slowly and they can be stored for a long time, until the spring following the harvest year. Over the months, tomatoes lose turgidity, but they become sweet and delicious. Today, these tomatoes are definitely an essential ingredient of many typical Neapolitan dishes.
