Tours of Umbria Italy

More black celery in Trevi…

We had another trip back to Trevi last weekend with friends for a dinner in a medieval tavern as part of the Sedano Nero sagra. Unsurprisingly the menu was very heavily biased towards all thing celery with bruschette with celery, celery parmigiana (in a tomato and parmesan cheese sauce) and of course a side order of “cazzimperio” –the tenderest part of the celery served raw with a pinzimonio dipping sauce (Trevi extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper).  We even finished the meal off with celery ice cream which was surprisingly good -the texture of coconut ice cream with a very slight hint of celery –almost like a sorbet.

 

  

       

 

Slow Food and Black Celery (Sedano Nero di Trevi)

On Sunday we visited the Black Celery (Sedano Nero di Trevi) “Sagra” (festival) in Trevi. Trevi is a lovely hilltop town not far from Spoleto which is famous for its olive oil but also for its black celery which is one of the products included in Slow Food’s Ark of Taste which was set up by the Slow Food foundation to protect and promote extraordinary food products from around the world.

The black celery of Trevi is a special tender type of celery which doesn’t have the usual celery “strings”. The cultivation of the black celery follows a centuries old method. The seeds are sowed on a waning moon in the period in the lead up to Easter. After three months the young celery is planted out, fertilized and watered daily. In October when the celery is mature (becoming a dark green colour hence the name “black” celery) the plants are tied and covered in soil so that only the leaves are showing and they are left for 15 or 20 days like this before being harvested ready for the Black Celery Sagra in Trevi. The celery is only grown in a mall area of land near the Clitunno river and it is said that the particular soil contributes to the particular characteristics of the celery. The black celery of Trevi is something that is used when in season in our Italian Cooking Lessons.

As with most sagre in Italy there was plenty of food and wine on offer. Not only did we come home with several bunches of this special celery but we also bagged a delicious piece of Formaggio di Fossa cheese, a sheep’s milk cheese from Le Marche region which is matured in a hole underground (where legend has it the cheese was hidden from invading armies).