Until the 1960s, the cultivation of the Pavese Ottofile corn was widespread in the province of Pavia, and was used especially for the production of polenta flour.
Pavese Ottofile belongs to the category of vitreous corn, that is corn characterised by seeds that have an endosperm with a very hard consistency and the characteristic of a glassy appearance. It is a medium cycle corn which reaches full maturity by the month of August. Sowing usually takes place around April, but in the mountainous Oltrepò area it is sometimes sown in May or even June. The plant is about 190 centimetres tall; the cob is quite long (20-25 cm) with a diameter of 35 millimetres and is characterised by eight rows and the cob is white. The seeds appear rather flattened, wider than they are long, and are orange in colour.
This corn is mainly used for polenta, even though in recent years other uses and by-products such as: biscuits, beer and flour for cakes have been experimented with. Furthermore, pangialdini sweets, typical sweets which are made during the period of the feast of the dead, are made with Fioretto flour that is made from Pavese Ottofile corn.
After the 1960s, Ottofile Corn almost went extinct as it began to be replaced by the dent hybrid corn of North American origin. Very few farmers have continued to cultivate it to this day, and it is almost exclusively cultivated as a family tradition. Today’s production is limited to Santa Maria della Versa, Varzi and Santa Margherita di Staffora; other than this, some entities are currently financing projects with the aim of restoring and promoting this local variety so that it is not lost completely.
This corn variety has been the subject of research projects that have been completed by some professors and researchers from the University of Pavia, who have also collected a lot of information on a large number of local Lombard varieties in a publication ("Traditional Lombard agronomic varieties at risk of extinction or genetic erosion Vegetables and cereals: an overview ", G. Rossi, F. Guzzon, M. Canella, E. R. Tazzari, P. Cauzzi, S. Bodino, N. M.G. Ardenghi, Pavia University Press, 2019).
The research activities necessary for the reporting of this product in the Ark of Taste online catalogue were financed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, the General Directorate of the Tertiary Sector and Corporate Social Responsibility – notice n° 1/2018 “Slow Food in action: communities protagonists of change”, pursuant to Article 72 of the Tertiary Sector Code, referred to in Legislative Decree No. 117/2017.
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