Furmentùn, fraina or farina negra: these are just some of the names that buckwheat is known by, in dialect. It was one of the fundamental foods in the diets of the peasant farmers of Valtellina and the entire Alpine arc until the beginning of the last century. It is resistant to cold climates and it is difficult for parasites to attack it, it was useful for taking advantage of the available land during the summer months, in the rest period after the winter harvests of rye, potatoes and barley. The first document that mentions buckwheat in Valtellina is prior to the 1600’s and its cultivation reached its maximum diffusion in the first half of the nineteenth century. Then its production begins to decline. It was cultivated on slopes or terraces which is a tiring job, the harvest became too laborious and expensive, and more productive crops emerged: these and many other reasons are why, in the first decade of the twentieth century, production halved and dropped to just 370 tonnes in 1970. Today a few small crops survive in Teglio, Vervio and Postalesio. These are not sold and are grown mainly for consumption within the farmers households, while most of the product that is processed in Italy is imported from abroad.
Buckwheat, locally called “nustran”, is an annual herbaceous plant about 150 centimetres tall; it has an upright, cylindrical stem and an intense reddish colour. The leaves alternate along the stalk and are petiolate at the base of the plant and each leaf is in the shape of an arrowhead. The fruits (called achenes) are 6-7 millimetres long, they have an oval shape and are opaque in colour tending towards dark brown.
The sowing is carried out by hand and begins when the temperatures no longer drop below 8 degrees. It has a short vegetative cycle ranging from 60 to 100 days.
The sowing of buckwheat is done by hand (the grains are thrown in small handfuls on the land that has been previously ploughed) and the harvest takes place from the second half of October (it is possible that it occurs a little later). The operation is laborious. The stems are cut with a sickle, tied in bunches and turned upside down on the field, forming the “caséle”, rows of small cone shaped huts. The bunches are left to dry and beaten with “fièl”, a beating tool made with two sticks that are tied at one end.
Buckwheat flour was once considered not very valuable and only good for the poor cuisine made by farmers. The “black” polenta, made exclusively with buckwheat flour or mixed with a part of corn flour, was and is one of the main dishes of traditional Valtellinese cuisine. With the addition of butter and cheese it becomes “polenta taragna”, if it is cooked in fresh cream it is transformed into “pulenta ‘n fiù”, “polenta in fiore” and if it is mixed with other flours, then it is “pulenta mugna”.
Another typical dish made with black flour are sciatt: buckwheat and wheat flour pancakes stuffed with cheese. But the main dish of the local cuisine is pizzoccheri, tagliatelle made with buckwheat and wheat flour, cooked with potatoes, cabbage or other vegetables, covered with melted butter and with the cheeses found in the valley such as scimud or Bitto.
“Kiscioeul” is much rarer, a focaccia typical of the Tirano area, made with black flour and stuffed with well matured Casera.
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.
