Volturara Irpina Quarantino Bean

A traditional bean variety, white, tender, slightly floury, is grown in the Irpinian plateau at the foot of Mount Terminio. Known as the Quarantino due to the length of time it takes to mature—quaranta (40) days—the Volturara Irpina bean is small, irregular and has a thin, ash-white skin. Now it is grown without poles or other supports, but in the past it was often intercropped with corn, the tall stalks serving as support for the bean plants.
The beans are sown in May and harvested at the end of August or the beginning of September. They are often rotated with two other crops typical of the area around Avellino: wheat and potatoes. The climate here is cold and rainy during certain times of the year, with frequent fogs, so there is no need for irrigation. Cultivation is carried out entirely manually, without the use of fertilizers, and chemical weedkillers are not used either. Once harvested, the pods—around 15 centimeters long and each containing around 10 beans—are beaten with a stick or a tool called a muillo (a long, stout stick with a shorter stick securely attached to one end) which is used to hit the dried pods and force out the beans. After threshing, the beans are sorted using a chiurnicchio, a round sieve that allows heavy residues to fall through. Then lighter residues are removed by throwing the beans up in the air with the sieve so that the wind blows them away. Lastly, the beans are left to dry in the sun for another three days.
Traditionally the beans are preserved with the addition of black pepper and garlic cloves, and they are used in many traditional Volturara soups: fasùli e ditalini, laane e fasuli, pasta and fasuli, rè fasuli soup or scazzuoppoli (pieces of fried dough) and bean and potato soup. One dish uses the beans with another emblematic product from this part of Irpinia, chestnuts: The beans are cooked with pork rind and dried chestnuts in water with salt and bay leaves, then the beans are sautéed in garlic, oil and pork fat in a pan before adding the chestnuts. The beans and chestnuts are served hot over stale bread.

Season

The beans are harvested at the end of August, and available dried all year round