The Polizzi Pepper

Called "pipiddu" in the local dialect, this is a small pepper with a more or less regular conical shape and an intense green colour that turns red when ripe.
But above all, it's a pepper that grows upwards!

The little pipiddu looks like an upside-down cone, and is more or less regular in shape. It has a beautifully intense green skin that turns a deep, dark red as it ripens.

And, as we said, it grows upwards! Its berry, instead of hanging below the leaves, actually stretches upwards.

Local history goes back centuries and is linked to life in the fields: pipiddu was the 'sandwich filler' of seasonal hazelnut gatherers, who were apparently rewarded with tasty accompaniments of homemade bread topped with olives, pecorino cheese and roasted pipiddi.

Simple, healthy, and most importantly, extremely cheap and zero-food miles.

Its cultivation is a long and laborious process, but every garden had its pipiddi.

Each seedling - often loaded - must be supported by a stake, often a wooden cane, as the weight of the fruit would force it to bend. Sowing takes place in a seedbed in April, followed by transplanting into the open field between the end of May and June. Flowering begins in July and lasts until mid-October; the flowers are white and delicate, climbing on a sturdy upward-facing stalk.

The harvesting process is staggered and very long, starting in July and lasting until November.

Pipiddu is often eaten raw, in salads, but the typical peasant dish calls for it to be roasted over charcoal, seasoned with extra virgin olive oil (which in these parts is clear, green and spicy), basil and wine vinegar, and eaten hot - a mouthful of pipiddu and a small piece of pecorino cheese.

The Presidium is bringing some traditional recipes back to life (families used pipiddu for a sauce to season homemade pasta or stored it in oil to preserve it for winter lunches) through the involvement of the village elders.

It has been in more recent years - in tandem with the recovery and revival of zero-mileage products, the rediscovery of local recipes and slow food associations, but also the need to combat soil impoverishment - that a group of farmers  decided to bring pipiddu back to the tables, considering it a typical local product worthy of their commitment.

Many of these farmers are very young, heirs by choice of the family business and often 'returning' after a period away from the Madonie.

This started a real chain: older farmers provided the seeds and a horticultural nurseryman produced the first seedlings on behalf of the producers, who planted them in the ground.