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Vessalico’s Red Garlic

A very ancient kind of garlic is cultivated in Vessalico and in the villages nearby. Here is the high Arroscia valley, Albenga’s inland.

This species of garlic is called "Vessalico’s Red garlic", it tastes intense and slightly spicy and it can be perfectly preserved. The farmers living in the area are passing on bulbs from generation to generation, and the same goes for the growing and packaging procedures. Garlic heads are not cut-off from their plants, nor their tufts are taken away: long strings of garlic (reste) are manufactured out of them. Garlic heads are dried and selected according to their sizes and then bulbs are braided two by two. This can be done only in the morning and in the evening, at that time, in fact, garlic heads are wet and leaves do not break while bending them. These plants have not been cut-off, they are kept in the shadow and garlic heads keep ripening, that’s why these garlic heads are still fresh 8 to 10 months after being picked.

This garlic is one of the main ingredients used to prepare the "ajé", a typical dish: this is a kind of mayonnaise prepared with extra virgin olive oil and garlic that has been crushed in the mortar: the ajé is similar to the medieval garlic and vinegar sauce, the "agliata".

The garlic’s cultivation – The Consortium

Vessalico’s garlic grows in the small terraces (a total of 7 hectares) clung to Liguria’s mountains. Bulbs have to be planted without using mechanical equipment and the cloves have to be sewed after being kept in the water all night long. Then you have to fertilise them, treat the rust disease, pick them and braid them to get the typical strings of garlic.

Vessalico’s garlic is still cultivated only in remote villages and areas, which are not tourist resorts. Thanks to the cultivation procedures and lack of phytosanitary treatments, this garlic is an excellent and fully natural product, even though a specific certification has not been given yet. That is why, its value ought to be increased: it is likely to become one of the most important resources of this area of the region.

The Consortium has been established thanks to the efforts made by Liguria’s regional institutions and the "Comunità Montana Alta Valle Arroscia – The Mountain Community of the high Arroscia Valley". It includes about 30 small farmers and has created a label for Vessalico’s Red Garlic.

(ANSA) – GENOA SEPT. 26TH – It is small, it tastes intense and slightly spicy and it is easily preserved. Thanks to these characteristics Vessalico’s Red garlic is a unique and highly appreciated kind of garlic and not only in the Liguria region. The farmers of the area have been passing on this garlic’s bulbs and its secrets for at least 400 years: the growing procedures and the one, which tells farmers not to earth up the bulbs too deep.

One cooperative started this kind of production and is following the old farmers’ advices; it is also following one of the last steps for the preparation of the strings of garlic, which is also one of the most important characteristics of this product: garlic heads are not cut-off from their plants, nor their tufts are taken away, so long strings of garlic (reste) are manufactured out of them.

Along Liguria’s Western coasts, the "cicciarello" can be caught. This is a 10cm-long, silver-coloured tiny fish caught off Noli’s shores. This is not an endangered species of fish, its fishermen are. Today’s fishermen, in fact, do not use trawl-nets as XIII century’s fishermen used to do any more. There is only a few young lovers of this species of fish, who still caught it.

Twenty years ago 15 factories manufactured the cicciarelli and zerri fish, today just one of them has survived. It manufactures this fish by preserving it with vinegar and salt. The Slow Food association and the local institutions have started a campaign aiming at protecting and informing people of the handmade fishing, which is still made all over Italy. It includes Noli’s tiny fish as well.