Ticino chestnuts
For centuries, the chestnut fed the valleys of Ticino, so much so that the chestnut tree was called the “albero del pane”, the bread tree. In the Malcantone, a trail still links the old chestnut groves, and autumn brings back the chestnut festivals.
For a castagnata, a festive Ticino meal, a wide pan pierced with holes is set over the flames. The chestnuts, scored with a knife, roast in it for about twenty minutes. Served piping hot, blackened outside and golden inside, they are peeled at the table, with the fingers.
Origin
The chestnut tree arrived in Ticino with the Romans. For centuries, it was one of the main resources of the people of Ticino, the Bellinzona Cantonal Library notes, and in Italian it was nicknamed the “albero del pane”, the bread tree. In the Malcantone, the Swiss Hiking Federation relates, chestnuts were eaten almost every day to keep hunger at bay. Then maize, potatoes and a more varied diet pushed aside this “bread of the poor”.
Growing
Walkers may think they are crossing a wild forest; in fact it is an orchard. The tree needs light and space; it is grafted and tended, and the grass beneath its crown is mown before the harvest. According to Culinary Heritage of Switzerland, Ticino has more than a hundred varieties: the Pinca is boiled, the Lüina roasted, the Verdesa kept in heaps. The fruit is gathered as it falls. The smallest, about a third, are dried over a low fire; they are then beaten in a closed sack to peel them, before being ground into flour.
At the table
In winter, the ordinary supper used to consist of chestnuts boiled in their skins; they are still enjoyed boiled in salted water, but are now preferred roasted. Dried chestnuts are soaked for a soup or a stew; their flour makes pasta, purées and sweets. Vermicelles, a sweetened chestnut purée served with whipped cream, are eaten in autumn in Ticino restaurants as well as at pastry shops across the country.
Today
Many selve, the chestnut groves, were abandoned in the 20th century, but some have been restored in recent decades. In the Alto Malcantone, the sentiero del castagno, waymarked with a chestnut drawn on yellow, passes through Arosio, Mugena, Vezio, Fescoggia and Breno; information boards along the way tell the story of the tree and its fruit. Around 2000, the Ticino harvest varied between 8 and 37 tonnes, and many of the chestnuts roasted in the streets came from Italy.
Sources: Culinary Heritage of Switzerland, entry “Castagne”; Bellinzona Cantonal Library, dossier “Il castagno in Ticino” (2022); Swiss Hiking Federation, route page “Dans les forêts de l’Alto Malcantone” (2023).