Products: Vegetables and Legumes
The Alpi Liguri Park's typical Products
The gastronomical culture of the Ligurian Alps is part of this territory heritage from the past, of the everyday life and of its activities: the forest supplied the brushwood as well as chestnuts and undergrowth fruits. Cereals, pulses and vegetables were cultivated on the sunny slopes, while breeding satisfied the protein needs by supplying meat and dairy products.
Here the typical ligurian cuisine from the coastal area makes room for the aromas of the hinterland and for the tastes of the mountains, where olive oil was considered as a precious medicine to be taken in small doses rather than a dressing.
Also its particular geographical shape and its landscape's climate, the proximity to the mountain summits and to the sea contributed to create unique products and tastes: the Pigna white bean is safeguarded by a specific consortium and became a Slow Food presidium, as well as the Vessalico garlic - which is cultivated even on these terraces - and the Toma Brigasca sheep cheese, with its savory taste remanding of the natural forage which the herds feed on.
Each municipality of the Park offers its visitors many dishes that they can taste in the restaurants or at home, after having bought all the ingredients in one of the many farms and in the small food markets selling local cheese, honey, fruit, vegetables, olive oil and wine.
The upper Arroscia Valley (municipalities of Cosio, Mendatica, Montegrosso Pian Latte) and the municipality of Triora (in the Argentina valley) share the ancient gastronomical culture of the "Cucina Bianca" (white cuisine), which still today represents the ancient tastes with dairy products and not very colored vegetables. Even the territory around Rezzo, near the pastures of Mount Monega, is proud of a long sheep farming tradition connected with the cheese production, while Pigna and Rocchetta Nervina (Nervia valley) offer their visitors the delicate taste of the white bean, which perfectly combines with the more savory goat meat. Among these specialties it is also worth mentioning the honey and the herbs from Cosio d'Arroscia, the chestnuts from Montegrosso Pian Latte, the CDO Ormeasco wine from Rezzo and the bread from Triora.
