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mela

apple

Among the many apple names, Italy can boast quite a few of its own varieties:

mela annurca, melannurca Campana, rossa del sud, or orcate, from Campania, is the best-known southern variety. Unusually, mele annurche are picked when green and left to ripen in the sun for 10-15 days on beds of straw. They are pictured in Roman wall frescoes from Herculaneum, and now they are DOP.

mela appiola: small, tart, part red and part green.

mela campanina: small tart and green cooking apple from the Po valley. Used for making mostarda di Mantova.

mela cotogne: quince.

mela pera: nashi.

mela renetta: tart apple grown in Trentino (russet).

Others in the Slow Food Presidium:

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DOP (PDO) products and acronyms

Fruits & Nuts

Slow Food

Text © Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls

Image by Alessio Maffeis