Bronte … The Pistachio Festival 💚

The Pistachio is a member of the cashew nut family and is a small tree originating from the Middle East. The tree produces nuts that are widely consumed as food and have a distinctive green colour and unique salty taste with a nutty sweet fragrance.

Pistachio trees grow best and produce the most nuts in an arid semi-desert climate with long, dry, hot Summer's, low humidity and cool but not freezing winters. During the growing season pistachio trees thrive on heat. Summer temperatures of 37℃ + produce large quantities of the best nuts which means that Sicily is the perfect environment to grow them and with its fertile volcanic soil some say that Sicily produces the best Pistachios in the world, which are known locally as "Sicily's Green Gold".

Nature decides when it is time to harvest pistachios but generally pistachios are harvested in Sicily in late August and September. The trees usually flower in March. Pistachio flowers are small without petals and are a greenish brown shade. Pistachios are biennial and produce heavy crops every two years.

It is thought that pistachio trees were introduced to Sicily in the 1st Century AD by the Romans.

Pistachios are super healthy and have both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory traits. They can help lower your chance of cardiovascular disease. They are also bursting with the fibre, minerals and unsaturated fats that can help keep your blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol in check.

The nuts take about seven years to mature after the trees are planted. When pistachios are ripe they are harvested by hand. Each harvest worker has a ‘sacchina’ which is a cloth bag or plastic container which they tie around their neck in order to work hands free. They then hand pick clusters of the pistachios and pop them into their sacchina.

Within 24 hours of being harvested the outer husk is mechanically removed leaving the nuts in their shells. Traditionally they would be dried for three to four days in the Sicilian sun but these days a thermal-mechanical oven is used for a quicker drying time.

The pistachio is a nut much loved by Sicilians and in Sicilian dialect the pistachio is called "frastuca" and the name of the tree is "frastucara". The business of pistachio farming is usually passed down the family line from father to son.

The pistachio tree is not very tall and looks slightly tangled with shiny green leaves.

Sicily is home to the world’s most famous variety, the Pistachio Verde di Bronte (Green Pistachio of Bronte).

Centred around the town of Bronte, which sits under the shadow of Mount Etna, the pistachio trees grow across some 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) on the slopes of the active volcano. The pistachios of Bronte are so precious that they need police protection to stop people stealing them. Although Bronte pistachios account for just 1% of global production they are the most expensive.

Bronte is a town in the Province of Catania and is situated approximately 16 kilometres northwest of Etna. Its economy relies mostly on farming particularly because of the pistachio nut.

Bronte's name derives from that of one of the Cyclopes in Greek mythology and it means "The Thunderer". As some of you might know legend says that the Cyclopes lived in caves on Mount Etna.

In 1799 King Ferdinand III created Bronte as a Duchy and rewarded Admiral Horatio Nelson, of the British Royal Navy, with the title of Duke for the help he had provided him in suppressing the revolution in Naples and so recovering his throne. As well as being made a Duke, Nelson was also given Castello di Maniace in Bronte, known locally now as ‘Castello Nelson” (Nelson's Castle'). A few years ago we had the pleasure of visiting here and had the whole of Nelson’s home to ourselves to explore after the custodian allowed us in. But that is another story already told in my Blog archive.

The Bronte pistachio harvest is every two years and is done in odd years. The pistachios are then either used to be eaten as snacks, processed into a sweet cream or pesto, or processed for other culinary uses.

A true Bronte pistachio is a unique bright green shade of emerald 💚

As I mentioned before Sicilians are very proud of this precious nut and know how to put them into good use in their dishes and desserts.

There are many ways that pistachios are used in Sicily both for sweets and savoury dishes, from desserts like cannoli, granita, gelato, biscotti, cakes and nutty brittles to pasta, arancini, involtini and cheese and even liqueurs. Then of course there is the popular pistachio cream and pistachio pesto.

Every year in Autumn there is a festival, Sagra del Pistacchio, dedicated to pistachios in Bronte where you can taste and savour products made with this delightful fruit. The festival date varies but usually takes place at the end of September or the beginning of October.

Last autumn we decided to go on a road trip with our dog Duke to visit for the first time this famous festival celebrating Sicily’s green gold.

The drive from our house in Giardini Naxos to Bronte takes just over one hour but we decided to embark on a detour first to the medieval town of Randazzo which we would have to drive through on our way. Eighteen years earlier we had stood in the square of Randazzo holding the keys to our new Sicilian house after signing the final paperwork at the notaries office which was in the town. We had always vowed to return to explore Randazzo and so it was a perfect excuse to stop off on our way to Bronte. We were also lured by the prospect of indulging in a traditional Sicilian breakfast there where it is said that you can find one of the best, maybe even the best, granita on the island. An offer we could not refuse.

To reach Randazzo and Bronte you must pass by Etna’s many volcanic vineyards and there are two scenic routes that we could take. From Giardini Naxos we drove up towards the town of Linguaglossa on the north eastern slopes of Etna. This town was founded on an old lava stream in 1566. Linguaglossa is the gateway to Etna Nord (Etna North) and to the many volcanic vineyards in the area.

On our drive to Bronte via Randazzo we passed through stunning scenic and rural landscapes with Etna's summit smoking away under a cerulean blue sky on our left hand side and she was visible throughout the journey. It is a perfect way to enjoy the volcanoes beauty as we crossed citrus orchards and olive groves, ancient lava flows, small villages, vineyards and breathtaking volcanic countryside.

The other slightly longer route, but not by much, would have taken us through the beautiful Alcantara Valley past the Gole Alcantara, alongside the Alcantara River, and through the medieval towns of Francavilla di Sicilia and Castliglione di Sicilia which is known as Sicily’s City of Wine.

During our stop off in Randazzo we indulged in breakfast at Pasticciere e Gelatiere Santo Musumeci. The owner Giovanna, known in Sicily as “The Queen of Gelato”, uses local seasonal produce for her gelato and granita from the fertile soil nearby, fruits and nuts are in much abundance on the land surrounding Randazzo and so we expected to be spoiled for choice of flavours for our granita. But as we were heading to the Pistachio Festival for me I already had my choice of flavour in mind PISTACHIO!!!

Fuelled by the most delicious pistachio granita we set off for Bronte, which is around a twenty minute drive from Randazzo, driving through the town of Maletto, which sits halfway between Randazzo and Bronte and is famous for its strawberry production. This town is situated on the slopes of Etna and boasts a Festival for Strawberries each summer of which the highlight is huge strawberry tarts which are paraded around town then shared around between the crowds.

As we approached Bronte the landscape on either side was blanketed in pistachio trees protected behind high electric fences.

In the distance Bronte really did look like the merry old Land of Oz and I felt like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz excited to visit Sicily’s emerald city.

The town of Bronte clings to the side of Mount Etna and the colourful houses are close together with narrow roads which are almost impossible to drive down in a car. It sits at an elevation of 760 metres above sea level however its elevation ranges from roughly 300 to 900 metres for pistachio cultivation.

After getting lost and driving the wrong way down a one way street, which most of the roads are in the town but thankfully I think we were forgiven by the locals with thanks to our English number plate, we made our way through the warren of hilly narrow roads and luckily found a car park. We then followed the hoards of pistachio lovers heading to the festival.

Everywhere along the way seemed to be adorned in green balloons and as we reached the first of the stalls we were accosted by Mr Pistachio. In case you are wondering Mr Pistachio only has one eye in honour of the cyclop called Bronte who the town is named after.

The pistachio festival is held over two weekends in autumn and the towns peaceful atmosphere is invaded by visitors from all over the island who come to taste and buy all things green. It is literally when the town goes completely nutty, excuse the pun.

At the festival you can enjoy extensive tastings of pistachio based products along with live music, parades, traditional arts and crafts and cooking demonstrations using of course pistachios.

As we meandered around the many stalls we tasted so many different products that I am surprised that my skin did not start turning green.

It was hard to choose which products to buy and so we settled at the Pistì stall where we sampled and bought some pistachio cream and pistachio pesto. The company Pistì have been producing high quality pistachio products in Bronte since 1999 and are one of Sicily’s leading pistachio manufacturers.

Pistachio cream is often made of about 50% pulverised pistachio paste, milk, butter and sugar. Other recipes use egg yolks and vanilla to make something closer to a pastry cream. It is used much in the same way as Nutella or used when making cakes, but I will let you into a little secret, grab yourself a jar in Sicily and spread it onto some English digestive biscuits.

Traditional pesto is a sauce originating from the northern city of Genova. It traditionally consists of crushed garlic, pine nuts, basil and an Italian hard cheese. Sicilian pesto is known as "Pesto alla Trapanese" and is made with tomatoes and almonds BUT have you ever tried pesto made with Sicilian pistachios? Put buying a jar of this delicious pesto on your "Must take one back home with me" list on your next trip to Sicily. You will thank me for this tip because added to pasta with pan fried crispy speck is like a volcanic explosion in your mouth.

After buying 1kg of pistachio nuts and after saying a fond farewell to Mr Pistachio we decided to call it a day, the festival was getting a bit too overcrowded and busy for Duke and we were afraid of his little paws being trodden on in the crowds.

We headed off back home to Giardini Naxos via Adrano and Biancavilla, towns situated north west of Catania, which meant for the first time ever we had circumnavigated the whole circumference of Mount Etna in one day !!!!!

After our long day out we decided on a quick dinner at home and what could be more perfect than to rustle up a pasta dish with speck and a precious jar of Bronte pistachio pesto.

BUONISSIMO !!!