Products – More choice, more flavour, and much more well-being

Asparagus

Asparagus is rich in vitamins, mineral salts and energy substances. It has antioxidant, detoxifying and diuretic properties. It protects the capillaries.

It consists mostly of water and has few calories, so it’s recommended if you’re following a low-calorie diet.

Being rich in fibre and antioxidants, it’s useful for helping intestinal transit and reducing cholesterol and glucose levels after meals. It also has a very low glycaemic index and is recommended for a diabetic diet.

Cauliflowers

The cauliflower is a typical winter vegetable. Its perfectly balanced components produce a beneficial effect on health if consumed two or three times a week. Thanks to its low-calorie content and highly filling nature, cauliflower is also suitable for slimming diets.

It contains anticancer, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant active ingredients. According to reliable studies, cauliflower helps prevent colon cancer and ulcers and acts against anaemia. It is also effective in preventing prostate cancer. This is down to the presence of antioxidants (flavones), which can counteract the degenerative action of free radicals.

Onions

The onion is a key ingredient at the base of many of our traditional recipes. It is rich in beneficial and therapeutic properties, in particular antioxidant and anti-inflammatory qualities.

Consuming onion lowers blood sugar levels, increases bone and heart health, and improves sleep and mood quality.

Melons

Refreshing, low in calories, rich in minerals and vitamins. Melons are a true ally to counteract the summer heat and achieve a healthy, low-calorie diet. They mainly contain potassium, phosphorus, calcium, vitamin C and vitamin B3. They also contain niacin, an antioxidant substance.
In ancient times, they were considered a symbol of prosperity and fertility.

Fennel

Fennel is an excellent ally to improve your overall health, thanks to its antioxidant, diuretic and endocrinal properties. It favours digestion and lends itself to quick and tasty snacks, making it suitable for those who want to stay fit.

This vegetable has high water content and low calories, plus it’s rich in fibre, mineral salts (calcium and potassium) and vitamins.

Thanks to the rosmarinic acid found in fennel, it also acts as a protective and purifying food for the liver, improving all the parameters for this organ.

Hazelnuts have the highest proanthocyanidin content of any fruit or nut. These compounds are known for their antioxidant abilities, and help reduce the risk of blood and urinary tract infections and strengthen the walls of arteries and veins.

Hazelnuts provide fibre. A one-ounce serving of raw hazelnuts contains 2.7 g of fibre. Dietary fibre helps reduce nutrient cholesterol and can prevent constipation due to its laxative effect.

According to the USDA’s 2010 dietary guidelines, healthy adults should get at least 28 g of dietary fibre (i.e. about 10 g of hazelnuts) as part of a 2,000-calorie diet. Two minerals are particularly found in hazelnuts: manganese and copper.

One serving of hazelnuts provides 65 per cent of the recommended daily intake (RDI) of copper and over 90 per cent of the RDI of manganese. Copper is needed for iron absorption, while manganese is required for bone formation.

Fun facts

• In English-speaking countries, particularly the US, “Witch Hazel” is the most common name for witches in comics and stories. The attribution of the name “Hazel” to witches probably comes from the fact that the Celts considered hazel to be a magical tree, a symbol of wisdom, and often used hazelnuts in their divination rites.
• Hazel has always been a magical tree in rural culture: its foliage was probably a haunt of fairies, an abundant harvest was a sign of fertility for the family, while a hazel rod is the diviner’s tool.
• It has countless uses in medicine, to the point that the symbol of the god Asclepius is precisely a hazel branch with a coiled snake. The symbol of today’s pharmacists is also derived from it.
• The bark, rich in tannin and with astringent properties, was used for decoctions or packs to be applied to varicose veins; the dried flowers and leaves are excellent for regulating the intestine and purifying the vascular system; the crushed nuts were used to obtain powerful energy supplements for bronchitis or archaic beauty creams for 19th-century ladies.
• Men tormented by baldness smeared their heads with hazelnut oil, also very effective against tapeworms (one spoonful every morning on an empty stomach), while the wood was used to produce charcoal, which when mixed with sulphur and saltpetre formed gunpowder.

Gentile Romana Hazelnut PDO

This variety of hazelnut has a subspherical shape with a slightly pointed apex and a variable size from 13 to 22 mm. The shell is of medium thickness, hazelnut colour, not very shiny, with diffuse pilosity at the apex and evident streaks. The seed is medium-small, similar in colour to the shell, covered with fibres, while the surface is covered with more or less evident furrows.

The texture is compact and crunchy, the flavour is very fine, and the aroma is persistent. The shelled nut is eaten fresh, dried or toasted. It can be used both whole and chopped, and is suitable for preparing cakes, biscuits, ice cream, creams and even liqueurs.

The hazelnut harvest is both manual and mechanical, and takes place from mid-August to mid-November. Afterwards, the nuts are stored in suitable well-ventilated areas with a maximum humidity of 6%. The sorting, grading and conditioning must take place within the year following the harvest. The shelling yield is between 28 and 50%.

Hazelnut is a high-calorie nut, rich above all in monounsaturated fatty acids, vitamin E, vitamin K, choline and minerals (potassium, calcium and phosphorus). To understand the importance of hazelnuts to Viterbo’s economy, it need only be said that the agricultural area assigned to producing hazelnuts represents over 14% of the total, making it the third most widespread type of cultivation after durum wheat (41.4%) and olives (17.4%).

Potatoes

Potatoes offer us high nutritional values of starches, vitamins B and C, folic acid and mineral salts like potassium and phosphorus. This tuber is a very filling food with a high degree of digestibility, and is recommended in low-calorie diets as a substitute for cereals. Potatoes offer us high nutritional values of starches, vitamins B and C, folic acid and mineral salts like potassium and phosphorus. This tuber is a very filling food with a high degree of digestibility, and is recommended in low-calorie diets as a substitute for cereals.

Alto Viterbese Potato PGI

The Alto Viterbese potato obtained the PGI designation in 2014 for the Solanum tuberosum species of the Solanaceae family, obtained from seed tubers of certified potato varieties (registered in the National Variety Register), grown in the specific production area.

Physical characteristics

• shape: oval or regular elongated oval
• size: between 40 and 75 mm
• peel: yellow, smooth
• flesh: yellow
• edible part: not less than 97%

For the product destined to be sold as prepared fresh vegetables, there are no limits of shape and size.

Chemical characteristics

(per 100 g of edible product)

• water content: between 75 and 85%
• starch: at least 10 g

Production area

The production area of the Alto Viterbese potato PGI lies in the territory north of Lazio, in the province of Viterbo, between Lake Bolsena, Umbria and Tuscany. The district, an area of the Vulsini volcanic district, features soils of volcanic origin rich in potassium and a microclimate influenced by Lake Bolsena, an area particularly suitable for growing this tuber.

The municipalities of the PGI area in the province of Viterbo are: Acquapendente, Bolsena, Gradoli, Grotte di Castro, Latera, Onano, S. Lorenzo Nuovo, Valentano and Proceno.

In the Kitchen

The Alto Viterbese potato PGI has an intense and pleasant flavour.

The fresh product should be stored in a cool dry place, preferably not exposed to light, while the prepared fresh product should be stored at 4°C and lasts 8 days.

Uses

The Ambra and Monalisa potato varieties are suitable for all uses, and lend themselves particularly well to cooking in the oven or preparing gnocchi. The Agria variety is particularly suitable for frying, thanks to its higher proportion of dry matter, while the Agata variety performs best when steamed and used to prepare mashed potatoes and croquettes.