LEGUMES
I’ Lintìcchi – Lentils
Characterized by their green-color, medium- to large-sized seeds, lentils (Lintìcchi) have been self-reproduced by our family for at least four generations. Carefully selected because of their easy cooking and pleasant taste, they are the ever popular ingredient of any genuine farmer’s soup.
Lentils are manually sown in January and February in rows that are 80 to 100 cm. apart, in order to allow hoeing the alleyways in between during springtime.
Given their small size, the plants get easily choked out by weeds growing plentifully in the fields as a result of organic
farming methods (i.e., no chemicals are sprayed to curb weeds.)
After the first mechanical hoeing, other manual work is necessary to eradicate weeds before the mid-May blossoming.
Since then, we just need to let nature take its course, stepping in as little as possible.
The crop is harvested manually during the first ten days of June, when about 50% of the plants will have turned yellow.
After a week-long sun drying, periodically turning the mounds over, plants are ready for threshing by manual or mechanical means.
I’ Cìciri – Chickpeas
Marked by a spheroidal and wrinkled seed, yellowish at time of ripening and by mid-to-large dimensions, chickpeas (Cìciri) are self-replicated from seeds cultivated by our family for over eighty years.
They are sown during the months of February and March in rows that are 20-30 cm. apart, on fields that have been cleared from weeds after several hoeing rounds.
The plant is very rustic and hardy, with a short cultivation cycle and a capacity to exploit thoroughly even small quantities of water that allows for a late sowing and, therefore, a natural containment of weeds.
The crop is harvested in July when plants are totally dried out.
I’ Cìciri Nìvuri – Black Chickpeas
Characterized by a small, wrinkled seed, black chickpeas (Cìciri Nìvuri) are the outcome of a recent revival.
fter decades of neglect, they have been reconsidered of late and valued for their higher iron content and the dash of color they add to any soup.
The plant is smaller and less hardy than that of regular chickpeas.
Consequently, while sown in the same period, black chickpeas are laid in rows that are 80 cm. apart and hoed manually to remove weeds.
The crop is harvested manually in July, with subsequent mechanical threshing.
