Sabatino Abagnale is hard at work, canning this summer’s haul of his agricultural jewels: il Miracolo di San Gennaro tomatoes. Such a name is not an exaggeration! These pomodori are a true miracle of nature, and for a long number of reasons:
- Two Slow Food protected heirloom seeds: Antichi Pomodori di Napoli and Pomodorini delle Colline dei Monti Lattari
- Eighty-year-old zio Angelo found these ancient seeds and rescued the varieties with the help of young Sabatino.
- Seven acres on the hilly Monti Lattari, between Napoli and the Amalfi Coast.
- Hundreds of feet above sea level, a piece of land stretching into Mar Tirreno.
- Zero machinery allowed, hand production from seeding to canning.
- One kg of tomatoes per plant, an extremely low yield.
- 33oz or 18oz of unpeeled tomatoes: their delicate skin is where all the flavor and nutrients concentrate.
- Sixty days aging in a cellar underground to develop the perfect balance of acidity and sweetness
- A few thousand jars, rationed in limited quantities because “Big numbers are not for us.”
“When I’m asked: what do you do for a living? I struggle to find the right words to answer. I do something that I love, I say. I do something that is a lot of fun, a deep passion, some sacrifice, but that seems to be tailor-made for me. My world is built on a lot of values and feelings that I could sum up in good, clean, and fair.” – Farmer Sabatino Abagnale
PS: San Gennaro Day is September 19th, read about the patron Saint of Napoli on the Gusti blog.
Sabatino’s Pasta al Pomodoro
Gusti: “Sabatino, how do we best describe your fantastic tomatoes to our friends?”
Sabatino: “Just cook them, make a Pasta al Pomodoro and they’ll be hooked for life.”
Read Sabatino’s recipe for Sedani Faella al Pomodoro.