Name: Sweet and sour Medicina onion
Brand: VERDURA_A
SKU: 080

The marvellous sweet and sour onion of Medicina is a simple and genuine product, but very rich in flavour. The Onion of Medicina will soon be included among the PGI products of Emilia-Romagna, but we wanted to anticipate this certification by providing you with one of the best onions in Italy, awarded by illustrious chefs.

The Medicina onion is registered with a collective trademark at the Chamber of Commerce. It is cultivated on a total surface area of 700/800 hectares, distributed over 6 municipalities in the province of Bologna. (Medicina, Castel Guelfo, Castel San Pietro Terme, Ozzano Emilia, Dozza and Imola). Almost 10% of national production is attributable to the 'Cipolla di Medicina' brand, with around 150 farms producing in the area and 500 employees. Production in this typical area is estimated at 35/40,000 tonnes, divided as follows: Dorata (55%), Bianca (35%), Rossa (10%). The Dorata is undoubtedly the most famous, it is used for fried or sautéed foods, the Rossa, sweeter and more delicate, is used to flavour salads or to accompany boiled meats and cheeses, the Bianca, being crispier, is used for soups, omelettes or baked. The harvest runs from June to September.

The reputation of the onion of Medicina dates back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth century when its cultivation took more and more foot as a crop in the field in the land of Medicina area following the crisis of hemp cultivation, cultivation symbol of the territory of Bologna. Starting from the second half of the thirties the cultivation of onions takes a decisive step forward spreading and progressively concentrating in the lowland lands of the province of Bologna, whose epicenter became the town of Medicina. Already in the 60s the place of Medicina became the reference market for the definition of production prices for the entire province of Bologna, for other areas of the Emilia-Romagna region Romagna and neighboring regions. To the two weekly markets flowed almost all traders and brokers in the sector then, to give more professionalism and prestige to this market was prepared a special "Trading Hall". Inside this hall in the two weekly markets on Thursday and Sunday, all the transactions of the product took place and the prices were taken over by the CCIAA of Bologna. In the same years the producers of the area formed two cooperatives representing 70% of the production. The notoriety and distinction of the onion in question has roots that lost in time. The first evidence of the culture in this area date back to the end of the thirteenth century.

Later in the sixteenth century Pier Crescenzi with the work "Ruralium commodorum libri duodecim" and Baldassarre Pisanelli in the precious "Trattato della natura de' cibi et del bere" praise the characteristics in the kitchen and the medicinal properties. A decisive testimony of the traditional system of cultivation is reported by Vincenzo Tanara in the famous treatise of 1664 "The economy of the citizen in the villa"; in this work are reported the experiences of the peasants of the plain of Bologna, describing the agronomic techniques of the time, remembering how the sowing of this vegetable can be done at the end of August or in the months of February and March, a calendar still followed today. In the same period the secret cook of Pius V, the Bolognese Bartolomeo Scappi, reported in his treatise on gastronomy nine recipes based on onions. In addition to its undisputed reputation, the onion of Medicina boasts particular characteristics linked both to soil and climate factors and to the centuries-old experience gained by farmers in the specific area. In 2004, given the growing importance in the economy of the country, Consortium of the Onion of Medicina was founded, to promote it and to obtain the PGI classification.