Susino Verdacchia (local variety of plum)
Prunus domestica L.
RISK OF EROSION: High
DESCRIPTION
The fruits are medium sized, with an average weight of about 42 grams. They have an elliptical shape, are asymmetrical in ventral vision and the suture near the apex is shallow. The depression at the apex is medium, while the pubescence is absent. The skin has a background color ranging from green to yellowish green and, in the ripest fruits, in the part exposed to the sun, there is a purple blush extended area. The bloom is present on an elevated surface of the fruit. The pulp is yellow, it is soft and of medium succulence.
The core has a narrow elliptical shape both in lateral and ventral vision, with absent or very weak development of the hull. The lateral face has a hammered texture, an obtuse apex and a narrow truncation at the base. The seed represents 3-4% of the total weight of the fruit. The degree of adherence of the pulp to the stone is variable, as there are both non-freestone and semi-freestone fruits.
Flowering occurs around the last ten days of March (first ten days of April for Stanley). The harvest takes place between the end of August and the beginning of September (first ten days of August for Stanley); the ripening of the fruits is graduated and the consumption, given the easy perishability, is immediate.
BACKGROUND
The first archival references to the variety can be attributed to two citations of a variety of Susine Verdacchie found in the works of two sixteenth-century treatise writers: Costanzo Felici (1525-1585) and Giovanvettorio Soderini (1526-1597). The first known representation of a variety indicated by this name dates back to the painting that Bartolomeo Bimbi (1648-1729) dedicated to plums. There is also a subsequent remake of this painting in which some fruits appear to be moderately or totally different from the original (Bellini E., Pisani P. L., Susine. In AA. VV. Citrus fruits, fruit and grapes in Bartolomeo Bimbi’s Florence Medici painter. CNR, 1982: 124-128, 131.). There is also a slight difference for Verdacchia and in this case the variety depicted in the remake is much more similar to the accession found in Amelia than the fruit depicted in the original painting. Gallesio (1772-1839) describes a variety of plum Verdacchia widespread in various regions of Italy, from north to central south, on the other hand considering it an Italian variety as unknown to the rest of European pomologists (AA.VV. The biodiversity of agricultural interest of the Umbria Region. Fruit tree species, Vol. 1. Series “The Notebooks of Biodiversity”, page 221). In the Pomona Italiana of Gallesio, Verdacchia plum is represented in a tempera by Domenico Del Pino, which however bears only a slight resemblance to the accession recovered in Amelia. Moreover, it is Gallesio himself who points out the existence of different types of Susina Verdacchia. Detailed references to the cultivation of the variety in Umbria are present in the Jacini Agricultural Survey (1883). The most important historical reference to date for Verdacchia di Amelia is that of Mancinelli in his work “I Fichi e le Susine di Amelia” of 1925.
TYPICAL PRODUCTION AREA
The variety is quite widespread in the Amerino area and particularly in the Municipality of Amelia. Currently, compared to the past, a small number of specimens survive, as the variety is no longer being cultivated, except for family consumption.
GASTRONOMIC USE
Used for fresh consumption and traditionally intended for drying.
Texts taken from “Regional Register of Autochthonous Genetic Resources of the Umbria Region”
biodiversita.umbria.parco3a.org/attivita/registro-regionale/elenco-delle-risorse-iscritte