What it is
A winter Brassica used for leaves, tender stems and compact inflorescences, harvested repeatedly because it regrows after cutting.
Origin place card
Production is documented in the flat areas of the Neapolitan territory and the Agro Nocerino-Sarnese.
Verified history
The source says cultivation is ancient and has been abandoned for many decades, surviving mainly in a few gardens for self-consumption. Treat this as source-supported tradition/history from Regione Campania — Broccolo San Pasquale; the current evidence does not independently establish a founder, precise origin date, first attestation, or archival origin beyond that source framing.
Local hypothesis
This is a rescue page: a vegetable that almost disappeared because it belonged to ordinary winter cooking.
Local legend / oral tradition
No legend documented; the local oral layer is survival in gardens after commercial abandonment.
Ingredients
Leaves, tender stem portions and tight yellow-flowered inflorescences of Brassica oleracea var. cimosa. Source-supported detail: Presenta eccellenti caratteristiche organolettiche, sapore e profumo intensi; secondo tradizione era impiegato saltato in padella con olio e aglio in abbinamento con pane raffermo o come contorno per piatti invernali di carne, o lessato e condito con olio e limone
Method
Transplant from August to mid-September; grow in open air without irrigation or tutors; harvest manually in multiple passes from January to March, bundling leaves and tender stems. Source-supported detail: Afferisce alla specie Brassica oleracea convr.
Ritual / calendar
Winter harvest January-March; source-backed uses in stale bread preparations, winter meat sides, oil-lemon dressing and soups. Source-supported detail: cimosa, nell'ambito della famiglia delle Brassicacee o Crucifere.
Why travel for it
An almost-lost winter vegetable page: once ancient and intense, now surviving in a few self-consumption gardens, built for stale bread, meat sides and winter soups.
Recreate-it pathway
Recover a sautéed-with-bread version and a soup version before final recipe publication.
Editorial warning
The name San Pasquale does not equal a documented feast on the page; keep calendar to cultivation period until more local evidence appears.
Fieldwork questions
Why San Pasquale in the name? Which gardens still keep the seed? Can we document old Naples or Nocerino market use?
Photo brief
Old garden row, bundled leaves and stems in wooden crates, winter soup with stale bread.