What it is
A black chickpea of the Benevento Valfortore, thick-skinned, intense and traditionally dried for local dishes.
Origin place card
The geography is Valfortore: Molinara, San Giorgio la Molara and Castelfranco in Miscano.
Verified history
The official source ties it to extensive family/local cultivation rules and seed autoproduction, but gives no dated local first attestation. Treat this as source-supported tradition/history from Regione Campania — Cece nero del Fortore; The current evidence does not independently establish a founder, precise origin date, first attestation, monastery, saint, or archival origin story.
Local hypothesis
This page can connect legume agriculture to cucina di magro through the source’s baccalà pairing.
Local legend / oral tradition
No legend is documented.
Ingredients
Il cece viene asciugato al sole, separato dai baccelli per battitura con bastoni flessibili, e conservato in sacchi di tela o juta, in posti asciutti e bui.
Method
Grow above 600 metres from self-produced seed; sow manually between February and April; harvest in August; sun-dry, beat with sticks, ventilate and store in cloth/jute sacks. Source-supported detail: Descrizione delle metodiche di lavorazione, condizionamento, stagionatura La pianta viene coltivata in aree ad altitudine pari a 600 m s.l.m.
Ritual / calendar
Dried-legume storage; possible cucina di magro link through baccalà pairing, but no feast documented. Source-supported detail: o superiore; il seme viene autoprodotto; la pianta è eretta, alta 30-50 cm, con fiori violacei, baccelli con 2 semi.
Why travel for it
A page for readers who want the hidden legumes behind the famous dishes.
Recreate-it pathway
Produce/provenance page: do not publish invented quantities; recover and test local recipes or preparation variants before final A+ recipe status.
Editorial warning
Treat baccalà as a documented pairing, not as a proven ritual calendar unless separately sourced.
Fieldwork questions
Is there a named dish with baccalà? Which farms still save black chickpea seed?
Photo brief
Black chickpeas, Fortore fields, drying sheets, bowl with baccalà pairing.