What it is
A dark-skinned, compact white-fleshed potato of the Matese plateau, medium-small and elongated.
Origin place card
Production is documented on the Matese plateau, especially San Gregorio, Gallo and Letino in Caserta province.
Verified history
The source says the potato is now practically disappeared but once supported a flourishing trade reaching Naples and Caserta and formed, with rye, the dietary base of poorer local populations for at least a century. Treat this as source-supported tradition/history from Regione Campania — Patata nera del Matese; the current evidence does not independently establish a founder, precise origin date, first attestation, or archival origin beyond that source framing.
Local hypothesis
The hypothesis is marginality: black potato, rye and wild greens formed a poor highland food system that modern agriculture almost erased.
Local legend / oral tradition
No legend documented.
Ingredients
Small elongated dark-skinned tubers with many evident eyes and compact white flesh. Source-supported detail: La Patata del Matese, oggi praticamente scomparsa, in passato ha alimentato un fiorente commercio che raggiungeva le città di Napoli e Caserta; veniva utilizzata per minestre, previa bollitura, con erbe alimurgiche (cardillo, rapa selvatica, etc) e coltivate (minestra cusanara) più
Method
Sow cut tubers in May, cultivate with hoeing/ridging and no herbicide, harvest manually in October, store in jute sacks or in raised fern-lined pits/casolari. Source-supported detail: Descrizione delle metodiche di lavorazione, condizionamento, stagionatura La coltivazione inizia nel mese di maggio (semina dei tuberi spaccati, in due o quattro parti secondo le dimensioni), e si chiude con la raccolta ad ottobre, manuale.
Ritual / calendar
Gregorio, Gallo e Letino (CE) Descrizione Tuberi di dimensioni medio piccole, allungati, con buccia liscia, regolare, di colore scuro con occhi numerosi, rilevati ed evidenti; pasta bianca e compatta, pezzatura variabile.
Why travel for it
An almost-vanished Matese potato page: dark skin, white compact flesh, once traded to Naples and Caserta, eaten in poor mountain minestre and potato bread.
Recreate-it pathway
Recover minestra cusanara, wild-green potato soup and potato bread before recipe publication.
Editorial warning
Use extinction language carefully: source says practically disappeared, not absolutely extinct.
Fieldwork questions
Can surviving seed be located? Does Cusano Mutri still make bread of potatoes with related varieties?
Photo brief
Dark Matese potatoes, jute sacks, fern-lined pit, Cusano Mutri potato bread.