Pistachio Festival in Bronte (Catania – NW Etna)

From September 22nd to September 24th and from September 29th to October 1st, Bronte will hold the 28th edition of the Pistachio Festival, the delicious  fruit of local harvest.

The town of Bronte (on the north west slope of Etna) is internationally known for the massive production of pistachio and its derivatives (creams, pests, oils) used in gastronomy and pastry: every year the local folks celebrate the tastiness of the small fruit growing on the lavic fields of Bronte (Sicily is the only Italian region that produces pistachio and Bronte has the primacy in production, making its pistachio a PDO product).

First courses like pistachio pennetti, meat courses as pistachio sausage, pastry as the delicious pistachio ice cream, cakes and the Pistacchiella (a kind of nutella, but entirely made of pistachio), please the palates of all ages.

The harvest of pistachios, which takes place at the end of the summer, is still carried out with the old manual techniques. The husk is removed, then the shell, and the skin protecting the green pistachio. Immediately after harvest, the pistachio has to be dried to reduce the percentage of moisture up to 4% in order to prevent the formation of microorganisms.