Medicina Onion in Gift Box

The Medicina onion is registered with the Chamber of Commerce under a collective trademark. It is cultivated on a total area of 700/800 hectares, distributed in 6 municipalities in the province of Bologna. (Medicina, Castel Guelfo, Castel San Pietro Terme, Ozzano Emilia, Dozza and Imola). Almost 10% of the national production is attributable to the brand Cipolla di Medicina, which has about 150 agricultural producers with 500 employees. The expected production in this typical area is estimated at 35/40,000 tons, divided as follows: Golden (55%), White (35%), Red (10%). The Golden is certainly the most famous, is used for frying or fried, the sweetest and most delicate Red is used to flavor salads or to accompany boiled meats and cheeses, the White being more crisp is used for soups, omelettes or baked. The harvest runs from June to September.

Friggione is a tasty dish typical of the Bolognese tradition and consists of very few ingredients: golden onions cut very finely cooked over low heat with the addition of EVO oil, fresh tomatoes peeled and cut into pieces. For the optimal success of this sauce you have to make the right choice with regard to the onion: ideal the Golden Onion of Medicina, to remain closely linked to the production of the territory.

The white Bologna onion in sweet and sour is an extremely simple dish to prepare, but at the same time with a unique taste. White onions of small to medium caliber are used, recognizable for their color and their intense scent. Add just a little sugar, wine vinegar and olive oil to get a perfect product for any combination.

The Red Onion Jam of Medicina is created using the Red Onion Medicine; this raw material of excellence, combined with a long and skilful craftsmanship, creates a real delicacy of the past. The color is dark red tending to purple, with a penetrating and persistent scent and a bittersweet taste but very delicate.

The reputation of the onion of Medicina dates back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth century when its cultivation took more and more foot as a crop in the field in the land of Medicina area following the crisis of hemp cultivation, cultivation symbol of the territory of Bologna. Starting from the second half of the thirties the cultivation of onions takes a decisive step forward spreading and progressively concentrating in the lowland lands of the province of Bologna, whose epicenter became the town of Medicina. Already in the 60s the place of Medicina became the reference market for the definition of production prices for the entire province of Bologna, for other areas of the Emilia-Romagna region Romagna and neighboring regions. To the two weekly markets flowed almost all traders and brokers in the sector then, to give more professionalism and prestige to this market was prepared a special "Trading Hall". Inside this hall in the two weekly markets on Thursday and Sunday, all the transactions of the product took place and the prices were taken over by the CCIAA of Bologna. In the same years the producers of the area formed two cooperatives representing 70% of the production. The notoriety and distinction of the onion in question has roots that lost in time. The first evidence of the culture in this area date back to the end of the thirteenth century.

Later in the sixteenth century Pier Crescenzi with the work "Ruralium commodorum libri duodecim" and Baldassarre Pisanelli in the precious "Trattato della natura de' cibi et del bere" praise the characteristics in the kitchen and the medicinal properties. A decisive testimony of the traditional system of cultivation is reported by Vincenzo Tanara in the famous treatise of 1664 "The economy of the citizen in the villa"; in this work are reported the experiences of the peasants of the plain of Bologna, describing the agronomic techniques of the time, remembering how the sowing of this vegetable can be done at the end of August or in the months of February and March, a calendar still followed today. In the same period the secret cook of Pius V, the Bolognese Bartolomeo Scappi, reported in his treatise on gastronomy nine recipes based on onions. In addition to its undisputed reputation, the onion of Medicina boasts particular characteristics linked both to soil and climate factors and to the centuries-old experience gained by farmers in the specific area. In 2004, given the growing importance in the economy of the country, Consortium of the Onion of Medicina was founded.