In recent times, ancient wheat varieties have been rediscovered, richer in nutrients than modern crops. One of these is Senatore Cappelli wheat, which Alce Nero cultivates using organic methods and uses to produce the “pasta dei parchi”.
We can no longer speak about wheat in purely generic terms. When it comes to the cereal that has always been the backbone of the Mediterranean diet — the source of the flours and semolinas used above all to make bread and pasta — we now want to know everything: cultivation method, provenance, variety. Because simply eating is no longer enough for us; we want to do so in the most nutritious and healthful way possible. And the more transparently a product offers us all this information, the more we value it.
Thanks to this heightened pursuit of quality, Senatore Cappelli wheat has returned to centre stage, from the fields to the table. The name will not be unfamiliar: many of you will already know it, while others will certainly have heard it mentioned at least once. It is an ancient durum wheat from the North African grain population known as "Jenah Ratifah": it was selected in 1915 by Nazareno Strampelli, but took its name from the Abruzzese senator of the same name, Raffaele Cappelli, who at the beginning of the twentieth century championed the agrarian reform that led to the distinction between durum wheats (which, by law in Italy, must be used to produce pasta) and soft wheats (whose flours have fewer proteins and a higher glycaemic level). Between 1920 and 1950 this variety was widely cultivated across southern Italy and accounted for 60 per cent of durum wheat production in the country.
Senatore Cappelli wheat thrives in dry climates, grows up to 180 cm tall and ends in distinctive black awns; its roots, too, run very deep. Perhaps precisely because of its more demanding cultivation compared to modern wheats (the plant's height makes it prone to lodging — that is, to bending over on itself, making harvesting difficult), this variety was gradually abandoned by most growers over time. Other important characteristics, however — such as its resistance to weeds and its ability to draw from the deeper, nutrient-rich layers of the soil — have recently driven its rediscovery. Senatore Cappelli wheat is rich in protein (so much so that it has earned the epithet "the poor man's meat"), and its organoleptic qualities are distinctive: its aroma is intense and its flavour bold.
What if we were to combine all the characteristics of this ancient wheat with organic cultivation? We would have a truly quality product, free from those residues of synthetic chemical substances that settle on the grain. That is precisely what Alce Nero does — an organic farming brand since 1978 — which for its productions uses Senatore Cappelli durum wheat grown mainly in Puglia and partly in Tuscany, thanks to a special project with Legambiente involving the Parco Regionale della Maremma and one of the largest farms managed using organic methods within a protected area (over 4,200 hectares). And there is more. After sieving, the semolina from this variety is kneaded at the Pastificio Felicetti plant in Predazzo (Tn) — one of Alce Nero's member partners — using spring water that rises at 2,000 metres in the Dolomites. The pasta is then bronze-drawn, giving it an artisanal appearance: a colour that is more white than yellow and a rough surface that holds sauces better.
The pasta produced in this way has an intense wheat aroma already perceptible during cooking and a sweeter flavour imparted by vanillin: according to research by the University of Bologna, Senatore Cappelli wheat contains a naturally significant amount of this substance — from 2 to 20 times higher — compared to other modern durum wheat varieties. By choosing Senatore Cappelli durum wheat pasta (produced in the formats fusilloni, penne rigate, rigatoni and spaghettoni), you will be supporting the Alce Nero and Legambiente project (in this case with the collaboration of Terre Regionali Toscane – Tenuta di Alberese), which aims to convert the land of all of Italy's parks to organic cultivation, thereby promoting a clean form of agriculture that respects both nature and people.
