Rice in the past in Sicily was a plant very common, especially in the Catania valley. We know for a fact that rice was introduced to Europeby the Arabs from Sicily, passing through, which wasthe very first area of Europe where it was introducedrice cultivation, and where he met a long period of prosperity. On the other hand, the marshy areas of Sicily (we think the plain of Catania), provided the optimal environmental conditions for the development of this crop. In addition, rice has always been a main ingredient in many recipes and traditional dishes we think of rice croquettes, a timbale of rice, Sicilians "sartù", the "crispelle" rice, etc.From there our curiosity prompted us to do several searches, talking to old people who still have memories of these crops, to consult historical documents belonging to the Sicilian noble families and we verified that in fact the rice was really a culture much widespread in Sicily, at least until the '30s. 2 special events probably contributed to the abandon its cultivation in Sicily. The first concerns the unification of Italy: in fact, following the reunification of the Italian State, were probably promoted legislative initiatives aimed at discouraging the cultivation of rice in Sicily, to support products of Northern Italy(Piedmont in particular), which of course Sicilian rice was "competition". The second, and far moreimportant event was the Fascist on intervention known as the "reclamation", which promotedreclamation initiatives in different parts of Italy (agropontine, the board of Apulia and Sicily in factwetlands), which put an end to the presence of these swamps and marshes in Sicily, which involved several environmental and health problems, but were an ideal environment for growing rice. So, now, after almost 100 years we took the production of sicilian rice.
Leonforte's peaches in syrup
Leonforte's yellow peach jam
Sicilian red oragnge Jam
