Dried Tomatoes

Sardinian varieties produce shells of changing sizes, so automating the cracking of the shell and the separation of the inner seed is challenging. This, together with the scattered distribution of the plants and their often considerable size, limits the possibilities to exploit the plants economically.

In latter years, more farmers have started new, small plantations with Italian, Sicilian and Spanish selections. These offer higher yields, and a more constant quality and size of the fruits. Sardinian universities have started promoting the rediscovery of local varieties, but their use for new plantations is limited by the availability of the propagation material.
In some areas, the old trees are still harvested, and the almonds – often cracked and cleaned by hand – sold in local markets.

In Ulíana an interesting experiment was attempted by Giovanni Carente, with his company Chivu: he invested in a machine to clean the almonds and bought the shelled almonds from small farmers, who still had trees on their properties. Unfortunately the company closed a few years ago, due to economic difficulties.

Almond production in Sardinia is oriented towards the internal market. The demand is high, especially because of the role of almonds in traditional pastry, where they are one of the four or five main ingredients.

Ground, they are transformed in light marzipan, flavored with lemon and orange peels or with liqueurs. In coarser chips, they are used to garnish and decorate several creations, or as the main ingredient in gattó and timballas.