The pistachio harvest is a special moment, which makes the Brontesi proud to live in such a rich land. The Bronte people do not harvest their fruit every year: the pistachio harvest is a unique moment that takes place every other year.
The fruit becomes ripe in the time span from mid-August to early September, a period that can change by a few weeks depending on the soil size </ span>
At one time, precisely because of this gradual maturation, the harvest took place in 2/3 steps; while today it takes place in a single step and entirely by hand, as per tradition.
Furthermore, nets are not used, since they could not be easily spread over the lava territory and consequently the collectors only use canvas bags or plastic baskets.
The collectors in the past, to facilitate the work, used umbrellas that were placed under the branches of the plant upside down and open. The umbrella thus acted as a net, and the fallen pistachios were then collected and transferred into sacks.
Today, manual harvesting means that the fruit does not touch the ground and thus is less exposed to contamination. The branches and fruits of the plant contain an abundant amount of resin which makes the hands of the collectors sticky. For this reason, where the harvest is done manually, the laborers bring bottles of oil with them into the fields to dissolve the resin left on their hands.
Immediately after harvesting, the fruits are hulled using special machinery and then hung out to dry in the sun or under ventilated tunnels for 5-6 days, to then be transferred to the appropriate warehouses.
The second shelling takes place over the course of the two years that pass until the next harvest, and it is scheduled according to the needs of the product.
A unique and special moment, the harvest begins the long journey of the pistachio: from ripe fruit ready to be picked, to our tables in the form of delicious creams and sweets .
pistacchio