Pizzoccheri della Valtellina

Pizzoccheri della Valtellina is a buckwheat pasta with an EU protected geographical indication (PGI, Italian IGP), made only in the province of Sondrio in Lombardy, the area of the Valtellina valley. It is sold both dried and fresh.

The dough is a mix of flours with at least 20% buckwheat flour. For the dried product the rest – up to 80% – is durum wheat semolina, alone or with durum wheat flour; for the fresh product it is common wheat flour, alone or with common wheat semolina. The only other ingredient is water. The pasta is brown with light brown-grey specks typical of buckwheat and, cooked in salted water, has a delicate buckwheat flavour.

The specification allows three shapes for the dried product: 'tagliatello steso', flat strips 30–60 mm long, 7–8 mm wide and 1.1–1.7 mm thick; 'tagliatello avvolto', the same kind of strips rolled up (sold as 'tagliatella'); and the concave 'gnocchetto', 16–22 mm long. Fresh pizzoccheri are strips 5–11 mm wide. Moisture is no more than 12.5% for the dried product and not less than 24% for the fresh one. All production steps take place in the province.

Buckwheat has long been grown in Valtellina: a report of 1616 mentions it on the slopes around Teglio, and documents from 1750 and 1775 already mention tools for making pizzoccheri. About 20 hectares of buckwheat are still grown in the province today.

The label must show 'Pizzoccheri della Valtellina', 'IGP' or 'Indicazione geografica protetta' and the EU symbol, and may also state the shape.