This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)

Fig loin, also called “fig salami”, is a typical dessert from the Marche Region, mainly produced in the province of Ancona. The name recalls a loin because of its cylindrical shape with a length between 6 and 8 inches and a diameter of some 2.5 inches. It is wrapped in fig leaves tied with threads.

Fig loin is made of a paste of dried figs ground together with rum, mistrà liquor, aniseed, almonds and walnuts; it is then wrapped in fi leaves held together with “the string”, as they say in the local dialect of Jesi and Macerata.

This mouth-watering treat was born from the need to preserve the few products abundant in the countryside at the end of the summer and in early autumn, namely figs and walnuts.

The first recipe of a fig loin dates back to 65 A.D. and it has been handed down to all the following generations by the rural tradition of Vallesina, a small area in central Italy that extends from the Castles of Jesi to the Adriatic Sea.

Today, this product is increasingly difficult to find and can only be bought in some selected grocery stores. To avoid its disappearance, a Slow Food praesidium was created, supported by Assivip (an association of winemakers), which groups together the last food artisans.

The “dottati” figs, a variety that ripens in September, or the “brogiotti”, whose name allegedly comes from the extreme sweetness of the fruits, have always been used to make fig loins; those two fig varieties are found in the two adjacent valleys crossed by the Esina and Misa Rivers.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)