Chestnut Flour
Chestnut Flour
✓ Sweet
✓ Gluten Free
✓ Versatile
✓ Nutrient
✓ Fragrat
CERTIFICATIONS
Traditional Dryer
Manual Handling of Chestnuts
Calibration and Selection
Chestnut Flour
Packaged Product Storage
Manual Handling of Chestnuts
Fire Drying With Chestnut Wood
Manual Handling of Chestnuts
Hot Air-Drying
Hot Air Dryer Load
Dried Peeled Chestnuts
Small caliber chestnuts.......
are partly used for chestnut flour production. Depending on the market demand they are dried both with the traditional method or with the modern one, i.e. with hot air. The modern method of drying uses a plant powered by a boiler powered by chestnuts skins. This process takes six days and allows for light tone and delicately flavoured fruits. Dried fruits are mechanically shelled and temporarily stored. The process proceeeds with an automatic selection via an optical sorting machine that separates most of unfit chestnuts. Subsequently, workers manually refine the product thoroughly, completing the process separating whole fruits from those that are flawed or not completely peeled. After that, we have the second processing stage.
We proceed with chestnuts gauging via an industrial rotary sieve that separates remains of chestnuts skin, pieces of broken fruits and fruits that are significantly smaller than the standard. These latter are diverted in a drier that maintains a specific level of humidity before grinding the fruits for the production of chestunts flour. This operation assures the long-term preservation of the quality and organoleptic features of the product. Chestnut flour is then packed in paper bags, palletized and sent to confectionery companies. Chestnut flour is gluten free, thus siutable for coeliacs.
Chestnut flour can replace all-purpose flour in preparing "castagnaccio" (an Italian kind of chestnut cake) as well as cakes and plumcakes. Chestnut flour leavens perfectly and makes your cakes extermely soft and crumbly. Adding spelt flour or whole wheat flour to chestnut flour results in a great combination. Chestnut flour is suitable for making homemade fresh pasta, bread and biscuits.
In the ancient times wheat was a privilege of the wealthy and noble people's tables, whereas the common folk had to settle for "inferior cerelas". Therefore, in many Italian regions the chestnuts that nature offered galore became a fundamental pillar in nutrition. Today we are witnessing a turnabout: the trend is to increasingly put aside refined grains promoting the use of old-time flours. We witness, for example, the revival of chestnut flour bread.
The Company
We are a company founded in Bagnoli Irpino in the province of Avellino, at the beginning of the '70s thanks to our father Michele Picariello. He has always woked full-time caring for the chestnuts fields. He gained the trust of producers and merchants by investing time and money. Time has repaied his passion and dedication strengthening our business that nowadays keeps being present on the area and keeps being competitive on the market despite the numerous issues regarding the poor harvests.
With the same passion as ever people that work everyday with us, whichever their role, contribute with their quality and dedication to the success of our company. In our products can be found all the warmth and genuineness of a community and a land traditionally tied to chestnuts and their transformation.
-THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION-
PICTURES
