Chestnut flour “trofie” from Valle Scrivia

There are usually three chestnuts inside one chestnut husk, only one variety of chestnut tree produces husks with one large chestnut inside, the other two dry up. It is the high-quality marrone variety which transforms chestnuts from a poor man’s food into a prize delicacy: marron glacé (candied chestnut), one of the favourite sweets in the Royal House of Savoy in the XVI century. The most common one found in the Apennine region in the far south of our province is the so-called “Montanina” which is excellent for grinding into flour. Nowadays, in these areas, the chestnut mills have gone and the dishes made with this flour are disappearing from our tables. There are still some families in the Arquata area however, who prepare chestnut flour dumplings called “trofie” which probably originated in the nearby Ligurian hinterland. It should be pointed out that they should not be confused with trofie from Recco that are made from plain flour.