The hemp boom in the kitchen

Let’s eliminate all sorts of misunderstanding right away: the cultivation and use of hemp (Cannabis sativa) has a long tradition in Italy, especially in the fabric and pharmaceutical fields, a world that started to get more intense in the late 18th century. The psychotropic content (Thc) of the majority of these plants is almost always null, so if you’re looking to get high, this is not the right article for you.

Carmagnola, in Piedmont, is the main hemp production centre in Italy. The cultivation, which is environmentally sustainable and generally resistant, doesn’t require any use of pesticides or weed killers. Hemp is a precious source of nutrients. Most of all, it is a totally gluten free and lactose free product. This is why many producers who are sensitive to the needs of people with allergies are starting to look in favour at its widest use in gastronomy.

Take hemp seed oil, for instance: milled at cold temperature, it has a delicate hazelnut flavour and a very high percentage of essential fat acids. Used raw, it is excellent as an ingredient in sauces and creams and salad dressings. Hemp flour, almost always mixed with other types of flour, is instead used for baking: bread, grissini, pizza and even fresh pasta or delicious cakes such as muffins or biscuits. Yet the list of hemp-based products gets longer and longer at a surprising speed.

We asked Antonio Strumia from Sommariva Bosco (Cuneo), the doors to Roero on the left banks of river Tanaro, to recommend some places representing the boom of hemp. A real “diviner of good food”, Tonino recently sold Trovarobe di Cose Buone, a shop selling delicacies now run by pastry chef Lorenzo Bertello (though the founder continues to be a consultant and talent scout of lovely products from all around Italy).

Before giving Strumia’s hemp list, it is necessary to say that Sommariva Bosco has become a real emblem of this boom. It is thanks to him that we can find hemp derivatives in the Olivero Biagio bakery, in the dough at pizzeria Il Cigno, in the bread served at restaurant Al Calar della Sera, in the Genuina dry pasta made with organic hemp flour (30%) cut with bronze. And of course at Trovarobe di cose buone: crackers, cakes, croissants and even ice creams (hemp flavour and goji berries). A real hemp network.

Some more places with hemp products in Italy
Fratelli Ruata - Goccia d’Oro, Baldissero d’Alba (Cuneo), tel. +39.0172.40811, (hemp oil)

Pastificio d’Alba, via Cagna 5 - frazione Ricca, Diano d'Alba (Cuneo), +39.0173.612772 (pasta made with organic hemp flour)

Pizzeria Lucio e Dany, via Guglielmo Marconi 21, Genola (Cuneo), +39.0172.637174 (pizza dough made with 38% hemp flour)

Panettiere Massimo Grazioli, via Piacenza 1, Legnano (Milan), +39.0331.544544

Birrificio Sauris Agri Beer–Zahre Beer, Sauris di Sopra (Udine) +39.0433.866314 (hemp beer)

Ristorante Il Convito di Curina, Castelnuovo Bareardenga (Siena), +39.0577.355647 (chef Giorgio Trovato dedicates all the menu to hemp, from Pici with hemp flour to Chocolates with peeled hemp seeds)

Pastificio Morelli, via S. Francesco 8, San Romano (Pisa), +39.0571.459032

Oleifi2cio Caterchini, località Collina 3a, Montecassiano (Macerata), +39.329532204