the legend

Legend has it that it was ancient Latin poet Horace to first praise the Cardoncello’s flavor. During an early morning walk on the Altopiano delle Murge in Apulia, a glint in the mist caught the poet’s attention. After discovering that it was a colony of mushrooms, he asked his guides to pick them up and store them in a bag for that evening’s dinner. Once Horace tasted the mushrooms, he was extremely surprised and said: “This mushroom is so fleshy, so compact, so flavorful! It must certainly be the Gods’ food!”

In the following periods of Middle Ages and Renaissance, the Cardoncello mushroom became a real celebrity. It was considered so delicious and aphrodisiac to be banned by the Holy See because it was commonly thought that the Cardoncello would have distracted the faithful from the idea of atonement. The Holy See believed, in fact, that eating this specific variety of mushroom would encourage sins of the flesh.

Thanks to its unmistakable aroma and texture, similar to that of meat, the “myth” of the Cardoncello is kept alive in the Italian culinary tradition until today, where it keeps on attracting the attention of the best Chefs worldwide.