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What is roveja?
Roveja, also called roveglia or rubiglio, is a wild pea imported from the Middle East.
In ancient times, most of the families used to cook this legume for making soups or using it as flour. Nowadays roveja is cultivated only in 2 regions of Italy, Umbria and Marche.
The re-discover of the roveja is thanks to Cascia’s local women that find out a little pot, inside it there were little magic pearls, they asked to the elderly of the village that recognize those pearls to be the roveja legume. Since 2006 roveja is Slow Food Presidium.
From the second Postwar period the use of the roveja has been put aside, even if it grows spontaneously the harvest of the roveja is laborious, indeed it need to be manually cut.
It is not possible the use of the mechanic harvester because its stems can reach 1 meter in high and tend to bend to the ground making impossible the passage of the harvester.
Concerning its family tree there are different opinions about roveja, some view the roveja as the ancestor of the modern green pea (Pisum Sativum) , others consider it as a own specie of legume (Pisum Arvense).
Our grandparents used to eat roveja both fresh or dried, the green color distinguish the fresh legume from the dried one that is brown and is the version that you can purchase in our shop.
Nutritional characteristics of the roveja are terrific, indeed it is rich in protein and low in fat, gluten free and ensures high carbohydrate, phosphorus and potassium intake. Thanks to the soluble and insoluble fiber of the pod, roveja contributes to regularize intestinal functions, cholesterol and glucose in blood.
A delicious roveja soups, accompanied with olive oil bruschettas and a glass of red wine will warm up your winter evenings. You can also try our delicious cookies, made with roveja flour, they give their best with a cup of hot tea!
Written by Beatrice Di Curzio
