Ecomela La Carnica is an example of mountain enterprise
A young farm with ancient concepts and that choosed Verzegnis as head office simply because it was the place where apple cider has always been done. Now, besides the technology to prepare apple cider, fruit juice and vinegar that cannot be compared, Elisio and Franco Da Pozzo decided to buy all the old tools and working machines that still are in the attics of the houses of Verzegnis, especially in that of Rico Zanier, the last one who prepared the cider in the village, to open a Museum about apple vinegar. Let’s go back to product: the apple juice, that is making the Ecomela La Carnica famous, farm able to bring its product to Austria, the homeland of this antique drink, and to come back home with a lot of certificates and victories: silver and bronze medals to the review of apple juice of Sant Paul, in Carintia, Austria, in 2002, gold, silver and bronze for juices always in Sant Paul, in this year edition. Beyond this enviable palmares, in 2003, Ecomela won two gold and one silver medals too for fruit juices made for third parties. The most important gold medal, on year 2003, is that concerning the local variety, the silver, instead, was for Gold casa and bronze for gold delicious. It is important to not forget the silver medal of Chambre of commerce in year 2001, the quality certificate at XXXIII regional exposition of apples for cider’s quality with relative bronze medal in year 2002. There are also certificates of sector’s newspapers. Grant Gourmet gives an important service to Ecosidro of Carnia, that wants to compete with cider of Campania, recognized by the national list of agri-food products, published by Official Journal of Italian Republic in 2000. Ecomela is one of the niches, together to Bolzano and Trentino’s web-sites, from the production of this light colour “nectar”, that make you taste the original flavor. They are interested the first approaches with quality catering as to Toni of Gradiscutta, that combines to Rosade an apple cider; Kursaal of Sauris of Daniele Cortiula, the successor of Gianni Cosetti, that proposes Bavarian cake and fruit juice together with puffs. Elisio and Franco, the Italian men of juices, cider and apple vinegar found in the past the origin of vinegar. It is just on the apple vinegar that Ecomela la Carnica wants to be successful, both personal and professional. From vinegar, that comes from Latin word “acetum”, we have news since 10.000 years. In some Egyptian pots they found some traces of vinegar. “At the beginning – assures Elisio Da Pozzo- it has been used as vinegary drink, together with water, refreshing and tonic”. Vinegar has also been used as medicine or for toilette. But the most common use is in kitchen. Apicio’s receipts, in the ancient Rome, showed the use of vinegar. Ippocrate, in the V century before Christ, shows vinegar as medicine to prevent dysfunctions of airway and to treat injuries. In 1700 vinegar was used against plague; in 1830 against cholera. In addition to research, Da Pozzo’s family did researches about production methods: “To prepare a good vinegar it is necessary a good base product, a meticulous mashing, the right choice of a method to prepare vinegar”. Thanks to strict observing these points, the apple vinegar obtained, and goes on to obtain, a lot of satisfactions and Da Pozzo’s brothers can be really proud about this.
They could convince skeptics
Everything started in 1989, after a meeting in Pantianicco. Elisio thought to use all the apples that were rotting on apples trees if Carnia. If you picked up these apples, they lasted a lot, stowed in boxes under the roof, and they supported the whole family during the long winter. Emigrants always stored them in the big pockets of their blazers, when they came back home. They needed to feed and, reached Carnia, to born a new species of apple. At the moment, in a laboratory of Carnia, there are more than 800 qualities, someone unique, because extinguished in the home country. Elisio, who has already been involved in agriculture, covering the role of President of Agricarnia too, learned, in that meeting, that 15-20% of apples is wasted. “The idea was to transform that percentage of waste, giving in this way an additional value and, of course, an increasing of yield of orchard”. Modestly equipped, he fighted against the skepticism among unbelieving, making a “good product”, stored in “600 bottles”. Da Pozzo’s brothers started to visit Trentino and Austria to refine their production techniques. “We bought specific tools that allowed us to produce apple juice with superior quantity and quality to satisfy requests of an increasingly market”. In 1993 Ecomela started to product apple for privates too, then in 1995 we started to cooperate with University of Udine, faculty of food science, that made the farm make a quality leap. A new challenge has been accepted the next year: the revalorization of old, abandoned apple orchards, picking up the product and transforming it in apple juice, and the awareness of producers to transform malformations into fruit juice. Thanks to these goals, and to University, in 1996, Ecomela La Carnica started to produce cider. All the actual production comes from apple orchards situated in Verzegnis. Three hectares near to the processing location. Moreover, a big quantity of raw material comes from old apple orchards scattered all over the territory. Processing-to-order, for big farms, is for Carnia and Friuli, but for farms from Veneto and Emilia Romagna too.
Profile of enterprise
The farm Ecomela La Carnica belongs to brothers Elisio and Franco Da Pozzo and it is situated in via Santo Stefano 11 in Verzegnis. (telephone number 0433-468152, fax 0433-469383) info@ecomela.it