Primitivizia Wild Hop Pesto

Ingredients: wild hops, corn oil, salt

Size: 3.75 ounces

Packaging: glass jar

Location: Italy

Quick Tip: One little jar is perfect for a pound of pasta, add a little pasta cooking water to the pesto to warm it and then toss it with fresh pasta.

Primitivizia is a play on the word for primitive, which is what Eleonora Cunacia had in mind when starting her company. Eleonora left the restaurant business in 2004 where she incorporated into her cooking the wild herbs and greens that she learned to harvest with her grandmother on their walks in the fields and forest of the Dolomite mountains.

Eleonora considers herself a nomad gatherer. She harvests herbs, berries, pine resin, and roots in a progressive pattern starting in early spring at the bottom of the valley. Many of these wild culinary ingredients are protected and require a permit to pick even limited quantities. Permits are only issued to residents of the national park, which makes these products even more special.

Use with pasta; try faro flour pasta or buckwheat flour pasta with this unique product.