Specialty coffee in Putignano

Putignano has a powder of its own: farinella, toasted barley and chickpeas ground with salt, called in dialect simply Pov'l, dust. In the beginning it was just barley pounded in a mortar, and peasants lived on it out in the fields because nothing had to be cooked. Today it is sprinkled over boiled chicory and fava beans, used to wipe the sauce off the plate instead of bread, and dried figs with farinella are washed down with grappa. Slow Food has it on the list of products to be saved, and the local carnival mask carries its name.