Linguine al muggine affumicato e pompia in Sardegna

What is “pompia” in Italian?

Pompia is one of the rarest citrus fruits on earth, growing almost only around Siniscola in eastern Sardinia. Lumpy and warty enough to be nicknamed the “cedro mostruoso” (monstrous citron), its flesh is so sour it is practically inedible raw — Sardinians use the thick fragrant peel instead, candied into sweets or steeped into liqueur. Hearing a cook insist “this is pompia, not an orange” is a small window into how local an Italian pantry can get.

The fruit is a Slow Food presidium, protected because only a tiny network of producers grows it; in the early 1990s barely twenty trees survived. The classic preparation, “sa pompìa intrea,” candies the whole fruit. In the clip it is paired with muggine affumicato — smoked grey mullet, the same fish whose roe becomes Sardinia’s prized bottarga — which the cook says he treats “come se fosse il guanciale,” like cured pork cheek.