Radicchio’s intriguing flavor combines well with milder lettuces and greens. If you can’t grow an heirloom, go modern. Here’s how to grow your own.
by Jean HendrickDecember 1997from number # 12
I was living in Annapolis when the newfangled American culinary art swept in from the West Coast . Cooking and gardening were my passions , so I embraced this raw style with its emphasis on impeccably brisk , full - of - savour food for thought . I harvest from my small garden or patronise the central market in downtown Annapolis for the best produce I could come up . I peruse cookbooks , reinterpreted recipe , and created terrific food for my catering commercial enterprise and restaurant .
I serve a variety of salad Green — mâche , arugula , mizuna , and radicchio . Beautiful , bitter , scarlet - and - white radicchio was a disclosure . Its challenging flavor — with a insect bite — immix well with milder simoleons and greens , all heighten by just a touch of balsamic vinegar .
When I after moved to Maine and bought a state inn , I brought the young American culinary art with me . Finding garden - invigorated ingredients was another matter . Radicchio was not to be see at our local grocery depot , nor even at a larger one 35 nautical mile away . But I was hooked , so the only choice was to grow my own .
Choosing between the old creation and the newRadicchio is an Old World chicory root . In Italy , the redheaded chicories are known as radicchios . There are heirloom varieties and there are modernistic cultivars . All raise well in cool or mild weather ; all have an inclination to bolt . The traditional or heirloom motley need around 100 solar day to maturate . In regions where winter temperatures stay on above 10˚F , radicchio can be constitute in the drop and glean in the give . unexampled hybrids have been developed for spring planting and a short growing time of year , so you may reap radicchio before the summer ’s gone .
‘ other Treviso ’ and ‘ Giulio ’ are variety that are less potential to decamp . Other smorgasbord available admit ‘ Red Verona ’ , ‘ Red Treviso ’ , and ‘ Castelfranco ’ . All have slightly different shades of burgundy and garnet . They ’re hitman - shaped or rounded ; days to maturity run from 80 to 100 .
A difficult source . I started with the heirloom ‘ Red Verona ’ , the commonly recognized form . It ’s a round redhead with white teasing . The length of time to harvest is 100 day .
I prepared my soil for ‘ Red Verona ’ by turning the top foot over and add compost , seaweed , and a sprinkling of 10 - 10 - 10 . Radicchio is n’t cross but it does like soil that ’s rich , well - enfeeble , and moist .
I planted ‘ Red Verona ’ seeds in rows 8 in . aside , covered them lightly with grease , and keep them moist during sprouting . After sprouts appeared , I slim down the seedlings to about 8 in . apart . ( By the mode , do n’t be surprised when radicchio bourgeon up green ; this is distinctive and leaves will redden as they mature . ) The industrial plant grow to 12 in . high with large red and fleeceable parting .
Around Labor Day , in great expectation , I geld the plants back to within 1 in . of the ground and waited for leaves to resprout and heads to form . This should take four to siweeks . Well , the leave grew back , but the heads would not work . By September , Maine ’s sun was too weak and temperatures too low . I needed a smorgasbord with a curt fourth dimension to reap ; otherwise , I would have to somehow lengthen the time of year . A happy ending . ‘Giulio ’ is a variety that has been manipulated to raise beautiful head in a short growing season . ‘ other Treviso ’ and ‘ Rossana ’ are also early on - mature types . ‘ Early Treviso ’ reportedly can be seed in mid - July . Planting in June or July have in mind the plants are less likely to abscond , since they are smaller during the heat and sun of summer .
‘ Giulio ’ was get for natural spring planting and matures in about 80 days . This time around , I jump ‘ Giulio ’ in mid - April in flat in my nursery , in a depart spiritualist call in Pro - Mix . Night temperature hover around 50˚F and twenty-four hour period temperatures averaged 70˚F. The seeds burgeon forth in three to five days , and I thinned the seedling to one per 2 - in . cubicle . I temper the seedlings off forthree to four days , bringing them in each dark . On June 1 , the seedlings had strain 3 in . , so I establish them 10 in . apart in full sun , adding liquid fertilizer to the planting holes .
‘ Giulio ’ grow about 6 in . mellow and 12 in . astray , forming bright red and white capitulum the sizing of softball . They are ready to harvest when the head are firm to the touch . For me , that ’s around the middle of July . I can continue harvest home for about a calendar month . Since the verboten leaves of the plant are blistering , I thin out only the head .
I have had a good harvest with ‘ Giulio ’ in both sozzled and ironic summers . When Maine temperatures turn over a constant 80˚F in late July and early August , ‘ Giulio ’ will get down to beetle off , so I glean it as presently as I regain firm , well - formed , hardball - size heads .
In mid - August , I start my ‘ Giulio ’ seeded player in moldable trays again ; I transfer these into my unwarmed greenhouse in belated September . I ’ve also had luck planting the seed flat in the nursery in late August , thinning them to 3 in . to 4 in . aside . By Thanksgiving , I will be using small golf - testis size head of radicchio julienned in salads or blackguard with Deer Isle leg of lamb . These small heads are less acrimonious than the early , large ones of summertime .
By January the radicchio will have succumbed to the low temperature . No matter , it was very square to have homegrown radicchio at Christmastime .
In the past couple of twelvemonth , radicchio has made its way to that grocery store 35 mile distant . And I also can buy it from wholesalers , along with other strange salad greens . But , as any cook – gardener deserving his or her salt knows , the freshman the ingredient , the better the dishful .
Radicchio optionsAs this article was go to press , we learned that one breeder is put back ‘ Giulio ’ with ‘ Firebird ’ , a hybrid exchangeable in height , but deeper in color , and a more dependable producer . Other hybrid to be on the looking at out for are ‘ Melrose ’ ( ahead of time mature ) , ‘ Rubicon ’ ( bolt resistant ) , and ‘ Indigo ’ ( intensely colored ) . All should be available in 1998 seed catalogue .
Seed distributor and home growers are at the mercy of seed producers , who may discontinue a variety at will . As long as your favorite plant is not a crossbreed , saving cum is a unspoiled way to assure a future supply . Seeds lay aside from hybrids may be unimaginative or may not show the same feature as the parents ’ .
Taking the bitter with the sweetWhy do some greens , like radicchio and endive , taste good to us when acid and others , like lettuce , do not ?
According to Rob Johnston of Johnny ’s Selected Seeds , there ’s a lot of pelf in radicchio , but not in lettuce . Radicchio ’s natural sweet balances the bitterness and adds complexity . Of course , more bitter is n’t necessarily adept ; even radicchio can become unpalatable if grown in unfavourable conditions .
common salt stamp down most bitter compounds by interfering with the sulfurous receptors on your tongue , according to Gary Beauchamp , director of Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia . So when you salt something that ’s bitter and then eat it , your knife does n’t observe as much bitterness , and other flavour components , like bouquet , come to the stem . If you ’ve tasted radicchio corking and been put off , try tossing the leaves with a mizzle of European olive tree oil and a pinch of salt , but no vinegar .
‘Castelfranco’ (center) and ‘Red Treviso’ (right) are Italian heirloom radicchios, while ‘Giulio’ (left) is a cultivar selected for a short season.Photo/Illustration: Redenta Soprano
SourcesThe Cook ’s GardenPO Box C5030Warminster , PA 18974800-457-9703www.cooksgarden.com
Johnny ’s Selected Seeds955 Benton AvenueWinslow , Maine 04901877-564-6697www.johnnyseeds.com
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