We have a limited quantity of this amazing vegetable available for sale Tuesday 11/24. To place an order, call Caroline at 387-5163. The price is $8/lb or 5lb for $35. There are about 5-6 heads per pound. You can pick it up at the farm.
In Italy, this is the one true radicchio. When you taste it, you'll instantly know why. Because of its exquisite looks, they call it "the flower of winter." Because of it's amazing sweet-and-bitter crunch, it is the winter vegetable per eccellenza; it's used not only in salads, but grilled, in risotto, antipasti, pastas, you name it!
What makes it so unique is the unusual way that it's grown. The seeds are planted in June, and it grows into a large, leafy chicory plant in the field. Only after repeated hard frosts is it dug up, formed into large bunches, and placed in vats of water in the dark. Here it begins to grow again, sending out its amazing crisp and tender white and crimson shoots. After 3 weeks, the field grown plant has rotted away and is trimmed and discarded, leaving only the blanched heart.
Since 2004 when I went to Italy to learn about this process for my Hampshire thesis, radicchio tardivo has been a traditional part of our thanksgiving meals and holiday parties. Maybe I just like it because it's the only fresh vegetable that's only in season during my birthday.
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