Italian chicory & the Almafi Coast

We saw Sea Kale (Crambe maritima) along the coastal paths today, at least I think it was sea kale. A vegetable that I've seen only in Thomas Jefferson's vegetable garden at Monticello and in Old Salem, NC, it's a European native that looks like a very large leafy kale.

Of equal interest has been all the varieties of Italian chicory. I grow several (the groundhogs like them), and their bitter flavor makes an agreeable counterpoint to blander greens.

Bundles were displayed at a fruit and vegetable market in an Amalfi Coast town (Vietri del Mare); the grocer laughed when she saw my gardening companion taking a photo.

I'd look quite at home strolling here if it wasn't for my Keens!

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A trio of greens

I've been growing something called 'Italian dandelion' for some time. Actually, since it seems to be perennial, and has really deep roots, I can't actually dig it all out. It's quite attractive and tasty, if prepared by leaching out most of the bitter sesquiterpene lactones first! It does appear to be a selection of common dandelion, Taraxacum officinale; my plants came from seed ordered from The Cook's Garden.

There are lots of other chicories that are enjoyed in Italy and elsewhere, with a number of different species being eaten as a salad herb or vegetable.

I sowed a red-stemmed Catalogna chicory in early spring this year which has flourished. Radicchio, which has tall and heading varieties, are largely subspecies of Chicorium intybus.

Italian dandelion ~~~~~~Catalogna chicory ~~~~~~~Treviso radicchio
Here's a trio of greens to be part of dinner this evening, braised with olive oil and fresh garlic.

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