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Seeds from Italy News
Vol 4, # 1 June 2004
We publish four times a year (usually) and include information on all aspects of Italian vegetables, herbs and flowers: selecting, growing, harvesting and storing and cooking. We would be happy to receive and if space permits, publish your experiences in these areas.
This newsletter is sent out to all people who requested that they be added to the subscription list. If you want to unsubscribe, send an email to newsletter-unsubscribe@growitalian.com You can put Unsubscribe in the subject line if you want, but you really do not have to. Subscription address is newsletter-subscribe@growitalian.com There should be no more problems with duplicates; it looks like I have figured out how to scrub the list. PLEASE DO NOT TRY AND RESPOND TO THIS NEWSLETTER. IT WILL NOT WORK. IF YOU WANT TO CORRESPOND, USE THE FOLLOWING EMAIL ADDRESS: seeds@growitalian.com
If you have a friend who is interested in all things Italian (at least for vegetables, herbs & flowers, please feel free to forward this to them.
1. Privacy Policy
2. Apology for Delay in Newsletter
3. Catalogs
4. Seeds for 2005
5. Spring Trials
6. Recipe-Mint Syrup
7. Two Cookbooks of Note
8. What is new.
9. Reader Comments & tips.
1. Privacy Policy. A number of people on their order forms asked me not to sell or divulge their personal information: address, telephone numbers, email addresses, etc. I want everyone to understand that I take privacy very seriously. I never disclose any customer information to anyone under any circumstances.(except of course the inadvertant screw up in the July 2003 newsletter. ) I have been bothered by too many telemarketers, received too much junk email to do that to anyone else. I don't even keep credit card numbers: a number of customers who reordered and told me to use their credit card number on file were surprised when I told them I do not keep them on my computer, nor do I have access to them from the credit card authorizing service.
2. Things got a bit busy this spring and some things never got done. The newsletter was one of those. Next year I will do it in advance since by the beginning of April, things are still quite hectic.
3. I am out of catalogs for this year. New ones will be ready in mid December and mailed out just before Christmas. Anyone who has ordered seeds will receive a catalog. Also, anyone who has requested a catalog since mid-April will also receive the new one. If you are not in these categories and would like a catalog, drop me a note. Even better, just request one using the catalog request form on the web site. If you have moved since you last received a catalog, please send along a current address. Send the change to seeds@growitalian.com Do not try and reply to this newsletter. It will not work.
4. Seeds for 2005. I am going to add a number of new varieties this year and would prefer to do it based on customer requests. If you have grown a particular variety that you believe has merit, let me know. I will try and find it. I have found a source for sicilian basil and another cucumber/melon from Bari. There are also a couple of pole beans that sound quite good. There have been lots of requests for friarello peppers, and I finally found a source for them. I am trying to find a source for the red poppy you find all over Tuscany, but so far no luck. Also, no luck with Nepitella. So, please send along your requests and include a source if you happen to have one.
5. New items trialed this spring included carouby pea, bionda da taglio chard and egyptian beet (bietola da orto egitto migliorata-improved egyptian)
a. I started some of the carouby inside and set them out toward the end of April [we had a very cold 'spring']. Direct seeded a group at the same time. First peas were ready around June 21st, so they are 60-65 or so days. Interestingly enough, the direct seeded peas were only five days or so behind the transplants. They grow up to five feet, so they need some support. Flowers are a really pretty purple. Peas are really good and very productive. They are still (11 July) going strong). Though classified as a snow pea, they are more like an edible podded sugar snap pea. The pods range from four to six inches. The trick was deciding when to pick them. I assumed that they were like Chinese snow peas which get tough and stringy when the peas begin to swell, so I first began picking them just before the peas began to swell. I later found out that if you let them swell some, they are even better. The best technique seems to be to pick them when the peas have swollen, but before the pods change color from green to a lighter green. They are excellent eaten raw like a sugar snap, but equally as good cooked. Just try sauteeing some in some olive oil, perhaps with some garlic scapes if you have them. You could also just boil them a bit and then cook with a little pancetta and pearl onion. For you market growers, I would expect them to have good market potential. The first of my sugar snaps were ready yesterday and I did a taste comparison in the garden; the carouby won hands down.
b. Bionda da taglio chard. This was a real hit. They are the lighter green version of the verde da taglio chard which is the vegetable that started me on this Italian seed quest. Growth habit is pretty much the same. They do well from direct seed or transplants. Same thin stem and smooth leaf. The leaf, however, if incredibly soft-almost as soft as a butter head lettuce. Taste seems a bit more mild than verde da taglio. When cooked, they darken up to almost the same color as verde da taglio. Definitely worth trying.
c. Egyptian beet. Was as sweet as I was promised, though perhaps not quite as sweet as chioggia. The beet is deep red and ready a few days after chioggia. No oxalyic acid taste. Tops are a bit smaller with red stems and red/green leaves. They would probably make a very nice baby beet green for you market growers. Shape was variable. Some round, some more flat like a cippolini. Definitely they will be back again next year. Also, I want to stress a beet tip. All beets tend to rise a bit out of the soil as they grow. If you allow the sun to hit the top of the beet, they will turn 'corky'. While this does nothing to taste, it does change the color some. The solution is to pull up soil over the top of the beet. Easiest way to do this is when you are hoeing weeds, just drag some of the soil over to the side of the beet row. It does not hurt anything and you will have perfectly smooth and consistently colored beets. This is especially so for the chioggia beet.
6. Recipe. Mint sirup. This is from Paolo Arrigo, the Franchi Sementi agent in London. He still has a house in his ancestral village and this is a great story.
Lina's Mint Syrup. Lina is an old lady in my village in Italy who knows all the old traditions. I call her when I want growing tips, but especially preserving tips. This is one of her original recipes – this is how it’s been done in her family since she can remember. Shop bought mint syrup is bright green, but this recipe will make you the real thing, and the colour and taste will be natural and delicious and thirst quenching on a summer day.
Ingredients: 2 bottles of white tablewine; 4 big handfuls of fresh mint leaves; 750g granulated sugar. First you have to make the syrup. Pour the white wine into a saucepan with the sugar and gently bring to a simmer from cold, stirring often until the sugar has completely disolved. Remove any scum with a spoon. Allow to cool completely. Bruise the mint leaves with a rolling pin. Pour the cold syrup into a large, wide necked jar and add the washed, bruised mint leaves.Place the lid on the jar. Turn or gently shake the jar every morning for 5 days to assist the infusion. On the 6th day,remove the mint leaves and decant the mint syrup into bottles. It doesn't need to be refrigerated once bottled as the alcohol and sugar will preserve the syrup, but make sure you put a tight cork or seal into the bottle so the ants don't enjoy it too! To drink, mix some of the syrup(to taste) with cold water and add a mint leaf.You can also try the same basic recipe with other herbs -lemon balm works well. Experiment a bit - you'll be glad you did!!
Paolo Arrigo
7. Two cook books of note.
Suzanne Dunaway. Rome at Home. The spirit of la cucina romana in your own kitchen. Broadway Books. New York. 2004. A great cookbook. Lots of authentic Roman recipes. The only place I have ever seen how to prepare and dress puntarelle chicory. Nice stories about just eating and being in Rome.
Anna Teresa Callen. Food and Memories of Abruzzo. New York. 1998. A really nice read. Lots of recipes and stories from Abruzzo. My grandparents emigrated from Abruzzo and reading this was almost as good as the food I ate as a child.
8. New Items. Although I have made it a practice to sell only seeds, I have been very impressed with the cooking tools of Rigamonti Pietro who are just up the road from Franchi Sementi. I added one more to the line; a cheese grater. I love it. I had been using one of those metal graters. While they worked ok, I always managed to get some skin from the tip of my fingers in the grated cheese. This grater is easy to hold [unlike the little barrel ones with the long handle) and is very efficient. I just put them up on the web site.
9. Reader Comments. Useful growing tips from Larry C. in Canada.
FYI here is what I built for my seed starting process each year. I started this in 1978 and have used it ever since.
I purchased (2) standard steel shelving kits from a “home improvement-type” store (48”x72”- 6 shelves total). I use 4 shelves for my plants and the other two for storage of extra trays-garden notes-etc. I drilled a single hole at the end of each shelf so I could attach and secure a 48” fluorescent lighting unit. The lights are hung from the underside of each shelf. I inserted an eye-bolt through each hole and secured each end of the light to the bolt with regular electrical wire (14gage). I used lock washers and a nut to secure each bolt to the hole.
The distance between the shelves is about 15” and with clearance for the lights I have about 8-10” of growing height. I use pieces of wood 2x4” and 1x2” cut to the width of the shelves to adjust my height. The lights are not adjusted. I simply add or subtract the different pieces of wood to keep the plants within about 2” of the lights. I use a variety of containers for starting my seeds—peat pots, plastic trays (from 6-144 cells), and the APS automatic watering units (from 3-40 cells per unit). Each shelf will hold two standard size plastic trays and three-six APS units, depending on the size I use. This allows me to grow about 120 plants per shelf or 480 plants per shelving unit.
I have had good luck with both Shultz and Peters Potting Soil, though I suppose there are many other choices.
To add to my earlier email: I use regular bulbs, not the gro-lights or anything special. Too expensive and not needed. I do, however, mix my bulbs and use one cool bulb and one soft bulb in each lighting unit. This provides the plants with a wider spectrum. My units are in the basement, with a temperature around 68-70F. I use timers. I do not have problems with leggy plants.
Starting Beans: I tend to rush the season and almost always have problems. Now I direct plant my beans (and cukes and squash) on June 1 after all danger of frost has past AND the ground has started to warm. Cool, damp soil is what typically prevents beans from germinating.
Good growing
Bill McKay |