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Seeds from Italy News
Vol 6, # 1, March 2006
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, just click on this url: http://www.growitalian.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=u&l=GrowItalian&e=seeds@growitalian.com&p=9705954 If this does not work, just cut & paste it into your browser. If it still does not work, then drop me a note at seeds@growitalian.com I will unsubscribe manually.
To subscribe or change your email address, visit: http://www.growitalian.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=list&l=GrowItalian 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. Does anyone know what this plant is?
3. New Additions
4. Varieties Available only on Line
5. The Puglia Connection
6. Shipping Times
7. Back Orders
8. 2006 Summer Trials
9. Figs
10. Reader Comment.
11. Nepitella.
12. Cookbook.
13. The original Italian seed store in Boston.
The newsletter is on line. You can read it there and view photos of the various things mentioned below. If you want to read on line, to to: http://growitalian.com/seeds_from_italy_newsletter.htm
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. 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. A customer wrote in trying to identify a plant. She says that the original plant was given to her by an Italian woman years ago. IT is a perennial. Grows like a weed. Spreads easily. Longish narrow green leaves. Purple flowers are pretty good sized. In the fall, it turns a bit red. There are a couple of photos up on the web site version of the newsletter at the following URL: http://growitalian.com/mystery_plants.htm
If you know what this is, please send me a note at seeds@growitalian.com I will pass the information along to the client.
3. What is new for 2006. Here is a more or less complete list of new items for 2006. Most are here now. A few will not be here until mid February.
a. Bean, Anellino Verde. Green curved pole bean. Beautiful. Taste like roma types
b. Bean, Anellino di Trento. Curved bush bean from Northern Italy. Color is green with reddish brown markings.
c. Cabbage, Verza Pasqualino. Green savoy. Earlier than other savoys by 10 days.
d. Cavolo Broccolo Spigariello, foglia liscia (smooth leaf) Leaf Broccoli. Widely grown in So. Italy, esp. Puglia. Eat the leaves & little broccoli tops.
e. Spigarello, foglia riccia . Serrated curly leaf version of above
f. Lettuce Ciucca Light green with red outer leaves. Jagged edges. Heads up at full size or use as a cutting lettuce.
g. Lettuce Riccia Invernale (curly winter). Open head, big red/green leaf with serrated edges.
h. Lettuce, Rouge Grenoblaise Crisp head. Red & green leaves that hold very well & resist bolting.
i. Rucola Sylvetta sel liscia (smooth) aka sel ulivo (olive). Wild (sylvatica Arugula . Smooth leaf variety very popular in Southern Italy.
j. Radicchio Rossa di Treviso Tardiva Upright red and white striped leaves with white stems. For those very small,fancy, very white stem treviso types.
k. Chicory, varigated of Lusia. Light green radicchio, white stems & red markings. Early.
l. Chicory, varigated of Lusia, tardiva. Franchi special selection. Extra fancy version of the Lusia. Very white stems. Late.
m. Escarole, Cardoncella barese Regional variety from Bari. Tall plant, open with very long thick stems.
n. Zuchetta rugosa friulana (wrinkled from Friuli).Light yellow fruit are very 'warty'.
o. Zucchini Lunga Fiorintino. Long, ribbed, lightish green with speckles. Fruit are a bit square.
p. winter squash. Muscade de Provence Flat, heavily ribbed brownish orange skin. Very sweet flesh
q. winter squash, Rouge vif d'etampes (aka Cinderella) French heirloom. Flat red/orange skin, heavily ribbed
r. Tomato, Astro F1. Determinate Plum. 3' high. VFN. Early. Heavy producer of 4 ounce plum tomatoes for sauce, canning. Grow in containers
s. Tomato, Fiaschette di manduria. From Puglia. Determ. deep red plum with a bit of a nipple at end. Productive
t. Tomato, St. Pierre.Old French round beefsteak. Large, deep red, mid season, great tasting tomato
u. Tomato Montecarlo, F1 Indet. VFN. Mid-Season. Vigorous producer of intense red, 14 oz. perfectly shaped fruit
v. Tomato, Red Cherry. Indeterminate open pollinated red cherry. Early
w. Tomato, Da Inverno a grappoli (winter grape). From Puglia. Determinate red cherry, grape shaped. Heavy producer Will work in a container
x. Pepper, Cuneo Another very good yellow pepper from the Piamonte. Big, round, 4 lobes, very thick walls & thin skin with great flavor.
y. Piccante Calabrese. Hot pepper from Calabria. Small round fruit become deep red when ripe
z. Pepper, Etna. Hot pepper. Early. Compact plant produces large number of cone shaped fruit which grow upwards. Bright red when ripe. Works in a container
a1 Pepper, Dolce Italiano. (Sweet Italian). Longish pepper, 1 ½" at top to a pointed end. Pick either green or red ripe. Good fryer
a2 Turnip, Bianca Lodigiana. Solid white turnip
a3 Onion, Piatta d'Italia Red/purple with some white; very pretty. Flat cippolini type. Early.
a4 Radish zlata. Round yellow radish (from Poland where Franchi does a big business)
a5 Sicilian Basil. DiSerenti strain from Sicily. Similar in size to Genovese, but leaf is a bit lighter and slightly blistered. Sweet with no 'clove' taste. Very intense flavor
a6 Watermelon Janosik. Yellow watermelon from Poland. Dark green skin, bright yellow flesh. @ 4-5 pounds. Very sweet
a7 Onion, genovese (bassano). Back again after several years of crop failures.
4. New for 2006, on Line Only. There are a number of items which I will have available on line. The reason for this is the supply is iffy. I can never be sure that I can get more. Here is the list:
a. Bean, Lupini. available mid Feb
b. Eggplant, bianca a uovo (white egg). Small white eggplant
c. endive ricciutissima. tres fine type. tiny leaves which are very tender.
d. faro (aka spelt). (mid february)
e. Lentils (mid february
f. Melrose pepper. From the Mid west (originally Southern Italy). Dark red very sweet frying pepper.
i. Rucola Sylvetta sel liscia (smooth) aka sel ulivo (olive). Wild (sylvatica Arugula . Smooth leaf variety very popular in Southern Italy.
cucumber lunghissimo
endive wallone
tondo liscio
tomato goia della mensa
marconi pepper
5. The Puglia & Campagna connection. I made contact with another small seed company in Adria, Bari which has a lot of varieties from Southern Italy, especially Puglia & Campagna. I am really excited. Here is a list of the items from there which are now available from the web site. You can also check pictures & more detailed descriptions on line. I put up an online addition to the 2006 seed catalog.
You can visit it at: http://growitalian.com/additions_to_2006_catalog.htm
a. Basil, San Valentino. It is from Abruzzo. It is a big leaf basil, blistered leaf, light green in color. Said to have very good flavor. Looks like it is somewhat similar to Napoleatano basil, but the seed company owner says it definitely is a different variety.
b. Artichoke Violette Pugliese sel Francesino. Small purple artichoke widely gown in Puglia. Smaller than violetta.
c. Cucumber melon (carosello) Barese scopatizzo. Another cucumber melon from Bari, this one is dark green, some ribs, and thinner than the traditional barese type.
c1. Cucumber melon (carosello Barese). The original cuke/melon from bari. Light green, some ribs, the usual fuzz, great taste.
d. Cicory, catalogna pugliese sel otrantina. This is an interesting looking chicory. Mostly thick stems with a little bit of green leaf, almost without serrations. Primary use is for eating the stems, usually in salad, kind of like Puntarelle.
e. Chicory, Rossa Italiana. Red stems, smallish green/red leaves. Open leaf type. Large.
f. Endive (escarole) cento foglie sel benevento. [one hundred leaves]. Tall open plant. Mostly stem with smallish green leaves on the top of the stem. Looks very much like a leaf chicory, but with a milder taste & crunchy texture like escarole.
g. Pepper, Cornaletto Corno di Capra (goat horn). Sweet frying pepper. Bright red when ripe. Curved like a goat horn. 4-5 inches long. I think it is from Calabria.
h. Pepper San Salvatore Calabrese. Sweet pepper from calabria. Red. Kind of short & stubby. Deep red when ripe. Said to be very sweet.
i. Pepper, friariello barese. Frying pepper from Bari. Shaped kind of like the napoleatano or frigatello. Same size (3.5-4.5 inches). Light green but dark red when ripe.
j. Pepper, Topepo Rosso Piccante sel Calabrese. The hot version of the topepo rosso pickling pepper. Now you can pickle your own peppers, just like those in the deli, only use the hot ones (or mix with the sweet ones.).
k. Pepper, picante conaletto Calabrese. Hot pepper from Calabria; shaped like a goat horn with that distinctive curve. Ends in a point.
l. THIS IS THE COUP OF THE YEAR. I found the elusive lampascioni (aka, muscari, pampascioni). I have received more requests for this than anything else. This is often called an onion, but it is actually a wild hyacinth. You dig the bulbs up in the spring before they flower and eat them in lots of different ways. These are a bit bitter (sometimes people soak overnight before using) but are a real delicacy in southern italy.
6. Shipping Times. The crazy season is upon me and the orders are pouring in. Shipping times have increased from the normal one to two days from receipt of order to five or six days. My apologies but I am getting them out as fast as I can.
7. Backorders. Every year I apologize for backorders. It is like a broken record. This year there have been the usual number of problems but also more than the usual number of screwups. I made my order from Italy in August with a ship date of 20 November. Shipment arrived in the US 28 December. There it sat in Boston Harbor, then Black Falcon terminal until 17 January. (holidays, the inevitable paperwork delays, etc). To make matters worse, only 40% of my order was there. Most of the remainder left Italy by DHL on 22 January and got hung up with US Customs in New York. As of 4 Feb it is still there, but it should be out pretty soon. But there is more. They forgot to print packets for some of the new varieties in Italy; the seed company in Bari never got my wire transfer; etc. etc. etc.] It looks like things are finally getting fixed. Most of my missing items are on that 22 January shipment; the stuff from Bari left on the 31st & is coming DHL. As of the second week in February I should only be missing agretti, frieriello peppers, red cherry tomato, green anellino bean, the yellow radish & a few others. They promise me they will have them to me by 15 February. Thanks for your orders and your patience.
8. Summer Trials. Tomato & pepper Trials. Looking for participants. I am looking for people who would like to participate in a summer tomato or pepper trial. What I plan to do this year is have four separate trials. You do not have to be a professional grower, but it would be good if you have been starting your own seeds for a while. Will send out 5-10 seeds for each variety. Each partipant will grow each variety out keeping notes on the trial sheet provided. If possible, they would take some photos with a digital camera. We can post the results up on the website in the fall. This was a lot of fun last year.
So, if you are interested in participating, send an email to seeds@growitalian.com Please include your mailing address. Specify which trial you want to participate in. I will try and get these out by the middle of March. Please select only one trial.
SELECT ONE TRIAL.
Trial # 1. Processing Tomatoes. This will consist of the following: a new hybrid bush San Marzano type from Franchi Sementi (astro); an open pollinated bush paste from Puglia (fiaschette di manduria); an open pollinated paste popular in Italy, Rio Grande which I think is American in origin.
Trial # 2. Fresh Eating Tomatoes: This will consist of the following: Montecarlo, a hybrid indeterminate from Franchi; Costuluto Genovese, open pollinated indeterminate; St Pierre, open pollinated French heirloom, indeterminate, from Franchi.
Trial # 3. Cherry Tomatoes. This will consist of the following. Da Inverno a grappoli (winter grape). Determinate grape tomato from Southern Italy; Red Cherry, new indeterminate OP red cherry from Franchi Sementi.
Trial # 4. Frying Peppers. This will consist of the following: pepper dolce Italiano, sweet frying pepper I think from Northern Italy; pepper Friggitello (aka Frieriello or Napoleatano), another sweet frying pepper; pepper frieriello barese, the barese version of Frieriello; corno di capra, goat horn pepper from calabria; San Salvatore Calabrese
9. Figs. While I do not sell figs, I think anyone who is seriously into growing Italian should consider getting a fig tree or two (or three or four). They are pretty easy to take care of and produce incredibly good tasting fruit. If you live in an area where the winter temperatures go below 20F they require some special treatment, but they are still worth it. [Northerners either grow them in pots & bring them into the garage for the winter, bury them in place or wrap them with a variety of things to keep the roots from freezing and the winter winds from injuring the tree itself] If you are lucky like me and have a brother with a heated greenhouse, they can vacation there over the winter. You can buy fig trees in a number of places. My favorite source if you live in the East is Paradise Nursery in Virginia Beach, VA. They have fair prices, a nice selection, and great customer service. Their web site is a gold mine of information on growing figs. They are at: http://www.paradisenursery.com/
I am sure there are lots of other places that have good fig trees. Just hunt around on google.
The other great resource is the Fig Forum at Gardenweb.com Seems like every figophile in the US posts there. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/fig/
10. Reader comment. I loved this comment I received and asked the author, L. Augustine if I could put it in the newsletter. Where else can you have an arugula field but with seeds from italy.
I spent a good deal of today planning my 2006 garden and ordering the bulk of the seeds from you. That activity has certainly made the spring season seem a little nearer. I just wanted to know how much learning about your seed supply has increased the pleasure of my gardening. While I have had a few failures, they are outnumbered by my sucesses. Last year in particular all of the bean crops were sensational and the romaine, escarole, and chicory crops were my best ever. I had a field full of wild arugola that I didn't even plant last year. It came up from seeds planted a couple of years ago. You can't make much money on a crop like that! A vegetarian friend of mine visited last summer and asked for permission to graze in my arugola field. Of course I welcomed her to share. I will be mailing out my order in a couple of days.
11. Nepitella. Looks like the deal fell through & no nepitella this year. My apologies. The problem is that to sell a seed in Italy, a company has to register it. This costs money. Since I was the only person interested in buying nepitella, the company decided it was not worth it to register the variety. My plan is the next time I am in Italy, I am going to get some by hook or crook.
12. Cookbook. One of my customers put me on to this. Patience Gray, Honey from a Weed: Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades and Apulia. Harper Row, New York, 1987. Recipes are the real thing, not a modification to suit Americans. It is one of the few things have seen that treats food from Puglia. It may not be available in bookstores, but you should be able to find it in a library. Great description of how to treat fava beans at different stages of ripeness.
13. The original Italian seed store in Boston. What makes this business so much fun is the contact with customers and other really interesting people. For a lot of people, these seeds have the power to bring them back pleasant memories and experiences of their past. This is just one of the many such stories people have told me and was one of the highlights of the year for me. I advertised in the magazine of the Order of Sons of Italy in America. Shortly after the ad came out, I got a call from a woman who lives in the next town over. She told me she had seen the advertisement and just had to call me. She requested a seed catalog 'for the memories' and then told me this great story. She subsequently wrote a lovely letter giving me permission to put this in the newsletter and sent me an excerpt from a book on "The Italian Americans of Greater Boston." It turns out that her grandfather, Joseph Sordillo, came to Boston from Montefalcione (Avellino Province in the region of Campagnia). In 1904 he established the Sordillo Seed store which carried gardening tools, fertilizer and 'thousands of varieties of seeds'. His store was on Blackstone Street which is in the North End of Boston which by the turn of the century has been settled by immigrants from Italy (It still is a heavily Italian area). His was the first Italian seed store in the city. He got his seeds by going back to Italy by sea, buying the seed, and bringing them back to the US. I guess I should not complain of my air freight or DHL shipping woes; it sure beats flying to Italy and buying the seed. The seed store stayed in operation until the 1970's. Great story, lovely woman. That conversation made my day.
Good growing & good memories.
Bill McKay
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