Seeds from Italy News
Vol 8, # 1, March 2008
THE NEWSLETTER IS BEST READ ON LINE. THE PHOTOGRAPHS MENTIONED BELOW ARE IN THE ONLINE VERSION. IF YOU WANT TO READ ON LINE, GO TO: http://growitalian.com/Mar_2008.htm
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.
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. What is going on at Seeds from Italy. (as in, where are my seeds?)
3. Growing tips. Fennel & cardoon
4. Customer Recipes.
5. More on Lampascioni.
6. Customer Comments
7. What is new
8. Seeds from Italy garden
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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. What is going on at Seeds from Italy. Right now it is tax day, April
15th. What I call the crazy season is winding down. It has been a
busy seed selling season. I finally managed to get things more or less
caught up; orders should go out within two days from now on. Back orders
should have all gone out by now. If you have not received them within a
few days of receiving this, that means something is wrong. Get in touch with me. Things work pretty slow in Italy this time of year also.
I am sorry about the delay in sending out the newsletter. It is six weeks
late. Usually I get it done in December so that even though I barely have
time to catch a breath in March, I get it out. This year the seed selling
season got going early, and I never did get a chance to finish it. Looks like everything except my income taxes will be a bit late this
year (they went in yesterday.) I did manage to get the apple trees
pruned, and found time to start onions, peppers, tomatoes and some
celeriac. However, the greenhouse cover needs to be still needs to
be replaced and peas are still not planted .
3. Growing tips.
a. Fennel. From time to time, I get letters from customers asking how do grow fennel & have it bulb up. The answer is that there is a time and a place for everything, and fennel is no different. All Italian fennel varieties are florence type fennels (different varieties are selected for certain characteristics, of course) and they all have the same growth requirements. They need a loose fertile soil, they need a regular supply of water, they need to be spaced correctly and most importantly, they need to mature when day time temperatures are moderate (say 70-75 F). In the north, that means you want your fennel to mature sometime in early September. The first thing you need to do is figure out the number of days to maturity. You will often see on a seed packet something like 82 days to maturity. That is absurd since there are so many variables that the plant could be ready 10 days on each side of that date. Most fennels are ready in 80 or so days, some a few days earlier, some a few days later. So, assume you target mid september as the date the weather should be perfect. Back up 80 days from that and you are somewhere around late June, early July. Plant then. Fennel resents transplanting (you can do it if you are very careful and do not disturb the roots much). I usually just direct seed, 3-4 seeds every six to eight inches spacing rows 12" or so apart. Thin to one plant every six-eight inches. Do not space it any closer; if you do, it will not bulb up. Now all you have to do is keep the weeds out and make sure it gets a good supply of water. That is all you have to do.
If your cool weather does not begin until mid October, then plant in early August. If you live in one of those areas where the temperatures never get very high, then plant any time. Heat is the determining factor with open pollinated fennels. In the north, some people have good success with spring fennel using five or six week transplants. (Start your seeds in a tray with fairly deep cells, do not transplant (plant 3-4 seeds per cell and use a scissors to snip extras) and put them out carefully about the same time you put out broccoli or cabbage transplants. They will usually do ok.
Fennel is fairly hardy and will take a frost with no damage (a hard freeze-say 22-23F will do some damage but they will probably survive the first one).
This is some montovano & montebianco fennel I grew last summer. It is a bit small because I did not take my own advice and failed to make the final thinning, so it was too close together when it matured. [what I had done is direct seed about one seed an inch, planning to thin it regularly so I could eat baby fennel throughout August. Well, it was a good plan, but the final thinning never did get done. This fennel was planted about July first and I began picking it about September 10th; I picked pretty much throughout October 25th or so when this particular field got some serious cold weather.
Montebianco is on the left, montovano on the right. These were about ten days before they were really ready.
Here
is the fennel patch which never got its final thinning. Looking a bit
tough now. It was in a field about ten miles from my house and never did
get very much attention (or water).
Fennel will store for several weeks at least in the refrigerator.
Cooking fennel. Don't just eat it raw. Cooked fennel has a soft buttery texture and a nice mild taste. It goes especially well with fish. One of my wife's favorites is to cook some baby fennel (or cut a bigger bulb in three or four pieces) in a heavy pan with some oil on medium heat; let it brown & carmelize some. Cook some really fresh scollops in the pan with the fennel. Serve together. Another favorite of mine is just roasting it. Put some olive oil in a bowl, add some minced garlic, pepper, perhaps some minced sage, marinate the fennel for a bit and roast it in the oven until it is tender. It is really good.
b. Cardoon. It is pretty difficult to grow artichokes in the north, but cardoon will work just about anywhere. In addition to tasting really good, they are a nice ornamental also. In warmer areas (say zones 7 on up, you can direct seed them. Put them out in the spring about the same time as bush beans. Plant 3 seeds every two feet and thin to one later on. Make your rows three feet or so. In the north, it is a good idea to do transplants. Plant 2-3 seeds per cell about 1/2 inch deep. You can soak them overnight before and this will speed up germination. When the plants are 3 inches or so tall, thin to one per cell by cutting the extras with a scissors (do not try & transplant any extras or the ones you started. Grow them in the cell you started them in.
Put them in the field about the same time you would plant tomatoes or perhaps a week or two earlier than that. One plant every two feet with rows at three feet. Keep them well weeded and watered and just let them grow. About three weeks before you are ready to harvest (if you put the transplants out in late May, they should be ready to harvest by mid September or so), you can blanch them. Tie some cardboard around the stalks of each plant (or use some boards or whatever you have to blanch a bunch of them at once. This will lighten the color & make them more tender, although you still need to pare the skin.
This is a photo of a group of bianco avorio grown by a good customer & a great gardener, Sergio.
If I remember correctly, he did not put these out until mid June and never did blanch them, though he did tie up the stalks with string so the inner ones would blanch.
There are lots of ways to cook these. No matter how you cook them, you first need to peel them removing the outer fibrous skin. You only eat the tender inner flesh. You can do a google search on 'cooking cardoon' and a ton of recipes come up. When I was a kid, the favorite way was to peel them, cook them in salted water until they were just shy of being completely cooked, remove from the water, let them cool some, dip them in flour, then dip in beaten egg, then bread crumbs and fry them in olive oil. I still like them that way.
4. Customer Recipes. Howard Scozzafava, a customer, sent in this recipe for focacciaia and pesto. Looks good
Here is some of my recipes.. I am Calebrese Italian. .... my name is Howard Scozzafava.
Perfect focassia
4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pkg. rapid rise yeast
olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
Sift 1 cup flower into a large stainless steel mixing bowl bring 3/4 cups of water to 110 degrees ..remove imediatley and pour into small preheated stainless steel bowel add sugar and yeast stir until dissolved ...add to flour and kneed for about 5 minutes.. adding flour as necessary to form a nice elastic ball.. ( pre heat oven a little(not to hot) and then turn it off.. leave oven door open slightly ..place in oven to rise).. when double in bulk remove from oven and add 1 cup of pre heated water (125 to 130 degrees) to remaing 3 cups of flour and the 1 teaspoon of salt kneed until elastic put back in warm oven and let rise untill bouble in bulk.. you are now ready to bake..
While this process is taking place...in a bowl...put green onion's (cut in 2 inch pieces and sliced in the middle) and about 4 cloves pressed garlic... some kosher salt ,,enough olive oil to cover.. place in microwave oven ..and cook until soft
place the dough in a 10" by 15" baking tray (swabed with olive oil ) work it out evenly to the edges make dimples in dough and put onions on top.. now add kosher salt on top.. lots of salt
pre heat oven to 450
let dough in tray sit for 1/2 hour ( on top of stove cause it will be warm as the oven gets up to temperature... now place in oven and bake for 20 minutes to 1/2 hour.. check to see if the top is golden brown and lift up bottom to see if it is also brown.
Perfect pesto
ingredients:
1 bunch of fresh basil
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup grated parmegiano regiano cheese
2/3 cup olive oil
Method:
Note, donot put in blender to combine
toast pine nuts in a frying pan (turn heat on high and shake around) donot burn, toast until golden brown.
mince the garlic and put in microwave on high with 1/4 cup of the olive oil for 20 secongs on high
mince 1/2 half of the pine nuts real fine
chop the basil leaves real fine
combine every thing together, including the garlic in the olive oil, and the rest of the olive oil and the cheese.
again DONOT PUT IN BLENDER
My Grandma's chicken & pork pasta recipe
ingredients:
1 chicken leg, thigh, wing, and breast
4 pork chops with bone cut in 2
8 cloves garlic.. minced
10 calamata olives cut in half
1 whole onion
4 anaheim peppers
2 cans wole tomatoes with basil 1 container of parmesian romano cheese as sold@Trader Joes
2 small cans tomato paste
2 table spoons powdered fennel
2 " " cayanne pepper
4 " " pepper flakes
1 bunch of basil
2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup of red wine ( Carlo Rossi Paisano)
Medthod:
cut chicken breast in 3 pieces
in a small frying pan brown fennel seed on high heat..allow to cool now put it in a grinder ( I use an old coffee grinder) and grind until it becomes a powder
chop the onion and mince the garlic
heat up a large frying pan when hot pour in 1/3 cup of calamata olive oil
flour chicken and pork and brown .
in a blender pour in 1 can of the tomatoes 1 can of paste 1/2 of onion and 4 cloves of garlic and 2 anaheim peppers 1/2 of the fennel powder and 1/4th of the basil blend until pulverized repeat with same remaing ingredients
pour more olive oil in the frying pan and put all ingredients
( except the rest of the basil and the wine) keep the burner on high until simmering now turn down to keep a simmer cover and cook for one hour.. stiring ocasionaly to keep from burning.now pour in the wine and cook untill the liquid has reduced..now add the rest of the basil (chopped) and 1/3 cup of the parmesian romano the 2 teaspoons sugar and cook for 5 minutes more and then turn off
cook 1 lb of linguini until al dente
put the linguine in a large platter and pour pasta sauce on top sprinkle with more parmesian ramano cheese and serve
Note: my grandmother brought this recipe from Italy to the USA in 1896
5. More on Lampascioni. I have had a hard time with lampascioni. I really do not know much about it and it has proven impossible to get information from the folks in Puglia. I assumed that since it grows as a weed in Puglia, it must be a piece of cake to grow. Not so, apparantly. This is some information from Jeff Wright, a horticulturist in British Columbia. Hope this is useful to those passionate about Lampascioni, but can only remember buying it in the store around Christmas time.
I was reading the latest newsletter of yours (please feel free to put me on the list :c) ), and read about the lack of germinatioin of lampascione in a few of your customers' gardens. I think I can shed a bit of light.
I am a professional gardener, here in Victoria, BC, and have some training and serious interest in rock and alpine gardening, including growing bulbs from seed. I've never
grown lampascione - Muscari comosum, but have grown other Muscari spp. from seed. My experience has been that Muscari will flower from seed within 3 - 5 years, depending on species and your growing conditions (this also means the bulbs are mature, though I'll bet they taste better if they're maybe a year younger...) Their seed will, of course, germinate better the fresher it is. However, you can help older seed of Muscari, in particular, to germinate by putting it into a dry plastic bag (you can wrap the seed itself in paper, inside the bag, for added protection), and then into the freezer
for about 2-3 weeks, (Feb. might be good). After the chilling period, soak the seeds in water for about 24 hours, or overnight, whichever is more convenient. Then put them into their seedling flats, being sure to use a well- drained, yet moisture-rententive potting mix (sunshine number 1 mixed with a bit extra grit or perlite is what I use, and then sometimes with a little extra leaf mold, depending on the genus, and how clean the mold is... sorry, minutiae! lol), and a grit topping over the seeds. Then try it out in your unheated greenhouse, keeping the flats moist but not wet, until they germinate. Some bulb seeds take a couple years to even germinate. So, your customers who didn't have any luck in the first season, they can put those same seed flats right outside in the winter weather - providing they didn't throw them out! - in a reasonably sheltered spot, and then see if they come
up in the spring. I know from alpine -growing experience, some of the seed exchange stuff doesn't some up for even 3 or 4 or 5 years!
I'd say do the stratifying as soon as you get the seed, then do the soak for 24-30 hours. I just read over my notes from the last batch of Muscari hybrids I sowed a couple years ago, and that's what i did then. (we have an avid hybridizer in our local rock gardening club, and he is coming up with some more scented Muscari - it's really neat to smell pineapple coming from such a cute flower...). Also, I made a mistake in mentioning the leaf mold: it's only for using in potting mix that's for plants and bulbs, not seed flats - not sterile enough. And, it's actually Sunshine #3 I use (mixed with grit), for seeds, as it's the finer mix, more for seed starting. Your customers can use a coarse sand to top their flats of Lampascioni with too, if they don't have grit. ....
You know, if anyone ever sends you back a packet of lamp. seed, and it's obviously not saleable again, i'd love the chance to try it out here, maybe grow some on for seed production for you or whoever. Also, if you wanted to trial Fennels this year, as in bulbing Fennel, I'd be game. I make a wicked salad with it from time to time. also, try blending it with blanched endive in a salad - holy taste sensation!
6. Customer Comments. Mary from Honeyoe [New York] is queen of the herb choppers. She has bought more herb choppers than any ten customers; when I asked her what she does with all of them, she told me one of her
missions in life is to ensure that her friends all have one. Here is her comments on the herb choppers and also a neat technique to deal with extra San Marzano tomatoes.
Hi, Bill! Sure, please feel free [to mention this in the newsletter]. Those little herb choppers are so terrific and easy to use, plus then they can be popped into the dishwasher. So many choppers you see for sale have those metal choppers that end up rusting. My little red chopper has been through the dishwasher hundreds of times and is still good as new! And feel free to say I said so! Mary from Honeoye
Hi, Bill! I just had to pass on these really super finds from the growing season! Take San Marzano paste tomatoes, cut them in half from stem end to bottom, pop out the seeds and dry them continuously through the harvest season. Then break up the dried ones enough to pass through your little red herb grinder. These can be used as a substitute for tomato paste, as an enhancer for canned sauces, as an addition to any soup, and also tossed in with vegetables while they are steaming or sauteing. Wonderful and colorful! Also had to tell you how wonderful annelino beans out of the freezer are when defrosted and steamed or sauteed. These are the best freezer beans we've ever had! Mary from Honeoye
7. What is new. I have a couple of new things which are now on line. The pumpkins were sent by mistake; the turnip is something customers have been asking for.
a. Atlantic Giant Pumpkin.
b. Mamouth Pumpkin
c. Turnip. Purple top, half long These are a longish (3-4") turnip with a red/purple top and white bottom. Pretty & tasty.
8. Seeds from Italy garden. The snow is gone and the garden has thawed out
This year this is what I hope to be able to do and report on.
a. Grow out four or five of the winter squash varieties. I never had enough space to grow winter squash, but this year have a couple of plots in a community garden which I believe is woodchuck free - unlike my garden. I am thinking I will do Marina Chioggia, Padana, Butternut rugosa, Moscarde & Berrintina.
b. More extensive cima di rapa growout. A little seed company sent me some 40, 60, 90 120 & 150 varieties of cima di rapa. I plan to seed them all at the same time and see how things go.
c. Turnip grow out. I had some turnip with my St. Patrick's Day corned beef; it was pretty good. I don't know why I don't eat them more often. I plan to grow out the three varieties of turnip.
d. Zuchinnithon. I am going to grow as many varieties of zucchini as I have space for. Only question is what do I do with all the zucchini?
9. If you received this newsletter and you do not want to be on the subscription list, just click on the unsubscribe link below. http://www.growitalian.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=list&l=GrowItalian
Good growing. As always, may your garden be woodchuck and deer free. Also, for those of you who have squirrels get in your attic, may you have a couple of red tailed hawks patrol your yard.
Bill McKay