Rapa da Foglia senza Testa (110-10)

I am in the US zone 6a and have tried various broccoli rabe seeds/plants from the nursery. For whatever reason mine bolt and go right to flower. I might get one meal out of it. These seeds were AMAZING. They produced leaves from June through November (we had a late frost). As others mentioned they are best picked young as the larger leaves were tougher /hairier. I could not keep up with them and often had large tough leaves. I solved this issue by simply removing large center stalks and blanching before using in a recipe! I will grow more this season!

Rapini senza testa means "without head". So if you are looking for rapini (broccoli rabe) that has the pretty heads and impresses your dinner guests, this isn't the one for you. But if you are into it for the taste, senza testa is the way to go. I've grown both side by side and prefer senza testa.

back for another packet!
these greens are so good for omelets, pasta dishes, bean dishes, pizza--even wonderful in enchiladas. remove the stems for cooking.

we grow them in big pots, and they keep producing for cut and come again cooking greens. the stems are quite sturdy, so they hold up well in our windy garden. some insect damage, but not much--backs of the leaves have an irritating hairy covering, and the taste is bitter, so most bugs will go elsewhere.

Now this is a great green, a new staple for me in Virginia. In the fall it produced an abundance of tasty greens with a deep, sweet/turnip raab flavor and was a vigorous grower which seemed to shrug off adverse conditions better than most brassicas. It overwintered well (down to 20 degerees F, or slightly less) and has delighted us with tender thick raab-like florets this Spring as a true biennial. So if you like raab, as I do, this green is an excellent choice.