Vol 7, # 3, September 2007
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. Reports on Some New (and some not so new) Varieties
a. Garrafal Enana Bean
b. Reduna Tomato
c. Marmande Tomato
d. Oxheart (Cuor di Bue) Tomato
e. Yellow Pear Tomato
f. Romaine della 7 lune Lettuce
3. Growing Tip. Dealing with Tomato Leaf Disease
4. Salamoia
5. Recipe. Baked Chicken.
6. Wild Arugula Bed, Part 2.
7. Two new cook books.
8. Garlic
9. Seed Varieties for 2008
10. Franchi Flowers
11. Cippolini onions.
12. Padrone Peppers
13. Newsletter: subscribe or unsubscribe
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/
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. Reports on Some New (and not so new) Varieties
a. Garrafal Enana Bean. This was new this year. When I was in Italy last year, I was talking with the Franchi agent from Slovenia about Garrafal Oro (the pole variety) and he said I really should try the Garrafal Enana which is a bush version of this bean. I planted some early
this spring and was pleasantly surprised. First, they germinated after being planted during a fairly cold period in mid May. Good germination. They were ready during the first week in July. They are a bush roma type and have that very distinctive curve found in the Garrafal types. Very good taste, both when young and when they have got larger. Good production. No strings, even when quite large and they do get large. Here is a photo of some picked after I let them grow to full size.
b. Reduna Tomato. I have carried Reduna for years, but never have grown it (it is a cluster type tomato and I have never eaten a cluster type that I thought was worth eating.) Either this is the exception to the rule or, more likely, any tomato grown outside and allowed to ripen is better than any greenhouse type that is grown in the winter. The plant is early, produces a goodly quantity of 2" perfect red tomatoes. Taste is very nice.
c. Marmande Tomato. Another tomato I have carried for years and never grown. Glad I did. It is a really nice indeterminate. Produces a lot of flattish red tomatoes with a pretty perfect shape. They taste very good and are quite early (they came in just after the oxhearts. Tomatoes weigh anywhere from 7-8 to 11 or so ounces.
d. Oxheart (Cuor di Bue) Tomato I have grown these in the past with mixed results. Although they are really early and very tasty, sometimes they did not produce a whole lot. I now realize it was a weather (and more important disease issue with my soil). This year we had good growing conditions and I grew them right. What a yield. I had huge quantities of very good sized pink skinned tomatoes on every vine. Flesh is dark red and very luscious. They were one of the earliest tomatoes to ripen. Very good taste. I really like them.
e. Yellow Pear Tomato. Last year Franchi sent me 60 packs by mistake. I did not put them online because I had never grown them and my experience with the 'yellow pear' available in the United States was not positive. (they did not taste very good & cracked whenever a cloud passed over). Anyway, I grew these out and was pleasantly surprised. The plant is a huge indeterminate and produces a goodly quantity of pear shaped cherry tomatoes. Amazing thing is the color; they are a very bright yellow. If you pick them a bit underripe, they often have a green streak in them which makes them even prettier. They taste pretty good and are early like most cherry type tomatoes.
They are very good at resisting cracks. Next year I will carry them.
f.
Romaine lettuce della 7 lune. Apologies in advance for the photos.
This was starting to bolt when I took the photo [I took off a few days when
these were ready to harvest and the temps got into the mid 90's). This
is a really nice romaine. Pretty color. It does not have a lot of
resistance to bolting, but then most romaine types do not. Very
interesting texture for a romaine in that it is kind of soft, yet the stems do
have some crunch. Mild flavor [my wife gave it a thumbs up in the taste
department and she definitely would not have blessed a strong tasting
lettuce] I have a bunch more going for the fall.
3. Growing Tip. Dealing with Tomato Leaf Disease Take a look at the photo of this tomato plant which was taken on 29 July. This is a marmande tomato from my garden and five weeks ago it was perfect. Most people would take a look at something like this and say, boy, that tomato has no disease resistance. However, take a look at the second photo. This is another Marmande taken on the same day. It is growing fifteen feet away from the first one in the same soil. What is going on.
Septoria leaf spot seems to be the culprit (though it may be early blight; I always have a hard time distinguishing them). It is a fairly common disease of tomatoes. Spots show up on the oldest leaves and spread through the plant. The disease lingers in the soil and when the temperatures get warm, humidity rises and rain splashes soil contaminated with the fungus, the disease gets going. Depending on how severe the infection is (and in my garden it is always severe) the plant may produce at a reduced rate until killed by frost or it may just disintegrate and disappear before the end of August.
So what explains the difference between the two plants? The severely diseased plant is outside and water is provided by soaker hoses (overhead watering often causes the soil contaminated with the fungus to splash up on the bottom leaves). This particular row of plants did get splashed from overhead watering since the sprinklers sometimes threw water as far as the tomatoes when I watered other parts of the garden. Also, toward the end of June we had a period of heavy thundershowers (I mean really heavy) followed by cool damp weather, ideal conditions for the disease to start. I was going to put plastic mulch on the beds
to help prevent soil splashing on the leaves, but was unable to (some routine knee surgery in early May turned out not to be so routine). Another cause was probably the tomato cages. Usually I dip them in a mixture of water & bleach to kill any organisms which may have survived over the winter; this spring I was not able to do that & I suspect that was a major factor this year since things are worse than I have ever seen them. As for the plants in the hoophouse, they were never rained on. I always watered them at the bottom and tried my best to keep from splashing soil on them. They are strung up, not within my cages. They look perfect. I counted forty tomatoes on each of the plants (a marmande, a St Pierre & an Oxheart).
So, how can you prevent this disease. If possible, rotate the area where you plant your tomatoes. Disinfect any cages you use. Space tomatoes well (if too close, restricted air movement encourages disease). Plant your tomatoes on a heavy mulch of clean straw or even better, red or black plastic mulch. Finally, if possible, don't put all of your eggs in one basket; this year I got some space in a community garden spot and my tomatoes there are doing quite well.
4. Salamoia. Last January when passing through London, I stopped over and visited with the Franchi agent there. He made lunch which included a bread which he had seasoned with something he called Salamoia. After I tasted the bread, I asked him to show me the salamoia. It is a seasoning very common in Central Italy, especially around Bologna but you find it in numerous iterations all over the central part of the country. Essentially it is fresh rosemary, garlic & sage (& sometimes lemon zest) preserved in sea salt. The flavor is incredible.
Anyway, I took a jar home and began to experiment. The stuff is amazing with chicken and pork as well as a whole variety of vegetables. This entire summer, grilled chicken or pork has been enhanced with a rub of salamoia and olive oil. I use it on zucchini done on the grill and also roasted vegetables. It would be terrific on focaccia.
I have never seen this sold in the United States, but it may be available. However, it is really quite simple to make. Here is the original recipe.
INGREDIENTI
a.. 100 g di sale grosso
b.. 10 g di foglie di rosmarino
c.. 5 g di foglie di salvia
d.. 1 spicchio d'aglio
NOT SURE HOW YOUR ITALIAN IS: ROUGH TRANS. IS 100 GRAMS SEA SALT, 10 GRAMS ROSEMARY LEAF, 5 GRAMS SAGE LEAF, 1 CLOVE GARLIC.
PREPARAZIONE
a.. Lavare le foglie di rosmarino e di salvia. Tamponarle con carta da cucina.
b.. Spellare l'aglio.
c.. Riunire rosmarino, salvia ed aglio su un tagliere e tritarli finemente con la mezzaluna.
d.. Mettere sale ed aromi nel mortaio e pestare per aromatizzare il sale miscelando il composto e sminuzzandolo per ottenere dei grani pių fini.
e.. La salamoia cosė preparata si conserva per 3 mesi in un vaso a chiusura ermetica.
ROUGH TRANS: Wash the rosemary & sage leaves, dry w/ kitchen towel. Peel garlic. Chop the rosemary, sage & garlic on a board with a mezzaluna (kind of a knife with a crescent shaped blade).
Put the herbs & salt in a mortar & Pound away until the salt is pretty fine. The salamoia will last 4 months in a sealed jar.
(I would just rough chop the herbs, then put them in a blender with the salt and wack away.
If you do not happen to have a garden full of sage, rosemary & fresh garlic and you can not find the ingredients at your local farmers market, you should be able to buy this from a guy I know who also imports olive oil from Italy & sells it. Mike Sola lives in Central Massachusetts and has a farm there. He used to live in Tuscany & had an olive grove. He tells me he will be making salamoia & selling it. You can check the Tuckaway Farm website here: http://tuckawayfarmllc.com/
5. Recipe. Chicken baked with salamoia rub. One night during the winter I baked some chicken thighs using it and they were incredible; they have become a staple in our house. The recipe is simplicity beyond belief. Take some chicken thighs (with or without skin), put them in a bowl & add some olive oil to moisten them. Add a tsp or two of salamoia and rub everything in. Dip the thighs in some plain bread crumbs (the crumbs will stick because of the oil). Bake them in an oven at 350 until done. They are moist and amazingly flavorful. Usually I would do some winter vegetables (onions, carrots, potatoes, etc) at the same time using the same technique less the bread crumbs. What a great winter meal.
6. Wild arugula bed, part 2. Last time I described how to make a permanant wild arugula bed and showed pictures of last years liscia (smooth
leaf) wild arugula coming back in my garden in early May. Here is a picture of the bed in July. I have been picking this all year and getting a bit sick of wild arugula. I think I need to start cooking some of it to use it up.
7. Two new cook books. I am obviously taken by the cooking of Southern Italy so I was pleased to run into some cookbooks on the cusine of the area. Both are by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. First is "Flavors of Puglia, Traditional Recipes from the Heel of Italy/s Boot. It came out in 1997. The second one is Cucina del Sole, A celebration of Southern Italian Cooking and it just came out this year.
Both have some really interesting recipes from the south, though my favorite by far is the book on Pugliese cooking. The recipes really capture the essence of Pugliese food. The best part is reading a comment to the effect that "you can not find this vegetable in the US". Of course, I have the seed in stock for almost every one she mentions. I love the recipe for oven roasted chicken and potatoes. Can't wait for things to cool down to try it.
8. It looks as though I should have garlic this year. I checked with the folks in Italy & they tell me they anticipate all varieties will be available when the come back from August holiday on the 22nd. I will have:
rosso sulmonella. A very flavorful small red hardneck from Abruzzo. 
white from piacenza. This is a white softneck, fair sized cloves and it does well in all climates.
viola francese. This is a huge purple softneck from northwest Italy/southeast France. I have had mixed results with it here in New England (but then I can say that about most things I grow) but folks in warmer areas report spectacular results.
In addition, I will have a limited quantity of Music garlic. This is a very popular American garlic. It is a hardneck, makes really serious scapes and produces huge cloves.
It is very flavorful. It is grown in New York state and is very hardy.
All of these are on the web site as you read this. You can order on line or call it in (781 721 5904). I will ship them to you after 15 September.
9. Varieties for 2008. I am thinking about varieties for 2008 and welcome your suggestions. Many of the new varieties I have taken on the past few years are the result of customer suggestions. If you have experience with a variety you found in Italy and think it is something that is really good, let me know about it. I will look around for a source. Give me as much information as you can. Also, I have been thinking of dropping some of the varieties from Southern Italy. While I really love them, I have been unhappy with seed quality, especially on the peppers (here I am thinking of the stuff from Puglia in the 'Europacks'. I would appreciate your thoughts on this.
10. Franchi Flowers This year I grew a bunch of the Franchi poppies (the single red 'flanders' poppy, shirley poppy, the double red & california poppy. They were really pretty (sorry I did not remember to take any photos) and provided a lot of early color. Poppies are easy to grow (in the north, just sow some seed in late fall or early spring and let them go). They should reseed themselves the following year.
Rudbeckia # 2. My rudbeckia that I started last year came back (as they should) and were really thick. Beautiful and really simple perennial to
grow. I love them. The bees & butterflies also appreciated them.
These only get six or so hours sunshine a day which explains the height.
They would be 12" or so shorter if they were in full sun.
The sunflowers were also pretty special. I grew the paquito mix and Red Sun. Both went out as 4 week transplants so they were pretty early. The
Red Sun ran
55-60" or so in height and had lots of side flowers. The Paquito are a really pretty dwarf with huge quantities of side
flowers. The pictures do not do them justice; I grew them out in my
auxiliary garden which is loaded with finches who worked on the seeds right away. They were very early; these photos were taken in early July.
They are pretty special sun flowers.
11. Cipollini onions. In Italy these are just called cipolla (onions) whether they are flat, round, long, etc but here in the United States most people think flat onions when they hear
cipollini. This year I started some borretana & piatta di bergamo in 72 cell trays, 4 seeds per cell. I was late [usually one wants to start onions 10-11 weeks before you intend to set them out] and since I had no room in the seed starting area, they got started on top of the basement stairs (where I promptly forgot about them). To make a long story short, they
did not germinate particularly well, did not get enough water & went out to the unheated hoop house way to early. The intent was to put them out in clumps of four spaced seven or so inches apart. While this does tend to result in smaller onions, the advantage is that you can weed them with a hoe (and believe me, being able to do this with onions is a real advantage. Well, because of all my problems, most of them went out individually. They were pretty small when transplanted in early May. Nevertheless, they did reasonably well.
I particularly like these two onions. They are good storage onions and they are perfect for roasting; unlike most onions, they hold their form when roasted and never fall apart. Small ones are good for pickling. They are pretty flavorful (read pungent) and are probably best cooked.
If you are looking for salad onions, you may be better off growing the tropea rossa, savonese or the genovese which is red all the way through.
Piatta di
Bergamo
Borretana
12. Padrone Peppers. Last newsletter I included some information
on Padrone peppers which was written by Adam Mackie in New Mexico who has been
growing & selling these for years. I grew a bunch of Padrone this
year and can confirm that everything he said about them was absolutely
true. They are delicious. The trick is to pick them the correct
size which is more or less the size of your thumb or little finger. If
you only have a few plants, they store well in the refrigerator for 6-7 days
until you can collect enough for a good feed. For some reason, this year the Padrone were variable; Adam's
were light green with small lobes; as for mine, the ones grown in the
greenhouse were classic padrone: dark green with a point on the flower
end whereas the ones grown outside were like his. They all tasted the
same. Go figure! Here are a few photos:
Inside greenhouse Outside in Field Picked, ready to cook up. Open a beer.
Another farmer I know told me
another way to deal with Padrone. Let some of them grow to full
size. (they will get red). Harvest them & roast a bunch of
them on a grill. Peel off the skin. Cut into quarters (removing
the seed) and stack a bunch of pepper quarters on top of each other making a
brick an inch or two high. Put in a bag you can seal and freeze
it. In the winter when you need some heat and smoky pepper flavor, take
out your brick, slice off a small piece (small since these are pretty hot when
ripe) and cook with it.
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Good growing. As always, may your garden be woodchuck and deer free.
Bill McKay