I planted two heads of radicchio. One has been growing red and round and the other green and skinny. The time to maturity on the seed pack is 75 days and this one has been growing about that long. They were getting crowded so I decided to pick the weakest of the two and see what it looked like inside. To my surprise, it was red and getting dense. Not what I was expecting from how it looked on the outside. I mean, it's certainly not a market purchased example of radicchio, but it was more than I was expecting.
And the taste? Bitter as hell. I expected bitterness but not raging bitterness. I soaked and sauteed it but no real change. I've read that grilling it is the way to go, or roasting it and adding a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Maybe I'll try that with the next head but I'm skeptical. I think this is one of those "you either love it or hate it" kind of vegetables.
2 comments:
thanks for sharing your experience.. I just planted some seeds.. i have not idea what to expect.. glad I ran across your article.. did you grill it? how was it? did you plant anymore?
I didn't grill it and maybe I should have. I remember growing one that looked great but it had started to rot on the inside. So these were probably the only one's I harvested. Some of the harsh taste might have been from growing conditions. The heads didn't form dense layers so I didn't have any tender yellow leaves at the center of the heads. And I didn't blanch them while they were growing (tied up to prevent over-exposure to sunlight). That might have helped. I haven't grown any since then.
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