*This seed is offered as part of the "Gusto Italiano Project", a collaborative partnership between Uprising Seeds, Italian breeders Smarties.Bio, and the Culinary Breeding Network. Certified organic seed is grown in Italy by Smarties.Bio.

Variety: "Medusa"
Type: Puntarelle di Galantina
Days to Maturity: 70-90

(Cichorium intybus) We are crazy about the chicories in general, but puntarelle has been a full-blown obsession here at Uprising. Puntarelle is unique among the chicories in that it is the young, hollow bolting shoots that are usually eaten rather than the leaves. They grow into dense beautiful "heads" (referred to as "pigne" or pinecones in Italy) with many points that, upon harvest, are separated, julienned into thin strips, and soaked in cold water to remove some of the bitterness while developing an elegant curl. In Roman markets, vendors can be found prepping the greens using a taglia puntarelle, a tool consisting of a fine wire grid (available here) which the stems are pushed through to finely slice them for soaking. The texture is crisp and crunchy with the lovely refreshing bitterness of its radicchio siblings. In Rome, Puntarelle alla Romana, thin strips of puntarelle in an anchovy, garlic, vinegar, and olive oil dressing, is a quintessential winter salad. There it is mainly a winter vegetable, but because bolting is triggered by photoperiod (day length, or more accurately night-length) it generally heads much earlier at our more northerly latitude, usually between mid-October and mid-November. 'Medusa' is actually variety from Puglia in the Italian south. While similar to the Roman types, Galatina types from Puglia tend to be a bit bigger, heavier, cold-hardy, and more uniform in their heading. The tradeoff is that the stems tend to be a bit shorter and the texture slightly less tender. We think both types very much have a place in any puntarelle enthusiasts rotation.
We have been growing this crop for many years here at Uprising, and in the past have found the available seed to be extremely variable, frustratingly producing a relatively low percentage of proper, harvestable plants. This Smarties strain has vastly raised the bar of success in our climate, with our trial plot showing very uniform heading and size. The timing of planting is very important - check our Radicchiology page linked below for more details on growing.

70-90 days from transplant

Packet: 100 seeds

Growing Info

Please visit our Radicchiology page for radicchio growing info!

Chicory (Puntarelle di Galatina), 'Medusa'