Posted on Mar 10, 2023
A radicchio revolution is underway in the Northwest
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On an overcast winter morning, the four acres of Wild Roots Farm look pretty dormant to the untrained eye. A string of winter storms and some 20-degree nights have left what looks like rows of muddy soil with spots of wilting vegetation mixed in. But Mary Colombo sees things a little differently.
“On the outside it’s all slimy and dead,” said Colombo, “but peel back all those layers and inside is this beautiful green head of radicchio with [what] looks like elf-painted pink speckles all throughout.”
Colombo is describing a Variegato di Chioggia, one of the more than 25 varieties of radicchio she and husband Brian Shipman are growing on their farm in Troutdale, Oregon. A significant portion of their crop plan — about a half acre — is planted out in fall/winter radicchio.
“We start harvesting radicchio in September and you sort of have a continued harvest sometimes up [until] March if we’re lucky enough,” she said.
That extended radicchio growing season helps to combat something known to farmers as the “hunger gap” — that time between late November and early March when there just isn’t a lot of local produce growing. In the winter, consumers are often craving something bright and leafy, while many farmers are just looking to stay afloat.
“On the outside it’s all slimy and dead,” said Colombo, “but peel back all those layers and inside is this beautiful green head of radicchio with [what] looks like elf-painted pink speckles all throughout.”
Colombo is describing a Variegato di Chioggia, one of the more than 25 varieties of radicchio she and husband Brian Shipman are growing on their farm in Troutdale, Oregon. A significant portion of their crop plan — about a half acre — is planted out in fall/winter radicchio.
“We start harvesting radicchio in September and you sort of have a continued harvest sometimes up [until] March if we’re lucky enough,” she said.
That extended radicchio growing season helps to combat something known to farmers as the “hunger gap” — that time between late November and early March when there just isn’t a lot of local produce growing. In the winter, consumers are often craving something bright and leafy, while many farmers are just looking to stay afloat.
A radicchio revolution is underway in the Northwest
Posted from opb.org
Farming
Agriculture
Italy
State of Washington
Posted 1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel good day Brother William, always informational and of the most interesting. Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day!
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."At the same time, Lane Selman was back in the Pacific Northwest spreading the gospel of radicchio, hosting celebrations of the vegetable in the style of the tens of thousands of festivals called sagre which are in held in Italy each year.
Since 2018, Selman has helped organize an annual Chicory Week to celebrate the bitter veggie which culminates in a Sagra del Radicchio which pairs growers and chefs together to share not only the extensive variety of radicchio being grown in the Pacific Northwest, but also how to prepare it. And the celebrations caught the attention of Ghedina, who reached out to reconnect via social media in late 2019.
“It just so happened that I was co-organizing what later [we] called a ‘Radicchio Expedition’ to Italy.” she said. “So I said: ‘Andrea, you have your own seed company now, you’re breeding all of these things and we would love to see you.’”
So in January 2020, a group of 22 farmers, chefs, scholars, and advocates from Oregon and Washington spent five days in the Veneto region of Italy, meeting farmers, visiting seed companies and learning the best way to grow and eat radicchio.
A Radicchio Expedition group co-organized by Italian farmer Myrtha Zierock (left) and Lane Selman (center in white) stand in a radicchio field in the Veneto region of Italy in January 2020.
A Radicchio Expedition group co-organized by Italian farmer Myrtha Zierock (left) and Lane Selman (center in white) stand in a radicchio field in the Veneto region of Italy in January 2020.
Shawn Linehan / Courtesy of Lane Selman / Culinary Breeding Network
“We made the decision, Andrea and I in Italy, that we need to get his seed over into the U.S.”
Selman connected Ghedina with Brian Campbell who owns Washington-based Uprising Seeds with his partner Crystine Goldberg. Campbell and Goldberg started the company in 2007 after noticing a gap in the market of locally produced seeds.
“Our goal was to create a regional seed economy that mirrored what was happening in the food world with the farm to table [movement] and kind of the localization of produce market,” Campbell said.
It was an opportunity to adapt vegetable varieties they loved to growing conditions in the Northwest. Which made them the perfect partner for Smarties.bio, because both companies shared a passion for chiccory and radicchio."...
..."At the same time, Lane Selman was back in the Pacific Northwest spreading the gospel of radicchio, hosting celebrations of the vegetable in the style of the tens of thousands of festivals called sagre which are in held in Italy each year.
Since 2018, Selman has helped organize an annual Chicory Week to celebrate the bitter veggie which culminates in a Sagra del Radicchio which pairs growers and chefs together to share not only the extensive variety of radicchio being grown in the Pacific Northwest, but also how to prepare it. And the celebrations caught the attention of Ghedina, who reached out to reconnect via social media in late 2019.
“It just so happened that I was co-organizing what later [we] called a ‘Radicchio Expedition’ to Italy.” she said. “So I said: ‘Andrea, you have your own seed company now, you’re breeding all of these things and we would love to see you.’”
So in January 2020, a group of 22 farmers, chefs, scholars, and advocates from Oregon and Washington spent five days in the Veneto region of Italy, meeting farmers, visiting seed companies and learning the best way to grow and eat radicchio.
A Radicchio Expedition group co-organized by Italian farmer Myrtha Zierock (left) and Lane Selman (center in white) stand in a radicchio field in the Veneto region of Italy in January 2020.
A Radicchio Expedition group co-organized by Italian farmer Myrtha Zierock (left) and Lane Selman (center in white) stand in a radicchio field in the Veneto region of Italy in January 2020.
Shawn Linehan / Courtesy of Lane Selman / Culinary Breeding Network
“We made the decision, Andrea and I in Italy, that we need to get his seed over into the U.S.”
Selman connected Ghedina with Brian Campbell who owns Washington-based Uprising Seeds with his partner Crystine Goldberg. Campbell and Goldberg started the company in 2007 after noticing a gap in the market of locally produced seeds.
“Our goal was to create a regional seed economy that mirrored what was happening in the food world with the farm to table [movement] and kind of the localization of produce market,” Campbell said.
It was an opportunity to adapt vegetable varieties they loved to growing conditions in the Northwest. Which made them the perfect partner for Smarties.bio, because both companies shared a passion for chiccory and radicchio."...
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