*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, Chioggia, It.*
(C. endivia) Escarole, as a culinary green, is noted in the very early histories of Rome, Greece, and Egypt name dropped by both Pliny and Ovid in texts. Its cultivation in England goes back at least to the 1500s. We will not lie, Escarole is one of our favorite greens in the chicory family and that is saying something. Wide broad-leaved rosettes grow in fall and are usually tied (or on small scale covered with cloches) a couple weeks prior to harvest to blanche the hearts. The texture is very tender and the flavor rich, nutty and very mildly bitter. It is one of our very favorite chicories for raw salads, but is also used in Sicily and elsewhere as the base for one of the most comforting Autumnal soups we make—a simple, subtle brothy affair that just screams for a crust of bread and a comfortable chair next to a window to sit, eat, and watch the rain come down. Also a classic green for "wedding soup".
"Matilde" is an excellent market-quality Escarole for long day (early) cycles, with the highest flexibility of sowing dates for late summer through late fall harvest periods. It has bright buttery yellow cores, excellent and uniform structure, and resistance to bolting and stem cracking.
