*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: 'Sangria'
Type: Rosso di Treviso Precoce
Days to Maturity (slot): 65-70 days (early)

(Cichorium intybus) Sangria is the new extra early maturing variety in the Smarties range of Treviso types. It is important with Treviso Precoce to grow the right varieties in the right timing 'slots' (click here to read more about how 'slotting' works in contrast to succession planting to stagger harvests over a longer period). Just because you like a variety for mid-season production doesn't mean you can move the planting date forward for an earlier harvest and expect the same quality and harvest results. The best way to achieve earlier harvests is by growing earlier maturing varieties while keeping your planting date relatively stable, and 'Sangria' is perfectly suited to bring in the first Treviso-type harvests of the season. While slightly smaller than the mid and late varieties, it has perfect shape and full density early in the season

The city of Treviso is one of the epicenters of radicchio production, and Rosso di Treviso Precoce is one of the best known types in Italy, second only to Rosso di Chioggia in terms of amount produced. "Precoce" means "early" in Italian and is used here to differentiate it from the late fall/winter forced-type, Treviso Tardivo. It is relatively unfussy to grow producing dense vertically elongated heads with wine-red leaves and wide contrasting white mid-ribs for fall harvests. It has the mildest bitterness of any of the red heading radicchio types, and though it is very much at home in a raw salad preparation, it is widely considered a type for sauteing, grilling, and roasting in Italy. Much of the plants sweetness that compliments the bitterness is found in the midrib. As with all radicchio, be especially mindful of your planting dates as a successful crop requires a MUCH narrower planting window than most garden vegetables.

About the named varieties... For most vegetables, in order to provide a continuous harvest over a long period of time, growers stagger planting dates throughout the season which in turn provides a continuous harvest as the plants mature to eating stage. With radicchio, a different strategy is employed. For the most part, the majority of heading radicchio is best suited to seeding around the summer solstice (transplanting in the second-third week of July). To achieve a longer harvest period, rather than staggering planting dates, breeders have developed different varieties within a type with different days-to-maturity harvests. These are often referred to as "slots" with many types having early, mid, and late slotted varieties.

65-70 days from transplant

Packet: 100 seeds

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Growing Info

Please visit our Radicchiology page for radicchio growing info!

Radicchio (Rosso di Treviso Precoce), 'Sangria'