{"id":58,"date":"2012-03-21T14:09:32","date_gmt":"2012-03-21T21:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joshvolk.com\/blog\/?p=58"},"modified":"2014-11-12T07:16:54","modified_gmt":"2014-11-12T15:16:54","slug":"chicories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joshvolk.com\/?p=58","title":{"rendered":"Chicories"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chicories\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Below is a piece of a repost from when I launched my original site back in 2007.\u00a0 This predates the current “very small farm<\/a>” out on Sauvie Island and is instead referring to the trial grounds in my backyard.\u00a0 Five years later I’m still growing most of those same chicories and enjoying them more than ever. The interest in chicories is definitely growing.\u00a0 NOVIC<\/a> is going to do variety trials this winter here in the Northwest, and I was just talking to Carol Miles<\/a> from WSU who is going to be trialing chicories in Washington. The Northwest Agricultural Business Center <\/a>hosted a season extension workshop in Mt. Vernon two weeks ago that I was fortunate to be invited to present at.\u00a0 Carol, as well as a number of other very experienced growers participated and part of what I showed were my winter CSA shares, grown outside, that rely heavily on chicories to offer a good salad green that can also be cooked in the winter.<\/p>\n

My varieties initially came primarily from Seeds From Italy<\/a>, which has an excellent selection, and very high quality seeds. I’ve recently been getting more seed from Wild Garden Seed<\/a>.\u00a0 Frank Morton, the breeder at Wild Garden is a friend and another chicory fanatic having been a long time salad greens grower. I think that here in the Northwest we’re still in the early parts of the learning curve in terms of variety selection, best growing practices, and also in developing a solid market.\u00a0 These greens are so good in the winter, although I don’t think they’re great at other times of year.\u00a0 That might limit their appeal to folks who aren’t used to cooking seasonally, but seasonal eating is also starting to catch on a little more. They’re a perfect addition to CSA shares which emphasize seasonality anyway.<\/p>\n

Here are my notes from back in 2007<\/p>\n

Thursday, December 6, 2007<\/p>\n

It\u2019s December and I am completely excited about the outrageously beautiful, and delicious chicories that are growing on the \u201cvery small farm\u201d right now.\u00a0 This is a selection of them, two radicchios, a catalogna, a frisse, and an escarole.\u00a0 There are a few more out there that aren\u2019t in the photo, equally beautiful and really flavorful.\u00a0 The cool weather has really mellowed any bitter and most of these aren\u2019t bitter at all.\u00a0 I\u2019ve grown some chicories, and enjoyed them but last year\u2019s trip to Italy was very inspiring, especially an escarole salad we had at a little agritourismo outside of Sienna.\u00a0 So, this year I went a little crazy and decided that I wanted to experiment with a lot of varieties in the fields and preparations in the kitchen.\u00a0 They are a little tricky to grow, but mostly just in the uneveness of maturity and size.\u00a0 In the winter garden this might actually be a real advantage, since things aren\u2019t really growing anyway.\u00a0 It\u2019s a real advantage if they can all be planted in the late summer and then mature over the course of about five or six months, starting in October or November when the summer lettuces are finished.\u00a0 The downside is definitely low yields and lots of rot to dig through, but welcome to winter growing outside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Below is a piece of a repost from when I launched my original site back in 2007.\u00a0 This predates the current “very small farm” out on Sauvie Island and is instead referring to the trial grounds in my backyard.\u00a0 Five years later I’m still growing most of those same chicories and enjoying them more than … <\/p>\n

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