The gulf between cilantro lovers and cilantro haters seems minuscule compared to the chasm between Radicchio lovers and haters.
John Navazio told me the secret to bring folks over the chasm is to put a little sugar in your vinaigrette. He said the sweetness tricks folks into enjoying bitterness and over time they will see the light of how delicious radicchio is.
I think it might take a lot of sugar for some people to switch camps and enjoy the bitter deliciousness of radicchio.
But no matter where folks stand on taste, I’m sure we can all agree radicchio is one of the beautiful vegetables..
And with this year’s Canovi trials, I got to look at a lot of good looking radicchios.
My favourite was probably Castelfranco-Lucrezia because the leaves are nice and crisp with a refreshing mouth feel. Though it didn’t seem fair to compare Chioggia and Treviso types with Castelfranco types.
The cutest densest radicchio was Giulietta but I found the bitter taste had an acrid edge I didn’t love.
I really loved the colours on the Indigo and Fenice and they were some of my favourites in regards to taste.
I was surprised how well these Radicchio packed out of the field. When I do trials I’m used to having clear losers. With these varieties, everything was at least decent.
Looking forward to next year’s grow-out!
