*This seed is offered as part of the “Gusto Italiano Project”, a collaborative partnership. Organically grown seed bred in Italy by Smarties.Bio

Medusa (ex #SM4.33) is a Puntarelle di Galatina strain that has vastly raised the bar of success in cool climates, with trial plot showing very uniform heading and size. The timing of planting is very important

Traditionally grown in the region around Rome, puntarelle is unique among the chicories in that it is the young, hollow bolting shoots that are usually eaten rather than the leaves. They grow into dense beautiful “heads” (referred to as “pigna” or pinecones in Italy) with many points that, upon harvest, are separated, julienned into thin strips, and soaked in cold water to remove some of the bitterness while developing an elegant curl. In Roman markets vendors can be found prepping the greens using a taglia puntarelle, a tool consisting of a fine wire grid which the stems are pushed through to finely slice them for soaking

The texture of Medusa is crisp and crunchy with the lovely refreshing bitterness of its radicchio siblings. In Rome Puntarelle alla Romana, thin strips of puntarelle in an anchovy, garlic, vinegar, and olive oil dressing, is a quintessential winter salad. There it is mainly a winter vegetable, but because bolting is triggered by photoperiod (day length, or more accurately night-length) it generally heads much earlier at more southerly latitudes, usually between mid-April and mid-May.

Key features

• Pelleted seed for ease and precision sowing
• Days to Maturity from transplant: 60 days (early cycle)
• Improved breeding of Catalogna type, Puntarelle di Galatina
• Compact head, upright and full stems
• Cold hardy
• Suits fresh market