Whenever I travel, I try to bring back some flower and vegetable seeds, to try out in the garden when I get home. (You can take seeds across borders as long as they are commercially packaged).
I tend to look for unusual seeds, ones that I am unlikely to find at home. They do not have to be rare.
This year, for instance, I bought among other things, seeds for a winter squash called Marina di Chioggia.
Two of the other seeds I bought turned out to be quite different from what I expected. They are plants I have long known, but never suspected they might be edible.
The first is a root vegetable called "Rapunzel" (Raperonzolo). You cook the tubers with or without the leaves. Here is the package.
When I got the flat I had time to read the small print. It turns out that Rapunzel is rampion (Campanula rapunculus), a close relation of Campanula rapunctoides - one of the most difficult weeds to get rid of! It is known under many names, I call it Grandma's bells - a name I picked up from my good friend Gwyn.
Of course what I bought is a special hybrid that has been selected to produce larger roots. I would have bought it even had I known it was a kind of Grandma's bells. However, having identified it, I know not to spread the seeds indiscriminately.
The second surprise is called Stridoli erba.
I look forward to trying it. It is described (by those who sell it) as having a flavor a bit like a combination of arugula, tarragon, chicory & other herbs (A good example of how to make a description meaningless by adding too many elements).
We bought all these at a co-op stores. Prices were very reasonable. A box of half a kilo of spinach seeds was 3 euros! I did not get any, but I got 50 grams of kale seeds (which in Italy is known as black cabbage).
50 grams of kale seeds should last me a few years!
I tend to look for unusual seeds, ones that I am unlikely to find at home. They do not have to be rare.
This year, for instance, I bought among other things, seeds for a winter squash called Marina di Chioggia.
Two of the other seeds I bought turned out to be quite different from what I expected. They are plants I have long known, but never suspected they might be edible.
The first is a root vegetable called "Rapunzel" (Raperonzolo). You cook the tubers with or without the leaves. Here is the package.
When I got the flat I had time to read the small print. It turns out that Rapunzel is rampion (Campanula rapunculus), a close relation of Campanula rapunctoides - one of the most difficult weeds to get rid of! It is known under many names, I call it Grandma's bells - a name I picked up from my good friend Gwyn.
Of course what I bought is a special hybrid that has been selected to produce larger roots. I would have bought it even had I known it was a kind of Grandma's bells. However, having identified it, I know not to spread the seeds indiscriminately.
The second surprise is called Stridoli erba.
It is described as a green you cook before eating. You can add it to stir fries, risotto or pasta. That sounds quite interesting.
The English name is "sculpit". What is the Latin name? Silene inflata, also know as Silene vulgaris, the common bladder campion, a weed even the non-gardener will recognize in the picture below.
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| Bladder Campion |
I look forward to trying it. It is described (by those who sell it) as having a flavor a bit like a combination of arugula, tarragon, chicory & other herbs (A good example of how to make a description meaningless by adding too many elements).
We bought all these at a co-op stores. Prices were very reasonable. A box of half a kilo of spinach seeds was 3 euros! I did not get any, but I got 50 grams of kale seeds (which in Italy is known as black cabbage).
50 grams of kale seeds should last me a few years!
I've never seen bladder campion around here. It's probably too warm. It has such interesting flowers!
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