Radicchio and Chicory growing tips

Don't switch off straight away with the word Chicory! Read on and you might just be making a new friend!
There’s quite a difference between the two types. Chicories (the green ones), are treated much like lettuces in that they have the same growing season and are not generally frost hardy (sow from February to September/October). These are best eaten raw in salads. Radicchios are generally from the alpine northern part of Italy and are completely hardy.

They are generally sown much later and harvested through the winter. In fact, many radicchio varieties actually need the cold to turn red. Some varieties can withstand temperatures of -15°C and can be harvested outside in the UK from November to April. Cold is what makes radicchio turn red, and herein lies the problem. If you sow it in March, April or May you end up with a big green head like a Romaine lettuce, which turns hairy and so bitter that it is inedible. The reason for this is that it’s being planted with cold
and grown into heat, when in reality you need to sow it with heat (around the end of August) and grow it into the cold.

I always plant mine when I come back from my summer holidays and the plant will look green, but then, come October, you see a slight red tinge and by November, December, the radicchio turns red. The colder it is, the redder – and sweeter – radicchio is. This is why you don’t see radicchio of Sicily or Naples, but of Verona, Treviso, Bergamo and Milano. Some chicories are variegated and look brilliant. The most striking of these are Variegata di Castelfranco and Romea or Fladige. As these are sometimes in the middle in terms of colour,
people are often unsure whether to call them chicories or radicchios.

The best chicories for the salad bowl are the Pan di Zucchero (head), Bianca di Milano (head), Grumolo Bionda (light green rosettes for cutting), Grumolo Verde (green rosettes), Zuccherina di Trieste (cutting), da Taglio a Foglia Larga (large-leafed, cutting), Bianca di Chioggia (head), Mantovana (head) and Spadona (cutting). Then there are the Catalogna Puntarelle chicories, which look like big, sturdy upright dandelions. These can be eaten raw, but in some regions of Italy they cook them and use them as a sauce with garlic, onion, salt and olive oil. The main varieties are from Puglia and Brindisi, where it can still get cold, although there are also two varieties from the Veneto region.
The best-known radicchio is the Rossa di Treviso, which is the red and white striped upright variety often found in salad packs. They look awful, but just throw away the straggly outer leaves and you are left with your prize. This is the best variety for cooking. Both green and red chicories are sown at 1 cm depth; green chicories from March onwards and sometimes until October, red chicories (radicchios) from June to September onwards. See sowing details for each variety. There is one chicory that is not Italian but is used all over Europe. This is the Belgian witloof-style chicory, which is yellow. The plant is grown and then the leaves are cut back and the roots are carefully lifted from the soil and placed into a bucket of sand or a cool dark room for the sweet yellow ‘chicons’ to form.

Risotto con Radicchio e Luganica
Risotto with Radicc hio and Italian Sausage

From the book by Paolo Arrigo of Franchi seeds 'From seed to plate'