Chicorium intybus
Origin: Northeast US
Improvement status: Breeding population
Seeds per packet: ~100
Germination tested 12/2025: 90%
Life cycle: Biennial
This exciting culinary adventure comes our way thanks to our friends at the Freed Seed Federation (FSF) from southeast Massachusetts' Farm Coast (between Rhode Island and Cape Cod). FSF founder Bill Braun began working on this project years ago in collaboration with the late great Dr. John Navazio, a legend in the organic seed-farming and plant breeding community, responsible for countless open-pollinated varieties cherished by farmers across the country and around the world.
With a radicchio renaissance sweeping the Pacific Northwest, where much of the US organic seed community is based, Bill and John saw a need for new varieties adapted to the Northeast. Now affectionately known as "Chix Mix" among FSF folks, this population of the chicory species that includes radicchio, Belgian endive, and puntarelle (but not escarole or frisee, which are Chicorium endivia) has the Italian variety 'Rosalba' running throughout its pedigree. From the Veneto region that includes Venice, 'Rosalba' is a pink-hearted radicchio beloved for its tender crunch, bitter-sweet flavor and charming pink leaves in cold weather (dappled light green, especially on the outer leaves). You can expect lots of diversity in heading timing, color, shape, and flavor, ripe for selection in northeast and most anywhere else with cold winters. We're excited to see what you all select from this unique breeding mix!
GROWING TIPS: For best results, we recommend starting plants in the spring, either direct-sown after last frost or started a few weeks early indoors. Space plants between 8 and 12 inches apart and allow to grow and grow through the summer and fall. In some climates, you'll be able to eat them out of the field come late fall or winter (either by removing outer leaves to find a blanched heart, or by cutting plant nearly to the ground in late summer and putting a bucket or terra cotta pot over it to blanch subsequent regrowth). In other places, it will be best to dig up the plants, cut them off just above the root-crown, and then store in damp sand in a cool dark place (like a basement, garage, root cellar, or walk-in fridge). This is the best way to explore the culinary potential of a population like this — indeed, it's how the most prized chicories, from 'Rossa di Treviso' to 'Puntarelle di Galatina', are transformed from a bitter bush of green leaves to some of the most extraordinary vegetables on the planet. Who knows what wonders you might find in this population?
