Radicchio Rosso di Treviso

Appearance & taste

The late radicchio (“tardivo”) forms regular, compact heads of dense leaves that wrap the head and often cover the stem completely towards the tip. The leaves are bright wine red with a white main rib and only fine branching veins. The rib tastes pleasantly bitter and is crunchy. A head weighs at least 100 g, is 10 to 25 cm long without the root and has a neatly trimmed root base of at most 6 cm.

The early radicchio (“precoce”) has a voluminous, elongated and closed head. The intensely red leaves have a pronounced white central rib and many fine white veins, taste slightly bitter and are moderately crunchy. A head weighs at least 150 g and is 15 to 25 cm long without the root. When sold, both types must be firm, well ripened, uniform in size and carefully trimmed.

Production

Sowing, cultivation, harvest, pre-forcing, forcing and blanching as well as trimming take place in the municipalities of the area. It is grown according to the traditional methods of the area. It is also packed there, because knocks and jolts during the transport of unpacked radicchio would lead to dark spots and a loss of quality.

Radicchio is sold in containers of up to 10 kg or individually in bags; produce for further processing in containers of up to 250 kg. Smaller and lighter heads of the late radicchio are intended only for processing. The logo shows a stylised red group of radicchio on a white background with the lettering “Radicchio Rosso di Treviso” and the indication “tardivo” or “precoce”.

Origin & history

The late radicchio comes from 24 municipalities, including Treviso, Mogliano Veneto and Vedelago in the province of Treviso, Piombino Dese and Trebaseleghe in the province of Padua, and Mirano, Noale and Scorzè in the province of Venice. For the early radicchio the area is larger and extends to Castelfranco Veneto, Camposampiero and Spinea, among others.

The late radicchio thrives in fresh, deep, permeable and non-alkaline soils that do not contain too many nutrients, especially nitrogen; loamy sandy soils on old alluvial land are particularly favourable. Added to this are sufficient rain, moderately warm summers, dry autumns and winters with an early onset of cold and lows down to minus 10 °C. According to the specification, the more than hundred-year tradition of the farms and vegetable growers and the temperature of the groundwater also contribute to the close link between the radicchio and its area.