Can you identify this veggie?

[bills]

I purchased a package of Verona red raddicchio, planted several seeds..

I'm sure somebody at the seed company screwed up, as this is what is growing.

Top view of single leaf.

Bottom view of leaf.

It sure dosen't look at all what I expected, or shows on the seed package.:/ I tasted a raw leaf, and found it quite acidic, like a lettuce that has bolted tastes. Mixed in a salad with other greens, and a dressing it's not bad, but sure not like any raddicchio I have ever tasted before.

Anybody willing to give it a shot?

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

I'm thinking it probably is radicchio. Normally the outer leaves are green and as the head starts to form it begins to turn red.

I've never grown the variety you have but this has been my typical experience with radicchio.

 

[bills]

I hope you are right, as I love it in a salad, and sometimes use it in pasta sauces as well.

It sure doesn't look at all like the seed package photo at this point, which is what I expected, more of a cabbage type leaf structure.

 

[DDRanch]

Looks like my swiss chard, the green variety.

Anne

 

[patandchickens]

What did the seeds look like. If it is chard they would have had to be weirdly spiky (beet seed like). I *believe* radicchio seeds are not like that (?)

Pat

 

[ams3651]

Looks like my swiss chard, the green variety.

Anne

I agree....taste it

 

[bills]

For sure this is not swiss chard, as I have that elsewhere in the garden.

The seed is thin, flat, and about 1/8" long. Looks more like a lettuce family seed. Not at all like a cabbage family seed, which are usually always round, like a tiny BB. I think raddicchio is a cabbage family member isn't it?

I thought it might be arugula, but the leaves are not jagged, nor does arugula have the red leaf centre. Doesn't look like any in the "google images" I saw anyway.

I have also searched images of the following, and haven't had any luck identifying it.

Green Orach, Traviso Radicchio, Tango Lettuce, Tat-Sot, Perella Red, Frisee, Watercress, White Flowering Kale, Red Romaine, Chervil, Mustard Greens, Red Flowering Kale, Kale, Romaine, Mizuna, Arugula, Red Chard, Peacock Kale, , Asian Mustard, Chard, Sorrel, Red Orach, Endive, Radicchio, Mache Escarole, Lollo Rossa, and about 500 images of lettuce.

Frustrating:/

 

[The Mustard Seed Gardener]

I looked it up on MSN image search. It is Swiss Chard. There are many types, shapes and colors of swiss chard. This happens to be called Red chard. It's a common chard where i live! I have a picture of it uploaded, but I can't seem to get in the this post to you.
It's a good chard! enjoy! :tools

For sure this is not swiss chard, as I have that elsewhere in the garden.

The seed is thin, flat, and about 1/8" long. Looks more like a lettuce family seed. Not at all like a cabbage family seed, which are usually always round, like a tiny BB. I think raddicchio is a cabbage family member isn't it?

I thought it might be arugula, but the leaves are not jagged, nor does arugula have the red leaf centre. Doesn't look like any in the "google images" I saw anyway.

I have also searched images of the following, and haven't had any luck identifying it.

Green Orach, Traviso Radicchio, Tango Lettuce, Tat-Sot, Perella Red, Frisee, Watercress, White Flowering Kale, Red Romaine, Chervil, Mustard Greens, Red Flowering Kale, Kale, Romaine, Mizuna, Arugula, Red Chard, Peacock Kale, , Asian Mustard, Chard, Sorrel, Red Orach, Endive, Radicchio, Mache Escarole, Lollo Rossa, and about 500 images of lettuce.

Frustrating:/

 

[bills]

Well if it is fact is a Swiss chard it sure is different then any I have ever grown. The seeds don't look at all like any chard seeds I have. :/ The chard seeds I have are more along the lines of what patandchickens described.

Currently I have Rhubarb chard, which I thought was the only red type chard, and Brightlights, which is a combination of colours. The stalks on all my chard are quite long, with the leaf beginning further up the stalk, rather than starting at the base. The Rhubarb chard also has several red veins running right into the leaf itself, and not just in the centre. There is often a red tinge to the leaf as well.

No doubt there are many varietys of chard that I am not perhaps familiar with. I love to eat chard, so I won't be displeased if thats what it turns out to be. I just hope it's not some kind of weed...

 

[poppycat]

It looks like some red chicory or red dandelion I've seen for sale at the farmers market. Of course when you Google images of "red chicory" you get raddicchio as well as some "red dandelion chicory" that looks a heck of a lot like what you've got.

THe whole chicory/endive/raddicchio distinctions seem a little blurred to me at best. I'm wondering if it might be more of an issue of culture than anything else.

Have you read Green Thoughts by Eleanor Perenyi? She has a chapter about chicory/endive. There were some peculiar cultural requirements that I don't remember the details of except that I would probably never grow that stuff...too much work.