Purple Broccoli - Chiacchetegli (B. oleracea)

Purple Broccoli - Chiacchetegli (B. oleracea): rare and very interesting "purple sprouting broccoli", that holds the Slow Food denomination in its traditional production area, including the flat areas of the municipality of Priverno, near the Amaseno river. The taster is delicate, the colour intense purple, the harvest long, from December to March. In fact, thee lateral shoots can be collected several times. It is consumed in different recipes, but it is also very good just sautéed in a pan with garlic and chilli pepper (maybe a Good Mulata, to restore the colour). Cultivation is among the simplest: the plant is rustic, undemanding; and quite early, the first tops are harvested from January to Easter. The traditional suckering of the Chiacchetegli: first the pruning of the apical inflorescence is carried out (December) then the lateral jets that the plant will produce abundantly are collected for consumption, they must be collected before flowering, not to fear, they will continue to come out until the temperature starts rising. The sprouting broccoli has ancient origins, its near disappearance is due to the advent of more productive commercial varieties such as Calabrian broccoli and various F1 hybrids of this, certainly more productive, but without comparison in terms of taste. Cultivate them so that this enormous legacy is not lost. To reproduce the seed, it is enough to let some plants face the first higher temperatures, they will soon produce flowers and then the pods of a few centimetres: collect them before they hatch, when they change from green to purple/brown.