Castelfranco’s chicory

The best period of the year for the variegated chicory of Castelfranco’s sowing is of course that which takes place towards the end of June and the beginning of July. The sowing in the seedbeds is executed by hand. If the weather is good, towards the 10 August, the chicory is moved for being transplanted at the end of the same month. The small plants are planted at a distance of about 25-30 cm from each other. In this way the tallest will develop, while the smallest will stay where they have been sowed. The harvesting, operation, always manual, takes place between the half and the end of November (sometimes also on the first days of December). The chicory is collected from the field and arranged in special containers filled with various material (mainly sand). Subsequently the containers are arranged in rooms, a shed or a room, heated at 18 degrees and the small plants are watered if the earth is dry. All this operation is called “forcing”.  At the end of the “forcing”, the chicory gains the characteristic chromatic variegations that make it be denominated “orchid chicory” or “rose”. At this point, the phase of the preparation begins. The chicory is cleaned from the damaged or rotten leaves and the root is shaped. The plant is so placed in special boxes for the marketing. Castelfranco’s chicory is ready for being distributed in Italy and in the world. The last thing that we can consider is the season of this wonderful product. It goes from the end of the month of November to the first half of the month of March for a period of almost four months.