Planting the Flavors of Italy:
Seeds for the Curious Cook and Gardener
Our Spring 2025 seed selection has just arrived, featuring some of Lane’s favorite Italian varieties—perfect for planting now and enjoying later. From storied winter tomatoes to fragrant herbs and bold greens, these seeds bring a little piece of Italy’s rich agricultural heritage straight to your garden.
Winter Tomatoes
Italian storage tomatoes, or "pomodoro d'inverno”, are usually saladette sized with firm thick flesh. Picked ripe (or just slightly under-ripe) by the truss during the usual tomato season of late summer to early fall they are often then hung up with twine in large clusters where they can store for up to 6 months to be used through the fall and winter. These tomatoes grow very well dry-farming, without irrigation once established. For the past several years, CBN and Wellspent Market have worked with the Dry Farming Institute to develop a market for the tomatoes.
Piennolo Rosso
This world-famous tomato is grown in the volcanic soils near Napoli on the shoulder of Vesuvius. The small oval red fruits have a pointed nipple at the blossom end, and their high dry content makes them perfect for long storage through the fall and winter.
Piennolo Giallo
Less common yellow version of the Piennolo Rosso, but higher-yielding under dry farm conditions in the Willamette Valley.
‘Annarita’
'Annarita' comes to us from our Italian friend and breeder Andrea as part of our 'Gusto Italiano' collaboration with Smarties.bio and the Culinary Breeding Network. He was given the seed by Annarita, the tomato's namesake, whose father drove trains for a living and brought the seeds from Puglia 50 years ago when he moved north to Padova.
Herbs
Sculpit
A little-known pretty Italian herb with a mild, slightly aromatic flavor; a combination of tarragon, arugula, and chicory. Wonderful in risotto.
Mentuccia
Grows wild throughout much of central and southern Italy; tastes like a cross between oregano or marjoram and pure mint.
Blue Fenugreek
An amazing fragrance of maple syrup and a complex, mildly bitter flavor; used in bread, Swiss alpine cheeses, and the Georgian spice mix khmeli suneli.
Greens
Arugula
This is not your American bagged arugula. It is "selvatica” (wild) which is a slower-growing, spicier relative of the more common cultivated arugula.
Cima di Rapa
This is the real 'rapini' and also known as 'broccoli rabe’. This plant is Brassica rapa, not Brassica oleracea which is what we often run across sold as rapini or raab at the farmers market. It is in the turnip family and has a nutty, bitter, pungent flavor. Traditionally eaten in southern Italy with orecchiette and sausage.
Borage
Edible star shaped flowers and young leaves are edible with a mild cucumber flavor.
Four o'Clocks
‘Strega’
Lane gathered the seed from wild roadside plants in the village of Castiglione di Sicilia - north of Mount Etna in northeastern Sicily, close to her familial home.
‘Beddu’
Lane found the seed of this hot fuchsia variety from wild plants among the Greek ruins of an archeological park just west of Siracusa on the east coast of Sicily: Lane is Sicilian and "beddu" is the regional-dialect equivalent of "bella" or "beautiful". Four O'clocks are known as bella di notte (night beauty) in Italian because the blossoms open in the late afternoon, filling their evening surroundings with sweet perfume, attracting moths, night pollinators, and lovers of beauty, before closing the following morning.
Gusto Italiano Project
Also featured are seed packets from the Gusto Italiano Project, a collaboration between Uprising Seeds, Culinary Breeding Network, and the innovative Italian vegetable breeders Smarties.Bio. Born from a shared love of radicchio, this project is helping to establish Italian chicories as winter produce staples in North America.These varieties should be seeded in June or July. For full growing info, visit Radicchiology.
Gusto Italiano Project varieties include:
Puntarelle ‘Medusa’
the roman specialty
Rosa di Veneto ‘Jolanda’
the pink one that stops your heart
Giallo di Verona ‘Yellowstone’
the new yellow one that melts your heart
Rosso di Verona ‘Bandarossa’
the striking one with the magenta midrib
Rosso di Chioggia ‘Etna’
the most widely known round, red one
Rosso di Treviso Precoce ‘Pacifico’
the elongated red one
Rosso di Verona ‘Pasqualino’
the teardrop shaped one
Variegato di Castelfranco ‘Beatrice’
the freckled open one
Variegato di Lusia ‘Delta’
the freckled round one
Broccolo Fiolaro di Creazzo
like spigarello or a sweet, tender kale
Whether you’re a seasoned gardener, a curious cook, or just someone who loves beautiful vegetables, the Culinary Breeding Network pop-up at Wellspent Market is your gateway to planting—and tasting—something truly special. Stop by, grab some seeds, and grow your own piece of Italy in your backyard.
Photos via Shawn Linehan, @uprising.seeds, and @culinarybreedingnetwork
Growing Flavor: Lane Selman & the Culinary Breeding Network
Lane Selman has dedicated her career to bridging the gap between farmers, chefs, and plant breeders, championing biodiversity and flavor through her work with the Culinary Breeding Network.