Radicchio

A bitter Italian icon

Radicchio is fundamental to northern Italian cuisine — particularly in the Veneto and Friuli regions, where it’s a winter staple. The bitter, slightly peppery flavor is treasured rather than minimized: many Italian preparations enhance rather than tame the bitterness.

Outside Italy, radicchio is sometimes confused with cabbage or red lettuce, but it’s actually a chicory — closely related to escarole, frisée, and Belgian endive. The bitter character comes from the same family of compounds.

Treviso, Castelfranco, Chioggia, and tardivo

The most prized radicchios are regional varieties with European DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) status:

• Chioggia — the round red-and-white head most familiar to Americans
• Treviso — elongated, more elegant, slightly less bitter
• Castelfranco — pale cream mottled with red specks; the gentlest of the bunch
• Tardivo di Treviso — twisted, long-leaved, late-harvested; considered the finest of all

Each variety has its own ideal preparation. Castelfranco is best raw in salads; Tardivo is grilled or braised; Chioggia goes anywhere.

Grilled radicchio

A classic Italian preparation is grilled radicchio — quartered heads tossed with olive oil and salt, grilled over high heat until the outer leaves char and the interior softens.

The high heat caramelizes the bitter compounds, transforming them into something sweet-bitter-smoky. A drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar at the end is the traditional finish. Many Italian restaurants serve this as a winter contorno (side dish).

Risotto al radicchio

Veneto’s quintessential radicchio dish is risotto al radicchio — a creamy red-tinged risotto with chopped radicchio cooked into the rice and a splash of red wine for color. The bitter notes mellow during cooking, and a final hit of butter and parmesan rounds the dish.

The dish is so iconic to Treviso that it appears on virtually every restaurant menu in the city during winter.

A long winter season

Unlike most vegetables, radicchio improves with cold — frost actually intensifies the colors and concentrates the flavors. Italian growers traditionally harvest tardivo radicchio after the first hard frost.

This cold-hardiness made radicchio essential to pre-refrigeration northern Italian winter cuisine, when fresh vegetables were scarce. It remains a winter staple at Italian markets and an increasingly common item in American specialty produce sections.