Showing 29–56 of 163 results
Solanum torvum. Green. 90 days. We found this variety in February 2009 growing semi-wild in a village garden in Noong Ta Klong, Thailand. Used under-ripe, it is a crucial ingredient in Thai dishes including green curry and some types of chile sauces. One might consider it a spice, rather than a vegetable. Bitter and seedy, these…
Solanum melongena. Purple. 70 days. Small, oblong, brilliant dark purple eggplant form on compact bushes. The 4-6″ long fruit are best harvested small and have a nice white edging around purple stems for an attractive appearance. Skin is thinner than other eggplant varieties. This, along with a mild sweet flavor and dense flesh, make Shimoda suitable…
Cichorium endivia. 70 days. Impressive, vigorous, and uniform, this escarole is great in spring and autumn. Firm, crunchy, juicy and sweet with a light nutty bitterness unique to escarole. Cornet type escaroles truly shine in late fall through early winter. When sown in late summer, Cornet de la Loire will head up and make a…
Cichorium endivia. 70 days. Broad-leafed Batavian type endive. Large, loose, green heads are a delicious addition to salad and also good braised or sautéed. Mild even in summer heat, its flavor develops to perfection in the late summer or autumn once nighttime temperatures cool. Diva’s broad leaves are sugary sweet with a tiny hint of…
Vicia faba. Mostly large seeds of many colors ranging from tan, yellow, purple, lavender-tan to almost black. High culinary value and adaptive resilience — hangs tough in our winters when other fava varieties wither in the cold. Big plants form many tillers. Young leaves and shoots also make a tasty salad green. Beans can be…
Linum usitatissimum. A fairly tall flax at about 3′ that is good for fiber production. The brown seeds are noteworthy for their high alpha-linolenic acid (an Omega-3 fatty acid) content, as tested by the Irish Seed Savers Association. Eighteen varieties were tested with polyunsaturated fat percentages between 28-75%, and Sussex had the highest. Many Western…
Cicer arietinum. Black. Garbanzo beans are also known as chickpeas or ceci in Italian. This Sicilian variation, ceci neri, is similar to the more common Black Kaboulli garbanzo. Germinates easily in cool soil. Large, bushy plants produce well and are ready to harvest before the rains in autumn. Flavor is similar to the tan types…
Cicer arietinum. Orange/Tan. A strain of Desi-type chickpea given to us by local staple food activist, Krishna Khalsa, via Harry MacCormack, who told us, “reportedly it gives those who eat it the power of the dragon.” Smallish, orange/tan seeds cook up nicely and are very versatile in the kitchen. The Desi-type of chickpeas are usually…
Cicer arietinum. Tan. This chickpea is from León, an autonomous community in north-western Spain, where chickpeas have been a staple food since Roman times. Pico Pardal is small seeded with a pronounced beak. It is aptly named; Pico Pardal translates as “Sparrow Beak.” Creamy consistency, thin skin, cooks up fast and bakes well. If given…
Physalis pubescens. This is one of our favorite things to snack on while walking through the garden. Little, golden, husked fruit look like tiny tomatillos but have a deliciously fruity tropical flavor. Some compare them to peaches, others to pineapple. We have been told that you can make a delicious preserve out of them. We…
Capsicum annuum. Very Hot. 90 days. In 2003 we had our first experience working on a farm in Willow Creek, California. That year Andrew saved his first seeds, too: an heirloom tomato, and a Thai pepper. Now, 17 years later, the legacy of that first saved seed lives on in the Adaptive Early Thai pepper….
Capsicum baccatum. Hot. 65 days green, 80 days red. A very rare, northern adapted C. baccatum species of hot pepper. 3″ long, waxy-yellow fruit ripen to a classic orange-red. Aji Marchant is usually harvested under-ripe when still green/yellow and used for pickling. The immature peppers are especially flavorful with a unique earthy-citrus bite that is…
Capsicum annuum. Mild/Medium Hot. 75 days. Yellow-lime colored peppers ripen to orange then dark red. The mildest of all of our hot peppers, but still pretty hot. 50% – 80% larger than typical Hungarian Hot Wax peppers. Extremely productive, even in cool, outdoor conditions and keeps very well once picked. When green, the flavor is…
Tired of making kimchi too spicy by accidentally putting in one too many Thai peppers? Korean hot pepper is here to save the day and make the best authentic kimchi. Peppers of this type are traditionally used to make a spicy Korean gochugaru.
Capsicum annuum. Hot. 70 days. Strong plants produce large cayenne-shaped red hot peppers. A classic heritage type Transylvanian hot pepper that is early to produce fruit and is quick to ripen. Looks like a cayenne but it tastes altogether something different. It is hard to describe, but it has a very rich Transylvanian flavor. The…
Capsicum annuum. Hot. 70 days. This is the perfect pepper for making spicy paprika, as the name suggests. Somewhat slender, 4” long red fruit are three to four times fatter than a cayenne with blunt tips. Good flavor when fresh but excels when dried. Fruit dries very easily even in our short season, cool climate….
Capsicum annuum. Very Hot. 75 days. Classic Hungarian hot pepper with a rich flavor. Heat is high but not too extreme. Round, red cherry shaped fruit are about 1” wide and deep red when ripe. Relatively thick walls for a hot pepper make this a great variety for hot sauce, stuffing, or drying for spicy…
Brassica oleracea. 65 days. Sturdy 2′ tall plants have medium-sized finely curled, red leaves. The whole plants turn a deep purple red, especially after frost. Good yields and very hardy. Mildly flavored leaves turn dark green when cooked. Baltic Red is really quite gorgeous and a great choice for an “edimental,” an edible ornamental. One…
Brassica oleracea. 30 days baby, 60-70 days full. A diverse genepool mix of 17 oleracea kales and their crosses. Nick Routledge trialed the 17 kales collected on our 2007 Seed Ambassadors trip and this is what happened the next spring. This grex contains a lot of very interesting, diverse kales that are not available in…
Brassica oleracea. 30 days baby, 60 days full. An extremely vigorous flat leaf, heirloom green kale from England. Hardy, tender and sweet. This kale frequently outgrows every other kale we plant in the summer, and out-produces most other kales through the winter as well. Multiple growth tips produce plentiful sprouting kale raab in spring to…
Brassica napus. 25 days baby, 50 days full. Red Russian type with broader leaves, lighter red coloring and more jagged leaf edge. Very hardy and extremely rare. Possibly the most vigorous napus kale, it looks very healthy all winter. As the name suggests, bolting in the spring is weeks later than other kales, filling the…
Brassica oleracea. 60-70 days. Unique flat-leaved green kale from Sutherland, in northern Scotland. Many growth tips with small- to medium-sized, tender, sweet leaves on 3′ tall plants. Very hardy and tolerates the worst maritime winter weather, from freezing sleet and cold, to 70 mph winds. Makes the sweetest kale raab in the spring through the…
Allium ampeloprasum. Large, hardy winter leek with dark blue-green leaves. Some plants have purple hue to leaves during cold weather. An old heritage variety from Liège (Luik in Flemish), a province of eastern Belgium. Variety given to The Seed Ambassadors Project in 2007 by Belle Epoch Seed Company, Belgium.
Allium ampeloprasum. Selected for over 15 years for winter hardiness down to -10°F in Mechelen, Belgium. Not an especially long leek, this variety puts its growth energy into growing fat instead of tall. Thick giant leeks are very highly regarded in Belgium and are an important winter food. A selection of the heirloom Blue Green…
Allium ampeloprasum. Our best leek if you want beautiful, tall, white stalks from the fall through winter. Of the Swiss giant type, Verdonnet is a landrace variety that has been improved by an unknown Swiss farmer/breeder. Swiss giants are typically great summer leeks, but these large, bright-green, tasty leeks stand all winter and into the…
Lactuca sativa. Green Butterhead. 50 days. Light-green butterhead, bred for greenhouse and cold frame forcing in winter and spring. Quick to size up in cold conditions, we have planted it outdoors under row cover in spring and in fall with great results. Excellent variety sourced from the German biodynamic seed company, Bingenheimer Saatgut. They recommend…
Lactuca sativa. Red Blushed Butterhead. 60 days. An apple green butterhead tinged with a red-pink blush. Early, big, heavy heads grow well in difficult conditions and are heat resistant. An old variety known in Europe since around 1907. Most recently preserved from extinction by the seed saving groups Kokopelli in France, and Pro Specie Rara…
Lactuca sativa. Bronze Romaine. 30 days baby; 60 full. Large, open heads are dark green with some bronze tint. Similar to George Richardson, Brown Goldring, and other Bath Cos types. Crunchy with distinctive nutty, sweet delicious flavor. This English heirloom is both cold and heat tolerant. Scored higher overall than most other lettuces for both…
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