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If you like salad greens and if you like peppery, pungent and spicy flavors then perhaps growing arugula in your garden is the thing to do.
This plant was once grown by the Romans for both its seed and its leaves. Besides using the leaves in salads, the Romans used the seed to flavor oil. My research shows that a typical salad in Roman times consisted of Arugula, romaine lettuce, some chicory, mallow and some lavender and seasoned with cheese. The Romans also considered it an aphrodesiac.
Arugula is also known as rocket, rugula, rucola, Mediterranean Rocket, salad rocket, Italian cress, Roman rocket and roguette and it is very popular in most Italian and French cuisine. As with most salad greens it is very low in calories as ½ cup of Arugula contains only two calories! It also contains a high amount of vitamins C, A and potasium.
From early spring to fall you can sow Arugula seeds in any sunny location of your garden and it is best to do successive sowings once a month in order to have a good supply. This plants does best in spring and early summer, but after that you can plant some seeds under a shade cloth. It is an easy green to grow. However, know that intense summer heat or drought may cause your leaves to have a much more pepper flavor and also to be smaller in size. Don’t worry if this plant goes to seed quickly because you can collect the seeds and keep them for next years garden. Plus with your monthly plantings your new plants will keep you in greens as the older ones are going to seed.
One can saute this green in olive oil for a nice vegetable side dish. Because its small leaves are so peppery it is often sprinkled in among milder salad greens.
Arugula basically became well know in the United States in 1990 and for those who want to grow it for profit you may well be able to find a “niche” market for the restaurants in your area.
This plant is often added to pizzas in Italy or chic restaurants, it is sometimes used in pesto recipes and rucolino, a digestive alcohol drink is often enjoyed as a small peppery drink following a meal on the island of Ischia in the Gulf of Naples and the locals enjoy it the same way they do with grappa or limoncello.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… May your day be filled with…Peace, Light and Love,
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries and to take a walk through her pictorial garden or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books, including her new book, “The ABC’s of Wine and Beer Making”. Many of her articles written for Greenthumbarticles have paintings she has created of the subject and they can be seen at her “How to Do It” site. Remember to check out her artwork, especially of her fruits and vegetables. Many of her paintings are sold internationally and many of her works of art have been reproduced on note cards, post cards and other functional items and you can get Giclee prints of her artwork starting as low as $11.89 Arlene says, “All my royalties from the sale of my books, art, etc. go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my sites.”
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