I am writing a short newspaper article about cavolo nero, or Tuscan kale, or lacinato kale. I have two questions.
cavolo nero, ribollita
- Thread starter Pam Peirce
- Start date
My apologies for the incomplete message. This is my first posting. I sent it before it was finished, by accident, and thought I had resent it completed, but I guess not. Here is what I meant to send:
I am a garden and food writer working on a short newspaper article about cavolo nero or lacinato kale, which is also known in the US as Tuscan kale. It is the one with puckered, dark blue-green leaves. I have 3 questions about it.
First, I have been reading debates about whether lacinato kale is different from cavolo nero, perhaps having leaves that are not as dark or blue-green. I have assumed the two were the same plant. Does anyone know?
Second, back in the 1970s I received seed for this plant from a friend who said that he got it from Italian American gardeners here in San Francisco who called it brashcetti. So my next question is whether anyone has heard that name for this kale. (I haven't found this word on the internet.)
The final question concerns the soup ribollito (or should it be ribollita? English sources are not consistent in the final vowel used). I looked up the word in the wordreference.com dictionary, and got the verb ribollire, to boil, from which I assume the name of the soup derived. My primary question is whether the soup's name should be masculine or feminine. I have several versions of the recipe, but if anyone knows about its history or any regional or cultural information about it, I'd love to know that as well.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. I hope to be able to send this message correctly. Having done it accidentally, I am not sure now how to do it on purpose!
Pam Peirce
I am a garden and food writer working on a short newspaper article about cavolo nero or lacinato kale, which is also known in the US as Tuscan kale. It is the one with puckered, dark blue-green leaves. I have 3 questions about it.
First, I have been reading debates about whether lacinato kale is different from cavolo nero, perhaps having leaves that are not as dark or blue-green. I have assumed the two were the same plant. Does anyone know?
Second, back in the 1970s I received seed for this plant from a friend who said that he got it from Italian American gardeners here in San Francisco who called it brashcetti. So my next question is whether anyone has heard that name for this kale. (I haven't found this word on the internet.)
The final question concerns the soup ribollito (or should it be ribollita? English sources are not consistent in the final vowel used). I looked up the word in the wordreference.com dictionary, and got the verb ribollire, to boil, from which I assume the name of the soup derived. My primary question is whether the soup's name should be masculine or feminine. I have several versions of the recipe, but if anyone knows about its history or any regional or cultural information about it, I'd love to know that as well.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. I hope to be able to send this message correctly. Having done it accidentally, I am not sure now how to do it on purpose!
Pam Peirce
First, I am delighted to see that I got my message to the forum and thank you to silviap for gettng rid of my first, incomplete, try, and for confirming that it is "la ribollita." I will try googling that. I know these are somewhat more than language questions, but am hoping someone has something to tell me about the names of the plant and the soup.
Pam Peirce
Pam Peirce