We put rocket – or rucola in Italian – into salads in both winter and summer. In April the hardier autumn-planted rocket begins to grow well, and the flavour is particularly strong. It is these stronger-flavoured rockets that are best for blanching.
We grow three kinds in the herb box at the restaurant.
• Wild rocket is a perennial that we started to grow ten years ago from seeds gathered from wild roadside plants in Turkey. It is a small shrubby plant with small blade-like, pointed leaves. Pick the shoots from the woody stems, and fresh succulent leaves re-grow quite quickly. This is the strongest, most peppery rocket, and we use it more like a herb, to flavour beans etc.
• We grow Capri rocket too, which has similar small leaves, though they are more jagged in shape and coarser in texture. It is an annual, and can always be found in the Rome markets.
• Large-leaf rocket, particularly the young first cuttings, is quite mild, usually paler in colour, and does not last at all. The larger mature leaves are more robust and less likely to bruise.
Rocket is very easy to grow: it makes edible leaves within six weeks; it grows successfully in tubs; and it is hardy. It is probably our first choice when it comes to space in the garden. In summer it must be watered frequently or it will shoot into spindly stalks and flower heads.