Radicchio in B.C.: Burdock & Co. menu and Salt Spring Island’s Radicchio Festival on Nov. 22

The Story

Radicchio is showing up in new ways across B.C., from a themed tasting menu at Burdock & Co. to a dedicated festival on Salt Spring Island.

At Burdock & Co., chef Andrea Carlson’s seven-course menu, Radiant Radicchios Under a Frost Moon, explores the range of the in-season vegetable. Puntarelle appears with spotted shrimp, celeriac-almond milk and quince sorbet, while sugarloaf chicory is paired with potato and pine mushroom ragout, fermented potato foam and crisp chicory leaves. Rossa di Treviso is stuffed with prosciutto, onion confit and goat cheese, then grilled and served with black garlic soubise. The dessert course includes radicchio jam and fruit leather from Rossa di Chioggia, mixed into ricotta mousse and plum-kernel hazelnut cake, along with Castelfranco served with sea urchin gelato, candied radicchio and almond. The menu costs $175 per person and runs through early December, with dishes subject to the harvest.

The restaurant’s radicchio spotlight has also included its participation in FarmFolk CityFolk’s Bold Flavours event at Burdock & Co. on Oct. 20. Chefs served dishes including Akira Kishimoto’s matsutake and radicchio yakibitashi and monaka filled with grilled radicchio and seasonal vegetables, plus radicchio tiramisu cake and radicchio, black sesame and sea buckthorn choux au craquelin by Adina Guest of Love’s Galettes.

Radicchio belongs to the chicory family, alongside greens such as Belgian endive, escarole and frisée. The vegetables come in forms ranging from round burgundy heads to pointed spears and cream-coloured leaves flecked with red, and many varieties are named for places in northern Italy, including Chioggia, Treviso and Castelfranco.

In Aldergrove, Glorious Organics farm manager Mark Cormier grows more than 40 varieties and types of radicchio and other chicories. He says Castelfranco, Lusia, Chioggia and Verona grow well locally, along with puntarelle and endive, and that the crop is relatively trouble-free regarding pests and disease and stores well. The harvest can extend from late August into February through successive plantings, and restaurant menus have helped build interest in using radicchio beyond salads.

That momentum is expected to bring growers, chefs and diners together at the third Salt Spring Island Radicchio Festival on Sunday, Nov. 22. Organizer Adina Guest of Love’s Galettes said the festival is meant to increase awareness and appreciation of the cool-season vegetable, show people how to prepare it and encourage purchases from local growers, drawing on inspiration from the Portland-based Culinary Breeding Network’s Sagra del Radicchio.

Guest said Duck Creek Farm first grew radicchio for the festival in 2024 and that it has since become part of the farm’s annual rotation. She highlighted favourites including Giallo di Verona, a golden, egg-shaped variety with substantial crunch and a flavour that moves from sweet to bitter, and Rosso di Treviso Tardivo, whose forcing process produces tender, curling leaves.

The Salt Spring festival runs from noon to 3 p.m. at Lost Field Farm, 360 Upper Ganges Rd. It includes tastings prepared by 12 chefs, with participating restaurants and groups listed as Burdock & Co., Oxeye Galiano, Love’s Galettes, Deli Kinome and Working Culture Bread. Growers will sell radicchio and other winter produce, and the afternoon also features drinks, artwork and a new radicchio cookbook. General admission is $60, with supporter tickets from $120, and Guest reported tickets were nearly sold out as of Nov. 11.