Days to Maturity: 85 to 90
All-America Selections (AAS) Winner 1934
An award winner and as popular as ever, Batavian Full Heart, an escarole variety, is a leafy vegetable producing large, round, tightly packed heads of broad slightly twisted lettuce-like leaves and creamy-white very deep hearts with a thick bulky texture. Well-blanched, the hearts are soft and less bitter. Heart leaves contain about 1 calorie each and are good "dippers," replacing chips and crackers, for hummus, guacamole, or any other healthy dips. This nutritious green is loaded with vitamins B, C, and K, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, folate, and selenium, and one head delivers 60 percent of the potassium found in a banana. It is also high in complex fibers, aiding digestion.
This herbaceous taprooted biennial, producing seed in the second year, is a member of the chicory (Asteraceae) family. It grows as a rosette of leaves forming a head. It grows best in full sun and moist, well-drained soil. Succession plantings every 2 to 3 weeks is recommended for continual harvest. Self-pollinating, it will bear fruit without any pollen from other varieties and does not need insects to be fertilized.
A warm-season vegetable, sensitive to cold temperatures and frost, it can be direct sown into warm spring soil after all danger of frost has passed. Flowers begin to set fruit with night temperatures between 55 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Protect plants if temperatures are expected to dip below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Mulching helps to control weeds, moderate soil temperature, and maintain soil moisture. Row covers offer added protection from heavy frost.
