ruchetta (rucola) / arugula (rocket)

Ruchetta or rucola is one of those names that are used to indicate more than one thing, which is a recipe for confusion. First there is rucola selvatica, Diplotaxis tenuifolia. Before moving from Italy to The United States of Arugula, I only knew ruchetta as an ingredient of my salad days.

• Memory #1: both my mother and my aunt Lucia would gather ruchetta in uncultivated patches of land around where they lived, then add a few leaves to a salad of mixed greens to spice it up: and spicy it was!
• Memory #2: at any of the colorful, noisy and lively neighborhood markets in Rome, sellers would offer mixed salad greens with or without ruchetta, which in the Roman dialect is pronounced rughetta. I was told that it was because the pungent flavor of that vegetable was not to everybody's liking.

When I moved to California, I saw that restaurants served arugula salad and that puzzled me, because I thought that a salad made just with ruchetta would have too strong a flavor. However, sui gusti non si discute, there's no accounting for taste, so I never said anything. It wasn't until much later, basically until now, that I discovered that there is another rucola, Eruca sativa, which has wider leaves, a milder flavor and is cultivated for use in salads. It is from Eruca that the word rucola derives and this is the arugula much beloved in this country and available also in Italy. Arugula is also known as rocket salad. In the rocket department, rucola selvatica is featured as wild rocket.

I am never surprised when scientists discover that plants that humans have been eating for centuries are full of nutrients. Arugula contains vitamin C and bioactive phytochemicals, packaged in a flavor that can be mild or strong, according to our personal taste. Doesn't this sound like a perfect advertisement for a salad green?

This is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging, a food blogging event started by Kalyn's Kitchen, hosted this week by Paulchen's Food Blog. Here's the roundup of WHB #88.

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Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post (including an approximate rendition of Roman accent): 

ruchetta

or launch the ruchetta audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

Comments

[Kalyn]

I didn't know there were two types of this, but I love arugula; wish I could try the other type too. (Guess I better go to Italy for that!)

[jann]

This is one of my favorite herbs~thanks for all the info! I always feel I have been to school after I read your wonderful posts!

[Joanna]

Hi ... great blog

You can grow both types of rocket fairly easily (in Britain we call them both rocket, although one is sometimes labelled wild rocket), and the seeds for both are readily available ...

Joanna
joannasfood.blogspot.com

[Simona Carini]

Kalyn, Joanna was quicker than me in answering: I am sure you can get seeds for wild arugula.
Thanks Jann: I hope it is a fun school.
Welcome Joanna and thanks for the info on the seed availability. I am an inexperienced gardener, still struggling to get easy things like beans growing, but I hope I'll get better soon so I can be more adventurous.

[Susan]

Am I crazy about arugula! I get a large bag of baby-sized from the greengrocer to last most of week for salads, but there will be generic rocket ready for harvest in the garden soon. The leaves are enormous!

[anna maria]

I love all kinds of rucola, arugula, ruchetta etc, etc.
I ordered a package of wild rucola seeds from an online company called growitalian, but so far I haven't had much luck with them because poppies are shading them, so I will plant them in a new spot soon. Usually they grow like weeds!
(A friend of mine hates rucola, and says it tastes like bus exhaust!)

[Paz]

As usual very interesting. I made a hot meatball salad and was supposed to make it with rucola or arugula but since neither was available in the store, I used something else for my salad. Next time I'll have to look for the rucola or arugula. It's good to know about its nutrients.

Paz

[Elkit]

I love arugula, and am growing it in my garden for the first time this year. I was surprised to find how very flavorful and peppery it was compared to store-bought arugula, and when I read your entry, I thought aha! Here's the explanation. But I checked the package of seeds I bought, and it's Eruca sativa. Hmmm. I guess theres just more flavor in home-grown foods ...

Love your blog, by the way. It's a treat to listen to you speak Italian.

[Simona Carini]

Susan, it sounds like your garden is quite productive. I hope mine will be too, some day. However, I just started it and I know that I have to be patient.
Now that is an interesting perspective on rucola, Anna Maria: I had never heard anybody comparing it to bus exhaust.
Paz, I hope you can find some rucola for your salad.
I agree with your explanation for the more intense flavor of your home-grown rucola, Elke.
Thanks for all your comments!

[astrid]

didn't know there were two differnt typs of rucola available.
I wonder which one is the one we use in Austria...

Thanks for joining in!

[Simona Carini]

Welcome, Astrid. I read that Diplotaxis tenuifolia (the wild one) grows in Austria too, so it would be interesting to find out whether in your country, like in mine, both types are used.

[Ulrike]

I never used the wild one, but I'll look for it at the farmer's market.

[John]

Hi Simona, I love Rocket salad as we call it downunder, it has a peppery taste and like yours some varieties are spicier than others. Great Blog full of info

[Simona Carini]

Let me know what you find Ulrike: it grows in Germany as well, so you may be able to get it.
Hi John and welcome: you live in a nice place. I have been down under and have fond memories of my trip. Rocket salad is such a funny name: I love it. I read that rucola has been naturalized in other temperate areas and now I get confirmation from the source.

[Winborne Winyahudah Adewale-Amarú]

Eeeeenteresting....

I heard that the difference was more etymological
than botanical...

That the reason we Americans be say "Arugula" and Brittons say "Rocket" is because one entered the respective languages via northern vs. southern Italy....

Any truth to this?

[Simona Carini]

I didn't know about this, so thank you for bringing it to my attention. It is what this article claims. I don't have any information in support of, or opposition to, what the article says.