When life gives you frozen radicchio….

….take a picture of it!…And then wait till it thaws and try it, because you’re curious to see what frost does to radicchio.

I am happy to report that it suffered not at all. In fact, I think it made the radicchio a little bit sweeter.

Am I just deluding myself? No, suggests longtime garden writer Barbara Damrosch, among others. Cold weather turns radicchio not only red (ours was green for ages) but sweet. OK, sweetish. It’s still kind of bitter. But I like that.

Here is what I did with it. Unfortunately,by the time I got it home tonight I was hungry, and ate it so fast that I forgot to take a picture.

Frost-Sweetened Radicchio Salad

Rinse the dirt and tiny snails from your freshly pulled-up radicchio. Separate it into leaves and rinse well. Mix, if you like, with some other lettuce (I happened to have some redleaf in the fridge so I used that), parmesan shavings, and thinly sliced beauty heart radish (from my local farmer’s market—so pretty, so sweet, and it grows here in winter). I tossed it with a quick vinaigrette of salt, balsamic vinegar, and good fresh olive oil. Gone kinda fast.