Arugula, My New Favorite Variety (plus a little botany lesson)

Let me tell you, sorting out the different types of arugula is extremely confusing. There are seven different packets of arugula seed arranged on my desktop, each one a different variety. This gets confusing really quickly, especially if you've forgotten (or never learned) all the ins and outs of botanical classification. There are two genera represented here, namely Diplotaxis and Eruca. The genus Diplotaxis contains the wild types of arugula and the genus Eruca contains the cultivated types - ah, but of course there is an exception. Then there are four species, one belonging to Eruca and three to Diplotaxis.

For those of you who have never had to take a course in botany, the botanical names of plants are usually stated in terms of --Genus species "Variety"-- genus and species names are always italicized, and the first letter of the genus name is always a capital letter and the first name of the species is always lower case. The variety is a selection of a plant that has been named because it has special qualities, it is not italicized. For instance, the Chioggia beets that I have in my garden now have the botanical name Beta vulgaris "Chioggia".

So, let me get back to arugula again. Following is a list of the arugula seeds that I've got, most are from Italian seed companies, the rest are American. Their botanical names (sans variety name) are in parentheses:

---Ruchetta Selvatica (Diplotaxis muralis)
---Rucola Selvatica (Diplotaxis erucoides)
---Rucola Selvatica A Foglia Di Olivo (Diplotaxis integrifolia
---Rucola Coltivata (Eruca sativa)
---Rocket Selvatica Sel Liscia (Eruca sativa)
---Arugula (Eruca sativa)
---Runway Arugula (Eruca sativa)

So, look at these names... Ruchetta, Rucola, Rocket, Arugula. Thank goodness I don't have any french seeds, I would have to add Roquette to the list. The names are often used synonymously, but there are also many who make distinctions. Some would make a distinction between Ruchetta and Rucola as refering to wild and cultivated types respectively. I've seen the same distinction made between Rocket and Arugula. That's the problem with common names, they are imprecise. Yikes, what's a gardener to do?! Well, in my case, I'm just going to call them all Arugula.

Ok, why so many different Arugulas, you might ask. It all started a number of years ago (can't remember how many) with a trip to Italy. I had oh so many salads with the best tasting arugula which I figured out was a wild type (ok, I will make one distinction). I came home with a packet of seeds, grew some out and ... oh yuck, this stuff is so strong! And so the search for that increasingly elusive taste memory started. All those wild arugulas have been too strong. Look at that, there are three different species of Diplotaxis, none of them is the one I remember. Oh, and about that one exception... The Rocket Selvatica Sel Liscia, which is an Eruca sativa, which are generally the milder cultivated arugulas, is actually a wild arugula. I'm guessing it must be an undomesticated forbear of the now common cultivated types. It was too strong. And guess what, there's one more wild arugula, Diplotaxis tenuifolia, that I've not tried yet! I don't know how I missed that one, it appears to be the most common species sold as wild arugula.

I still haven't found the wild arugula that I had in Italy, (perhaps it's D. tenuifolia) but this year I've finally found a wild arugula that I like. Actually, that I LOVE it! It has a wonderful nutty flavor with just a little bit of heat that doesn't linger.

So, who's the winner in the arugula taste test...

drumroll . . . . . .

Rucola Selvatica A Foglia Di Oliva
aka Olive Leaf Arugula

Now, I'll tell you how I used it today. It went into a Salami, Arugula, and Meyer Lemon Sandwich, the recipe for which we can thank Scott and Kendra at A Sonoma Garden. Really yummy sandwich, go check it out.

And one more thing, my now second favorite arugula is Runway Arugula, a cultivated (Eruca sativa) the seed for which I got from Renee's Seeds.