Rocket

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Rocket

Rocket
© Denzil Green

Arugula Roquette

This salad herb rocketed to fame in the 1990s, and is still going strong in the early 2000s. In fact, there's hardly any recipe that doesn't call for it here or there. Got it on my grilled cheese the other day. Ask for salt and pepper in any restaurant, and they look at you like you're from Mars; meanwhile, there's all this weed in your dinner.

At the beginning of the 1990s, it made its appearance in salad bag mixes, then it began to be sold on its own as well, with or without roots attached. By the end of the decade, it was in cooked dishes -- you toss it in at the last minute, just before serving.

It has a peppery, pungent, mildly bitter or acrid flavour, which you will either like or not like. The good news, if you aren't wholly enamoured of its strong flavour, is that the flavour gets milder when it is heated through contact with the cooked ingredients in a dish.

As for any salad green, you want bright green, crisp leaves as opposed to mooshy yellow, wilted ones.

Rocket, like mustard and watercress, is a member of the brassica (cabbage) family; its seeds are even like those of mustard plants, though a bit larger. In temperate climates, you can grow it as a biennial plant in gardens. But in northern climates, it won't survive the winter. You will need to replant some each spring. You harvest it before it flowers.

To use, cut off the roots, if still attached. The leaves can attract and hold a good deal of grit and soil, so you need to give them a really good wash, just as you would for spinach.


Substitutes
Watercress (though if you don't like rocket, chances are you won't like watercress either); or endive, escarole, radicchio, chicory or young dandelion or mustard greens.

Equivalents
1 small bunch arugula = about 1 to 2 cups of torn greens
1 cup of torn greens = 1 ounce = 30g

Storage
Don't wash before refrigerating. If the roots are attached, wrap them in a damp paper towel, put in a plastic bag and refrigerate up to two days.

History
Native to Southern Europe, where it grows wild. Rocket was popular all throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. Then, a fashion victim of the changing times, its popularity waned back to just Southern Europe, until today, when it is now a "new discovery" in Europe and in North America.

Literature & Lore
In North America, Rocket is usually called "Arugula", and I suppose most people think that it is an Italian word. Yet, the Italian word is "rucola" or sometimes "rochetta". "Arugula" is an English corruption of the word in some Italian dialect, perhaps from Lombardy where they call it "arigola". In any event, if you think you're being authentic and continental by calling it "arugula", you're wrong. I've seen some recipes try to sound authentically Italian with names such as "spaghetti con arugula" (con meaning with), but though Italians might eventually hazard a guess that arugula means "rucola", it does highlight the dangers of wanting to get fancy in another language when you only know a handful of words. Better to use the plain English word, "Rocket".

In Latin, "eruca" was a type of cabbage, and the English "rocket", the German "Rauke" and the Italian "rucola" can be traced back to that word.

The Greeks called it Hesperis ("vesper-flower") because when it flowers, it gives off a scent in the evening but not in the daytime. It is also known as Dames Rocket or Dames Violet.

Also called:
Eruca sativa (Scientific Name); Roquette (French); Gartenrauke, Rauke, Rucola, Salatrauke (German); Rucula, Rughetta (Italian); Arrúgula, Jaramago, Oruga, Roqueta, Ruca, Rúcula (Spanish); Rucula (Portuguese)

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