Another Spuredda Leccese Carosello

There’s never a way to know what I am going to get when I grow out any carosello variety that is referred to as a “Spuredda Leccese”. Being that the word “Spuredda” means the same thing as Carosello and that many of the Carosello varieties in Italy come from the Leccese region, it is very much saying “We have no idea what this type of cucumber-melon seed this is, but it is a carosello and it may have come from this one area. So – we’ll sell the seed in packages with a fancy stock photo of a carosello on it”.

As with most carosello varieties, it requires growing the seed out to see if it is both viable and also worth saving. This variety did not look much different from others in its seed package, but from early on, it looked darker than other varieties (a good sign). On further inspection (gently brushing off the fuzz) I recognized that this variety had some real potential. If you cannot tell from how I feel about fancy cucumber varieties, I have a real love of cucumbers with stripes.

So, after I messed up one group of carosello due to some misunderstanding of how to properly water the hydroponic buckets that I had in the greenhouse, I decided to try growing this variety out again. So – this variety is very much like some of the darker Scopattizo Barese carosello varieties that my friend Giuseppe has grown.

So now I am faced with yet dilemma – should I continue this line of Carosello Scopattizo Barese or not? I’m not sure. It is really hard to tell what I want to continue to grow unless I grow it next to another very similar variety. Perhaps in a year or two I will find another garden from which I can do a Scopattizo Barese or Spuredda Leccese grow out.