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Click above for www.soapsofitaly.com and the New Seeds of Italy Cookbook 'From Seed to Plate' Seeds of Italy Franchi Seeds (1783) A1 Phoenix Ind. Est, Rosslyn Crescent Certain essentials reduced in price to help you save!! *** NEWS *** You can download an advance PDF copy of our new 2009 catalogue now from below !!! *** NEWS *** The Seeds of Italy cookbook is in the shops March 2nd but available NOW from us.. *** NEWS *** You can find Franchi Seeds of Italy on Facebook and join as a fan on FACEBOOK By the time of the mutiny on the bounty in 1789, Giovanni
Franchi was already 6 years into his business of selling seeds
around the market squares of Parma from his horse drawn cart, and the company is still in the same family 226 years later with
Giampiero Franchi at the helm. In fact, 1783 was a momentous
year in which the great British landscape architect Capability
Brown died, Mozart’s opera ‘The
Every region of Italy has it’s own varieties, which like it’s recipes have been handed down from generation to generation. They are not standardised but authentic, regional, unique varieties with provenance. Go to a market and you can buy tomato seeds, tomato plants, tomatoes and everything made with the tomatoes. There is no seperation between gardening and food – there’s just food, and the tomato will vary in shape, size and flavour depending on the region, along with all the other vegetables. It is common for offices, factories, railway stations and even hospitals to have an ‘orto’ or allotment. Many schools do too and children who grow veg, eat veg. Italians are brought up surrounded by vegetables and fruit in thier daily lives, in their surroundings and at their tables. ‘From Seed to Plate’ is not just the name of our new cookbook, but it is our philosophy. Our catalogue features everything you need to achieve this so for example you can grow your Franchi San Marzano plum tomatoes, buy a Rigamonti passata machine to make your passata and then bottle them in our Bormioli Quattro Stagioni passata bottles which once hermetically sealed, will sit in your larder for 1 year. It is really easy to do lots of things badly, so we only deal with a few suppliers, all of which still produce traditional quality goods in Italy.
Our 2009 recipe collection and seed catalogue (valid Jan-Jan, UK and EC only) which also features some recipes from the Seeds of Italy cookbook this year is available from January. But if you can't wait to get a sneak preview and you have broadband internet, then you can order an advance PDF copy NOW by emailing us (UK ONLY) or by downloading it by clicking here (4mb).
In our 2009 catalogue our recipe collection we have a new Golden Line premium range of 12 sunflowers, 12 poppies, a mixed colour carrots pack (purple, white, orange and yellow), mixed swiss chards and 4 fertilisers (from January). We will have a mixed bell peppers pack, a hybrid broccoli called Gentleman, Mizuna, spinach Baby Leaf and carrot Chantenay. We also have some lovely Gardeners soaps with volcanic pommace in Lemon and Almond from Gori 1919 of Florence, a 4th generation soap maker and some really effective organic mosquito repellents made from essential oils from Pisa. We always promise you generous seed quantities, and a level of quality that Franchi has built it's name on. We’re pleased to introduce you to our 'Emporio Seeds of Italy’ boutique which consists of some really excellent deli products along with gifts, kitchen and preserving equipment, ‘Made in Italy’ and rarely available in the UK. And, last but not least, our centre pull-out ‘signed recipes’ section provides you with sublime recipes to enjoy the fruits of your labour. This section has become a bit of a cult and this year features recipes from the new Seeds of Italy cookbook. Italy is only partly a Mediterranean country - 3/5ths of it is Alpine too, with the Alps and Dolomites in the North and the Apennines running down the spine. The beautiful city of Torino hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics of course and it reached -30c in Friuli last year!! As a result, some of our varieties are much hardier and love our mild British climate, and some will grow unprotected outside all winter. But just treat our tomatoes (or any of the varieties) the same way you'd treat a similar domestic variety and they will prosper. You can find our seeds in only the best deli's and garden centres in the UK and Ireland. Buon appetito and 'Grazie' for choosing Franchi seeds - 226 years experience at your service.
Seeds of Italy, the environment, Selecting and grading seeds, Franchi, Bergamo, early 1900 At Seeds of Italy, we are respecters of nature and food. We love growing veg, mushroom picking, preserving and other traditions. But we are starting to get worried about our environment - you don't need to be Leonardo da Vinci to see how we are all living is unsustainable, so we've made some decisions and some changes to how we work. Increasingly, more companies are producing their products, their packaging, their catalogues or other services in Asia or the Far East for economic reasons. Our seed packets are produced in Italy and all our printing is done locally, either in London or Italy. Our seed stands are made in Italy and England for Europe. We feel the cost to the environment on flying these items around is too high so we are now sourcing only EC made products where we can. Franchi themselves have sole responsibility for maintaining 70 important varieties and most of our veg seed is commissioned, not bought in. The farmer is given original Franchi stock seeds, is regularly visited and must meet strict standards. An incredible 90% of our vegetable seeds are still produced in Italy (many in their home regions still) and our seed is tested rigorously, which is why our catalogue comes out in January. Our new premises are lit with natural light and when it comes to sending mail order packets out, we re-use all Franchi packaging and boxes from home etc. So if your seeds arrive in an empty panettone box, that's how it is. We re-use all scrap paper, shred unwanted documents to use as packaging material, we limit visits to our outlets to save on petrol and pollution, and we send their goods by post. As a company, we close for two weeks in August. This means all our staff have a proper break and come back refreshed and energised. We lunch all together with a big bowl of pasta or Salad Nicoise and a glass of wine for instance, all prepared daily on the premises with fresh ingredients, some from the garden, so we all eat properly which is more important than ever these days. We close on Sundays, religious holidays and when Italy are playing football (Forza Azzurri !!). But most of all, our aim, our passion, is to encourage everyone to grow vegetables. You can't get more local than your back garden for at least some of your produce, they taste better, are good for you and the plants are good for the environment. We are members of the Slow Food Movement - the first ever seed company to be so we can further promote this aspect, and Franchi is the only seed brand in the UK approved by the Vegetarian Society. We're not perfect, but we're making a start. We want to improve our environment and if we can all make small changes, and grow more veggies, we can make a difference. Paolo and Alessandra Arrigo
Franchi Seeds "a byword for quality and authenticity" Saturday Telegraph (16/6/07)
Our seeds are definately not standard! |
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and our staff.
