Lettuce I.D. required

Somethingly slighty different from 'what's this unknown plant in my garden' - what is this variety of lettuce that Morrisons sell, as I'd like to source some seed & grow them myself:

 

Well that makes a change! I expect you've looked at Google Images - they show pictures but don't necessarily tell you what they are. I've seen this lettuce before (probably in the supermarket) but don't know what variety it is. You need a veggy person.................

 

I suspect it's actually an Endive rather than a lettuce, but was hoping somebody would recognise it from a seed catalogue/packet.

 

It`s a scarola I think in English is called escarole or prickle lattuce , It can be used row or fried , is cold tollerant , in Italy we usually grow it from september up to Christmas .
there are lots of variety , also need to be tied to get the white gems inside ....I think it`s used a lot in the already mix florette salad .
grow very well in UK , as I get lots of them in September from my Italian friend , it last more then 2 weeks in the fridge , plus can be boiled and frozen for late use.

 

Yes, but I haven't seen anybody growing anything as good, and the best pic I could find was this one, which isn't half as leafy. So would these be a standard variety of Curly Endive grown using some commercial techniques to enhance them, or a perhaps a special F1 variety available only to commercial growers?

 

http://www.seedsofitaly.com/product/81

Shame that I left my allotment 2 years ago , I had 3 variety , all coming from Italy .

 

this is the Italian escarole used in restorant and it`s actually called escarole , but is the same taste as the endive , different leaves.

 

The 'Fine Maraichere' appears to be the closest, so I now need to decide whether to buy 50 seeds for 69p from Nickys Nursery, or 1,200 seeds for 99p from ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Salad-Endive-Fine-Maraichere-1200-Seeds-/320768735395 (+ they sell lettuce leaf basil).

I wonder if there are techniques involved in growing these, like time left growing 'open' before binding up.

 

Have you tried Franchi seeds? They are very helpful, and sell many different varieties.

In fact, look at http://seedsofitaly.co.uk/product/83 Scarola Cornet to di bologna