When home-grown and eaten fresh, rocket is a world away from mild varieties you’ll find in loose-leaf salad mix. Once you adjust, you won’t go back
Rocquette, arugula, sylvetta, rucola, eruca sativa – the list of names for what we commonly call rocket in Australia is long and confusing. But the difference is easily explained: the bright green salad leaf is indeed two different species under the mustard family.
The diversity of names is due to the plants’ many provenances. Originally found through western Asia, Europe and North America, they are now easily grown the globe over, with cultivars and wild seeds naturalised to both hot and cold climates.