Zelen and the science of green

The word zelen in Slovenian means ‘green’. Zelenjava means ‘vegetable’, zelena solata means ‘lettuce’ and zelena means ‘celery’. This might, just possibly, be a little clue to the character of this rare, ancient and indigenous variety which grows nowhere else but in the tiny Vipava Valley (Vipavska Dolina) of the Primorska region of south-western Slovenia.

The Vipavska Dolina, named after the river that threads through it, is a little further south than its much more famous neighbour, Goriška Brda. Its nose is pressed up against the Italian border and...