The “Cook’s Thesaurus” makes an excellent effort at untangling common confusions between chicory and endive, separating the weeds from dinner. The Chicorum family includes curly endive, escarole, and Belgian endive, along with radicchio. Confusion over names is ascribed to early importing of Chicorum family members from Europe to America. In an attempt to reduce further confusion, this article will focus on chicory as a root vegetable-and its surprising dividend. Chicory root has been cultivated in Europe for centuries. Cooked fresh, it is said to resemble parsnip in flavor. Dried and ground, it adds a bitter but flavorful punch to coffee, as anyone visiting New Orleans can testify. In hard times it has functioned as a coffee substitute. Americans will recognize mature chicory plants as tough roadside weeds, able to survive dry, gravelly soil and endless amounts of sun, putting forth airy light blue flowers under remarkably poor growing conditions.
A story is told about a happy accident which produced a delicious table vegetable from this humble root. A Belgian farmer, wintering over chicory roots to increase their size, found pale green heads of sprouts on his root-cellar crop in the spring. We now know those sprouts as “Belgian” or “witloof” (white-leaf) endive-”witloof chicory” to the USDA, “Belgian endive” to your grocer. Since cultivation still requires a long period of forcing in the dark, Belgian endive remains expensive, but a small amount goes a long way.
What to Look For:
1. Pale green-to-white color.
2. Tightly wrapped heads.
3. Heavy for size.
Chicory Storage and Preparation Tips:
1. Remove any brown or wilted leaves.
2. Refrigerate in plastic bag.
3. Plan to use within a day or two.
4. When ready to use, cut off bottom core. For salads, separate leaves gently; leave whole or cut lengthwise in half for cooking.
Cooking with Belgian Endive:
Raw, Belgian endive makes a delicious salad, on its own or combined with other ingredients. Its slightly bitter taste is best enhanced with a light, simple dressing. For a quick hors d’oeuvre, separate leaves and fill the broad end with a meat, fish or vegetable salad or soft cheese.
European cooking emphasizes Belgian endive as a cooked vegetable, braising or baking it, in a meat or poultry broth or au gratin (surprisingly, this fragile vegetable holds up well during cooking and retains its distinctive flavor in the presence of sauces and seasonings).
Chicory Nutrition Highlights:
Not surprisingly, growing in the dark as the sprout of a root limits the nutrients available in Belgian endive. It is a moderate source of potassium, phosphorus, and magnesium but should mostly be regarded as water in a delicious, luxurious shape.
Nutrients of Chicory