Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Cook's Guide entry for Chicory along with all the Chicory containing recipes presented on this site, with 9 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Chicory recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Chicory as a major wild food ingredient.

Chicory, Cichorium intybus is a wild plant native to Europe with beautiful blue flowers and thin serrated leaves. Chicory has been brought into cultivation and is grown for its slightly bitter leaves and sometimes for its root. It is part of the chicory genus and which belongs to the Asteraceae (daisy) family of flowering plants.

In wild chicory, and to a lesser extent in the cultivated chicory varieties, the bitterness of the leaves is primarily due to the presence of two sesquiterpene lactones Lactucin and Lactucopicrin. Other ingredients are Aesculetin, Aesculin, Cichoriin, Umbelliferone, Scopoletin and 6.7-Dihydrocoumarin and further sesquiterpene lactones and their glycosides.

The chicory plant is one of the earliest known from references in recorded literature. Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus [8 December 65 BCE – 27 November 8 BCE]) mentions it in reference to his own diet, which he describes as very simple: 'Me pascunt olivae, me cichorea, me malvae' ('As for me, olives, endives, and mallows provide sustenance'). Lord Monboddo (the Scottish judge and scholar of linguistic evolution) describes the plant in 1779 as the 'chicoree', which the French cultivate it as a pot herb. In Napoleonic Era France chicory frequently appeared as either an adulterant in coffee, or a coffee substitute. Chicory was also adopted as a coffee substitute by Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War, and has become common in the United States (particularly in the Southern States). It was used similarly in the United Kingdom during the Second World War (though Camp Coffee, a coffee and chicory essence, has been on sale since 1885).

The cultivated chicory plant has a history reaching back to ancient Egyptian time. Medieval monks raised the plants and when coffee was introduced to Europe, the Dutch thought that chicory made a lively addition to the bean drink.

Cultivated chicory, grown for its leaves which are typically used in salads include the following main varieties:

Chicory (as it's known in the UK) or Belgian Endive (as it's known in the US), also known as French Endive and Witloof is a small head of cream coloured, bitter, leaves (see image A). The leaves are pale because they are blanched, either being grown completely underground or indoors in the absence of sunlight in order to prevent the leaves from turning green and opening up (etiolation). The plant has to be kept just below the soil surface as it grows so that only the very tip of the leaves are allowed to emerge. It is often sold wrapped in blue paper to protect it from light and so preserve its pale colour and delicate flavour. The smooth, creamy white leaves may be served stuffed, baked, boiled, cut and cooked in a milk sauce, or simply cut raw. The tender leaves are slightly bitter; but the whiter the leaf, the less traces of bitterness are discernible. The harder inner part of the stem at the bottom of the head should be cut out before cooking to prevent bitterness.

The American name of Belgian Endive applied to blanched chicory is actually a misnomer as it's not an endive but a true chicory (Endives are members of the species Cichorium endivia and though endives are closely related to chicories they are not the same). This has led to considerable confusion and I have seen many sites refer to Belgian Endive as the third type of 'endive', which is incorrect.

Red Endive or Endigia (image, B). This is a new variety produced in France. It is derived from radiccio but has darker leaves and reduced levels of bitterness. It is ideal for being sliced up in salads or used as a component of coleslaws.

Radicchio (image, C), also sometimes known as Italian chicory is a red-leafed variety of common chicory which usually has white-veined red leaves. It has a bitter and spicy taste, which mellows when it is grilled or roasted. Radicchio has been cultivated since ancient times and Pliny the Elder writes about it in his Naturalis Historia (Natural Histories), praising its medicinal properties; he claimed it was useful as a blood purifier and an aid for insomniacs. In fact, radicchio contains intybin, a sedative/analgesic, as well as a type of flavonoid called anthocyanin which is used for making dye-sensitized solar cells. Modern cultivation of the plant began in the fifteenth century, in the Veneto and Trentino regions of Italy, but the deep-red radicchio of today was engineered in 1860 by the Belgian agronomist Francesco Van den Borre, who used a technique called imbianchimento (whitening), preforcing, or blanching to create the dark red, white-veined leaves. Radicchio plants are taken from the ground and placed in water in darkened sheds, where lack of light and ensuing inhibition of chlorophyll production cause the plants to lose their green pigmentation. In Italy, where the vegetable is quite popular, it is usually eaten grilled in olive oil, or mixed into dishes such as risotto: in the United States it is gaining in popularity but is more often eaten raw in salads. As with all chicories, if grown correctly its roots can be used to mix with coffee. It can also be served with pasta, in strudel, as a poultry stuffing, or as part of a tapenade.

Sugarloaf Chicory (Image, D), known as pain de sucre in French and Pan di Zucchero or Blanc di Milan in Italian. This Chicory cultivar forms a head like a large Cos Lettuce which can be cut and used as Witloof, Endive or Lettuce, through autumn and winter. The leaves fold into dense heads being green on the outside and light yellow inside, while growing in the open ground without any kind of forcing. The plant strongly resembles a Chinese leaf (Napa) cabbage in appearance but has the distinctive bitterness of all chicories. It is mostly associated with the cuisines of Milan in Italy but is also grown as a spring green in France where it is typically added, when very young, to stews.

Puntarelle (Image, E). The Italian name, puntarelle literally means 'little tips' and of all the chicories this is the one where the leaves most closely resemble the wild form. This is a winter growing chicory, a variety of Catalonian chicory. They are grown only in the environs of Rome and are characteristic of Roman cuisine. Puntarelle is always served as a salad by itself, with the classic dressing of raw garlic, anchovy, and vinegar mashed together (the dish is known as puntarelle from the plant).

Root Chicory, as the name suggests, is grown for its root which is roasted and ground and used as a coffee additive or substitute. Root chicory (Cichorium intybus var sativum) has long been in cultivation in Europe as a coffee substitute. The roots are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and additive, especially in the Mediterranean region (where the plant is native), although its use as a coffee additive is also very popular in India, parts of Southeast Asia, South Africa and southern United States, particularly in New Orleans. Some beer brewers also use roasted chicory roots to flavour stouts.

In general, the outside leaves of a chicory head are brightly-coloured and bitter. The inner leaves of the chicory head are light green to creamy-white and have a much milder flavour. Like members of the endive family, chicories are often added to salads in combination with milder leaves to give a little more 'bite' to the flavour of the mixture.

Chicory flavour can be made less bitter if it is cooked first. A common practice is to split the heads and then to cook either on a barbecue or a griddle pan so that the cut side is slightly caramelized and marked.

For information on wild chicory, see this site's wild food entry on wild chicory.