Chicory…a trendy vegetable or a beautifully bitter showstopper? Either way it is certain to be an excellent addition to your diet and your garden. Chicory has been on the rise at farmers markets, restaurants and your tables thanks to the work of the Culinary Breeder’s Network and articles written over the past few years exalting its delights. As a lover of all things vegetables, I fully support the move to eating and growing Chicory varieties. Each variety I have grown has offered new moments of joy in the garden and on the plate.

Chicory is a member of the Asteraceae family, home to dandelions, lettuce, sunflowers and so many more of our favorite edible and ornamental plants. The Asteraceae family is one of the largest plant families, boasting nearly 32,000 different species. Chicory is grown for both the root and for the vegetative growth (1). Most edible chicories are derived from two main species Cichorium intybus  and Cichorium endiva.


Guide to Common Chicory Varieties

Common Name

Latin Name

Varietal

Appearance 

Use

Chicory, Common

Cichorium intybus

Tough woody hairy stem, lanceolate leaves, bright blue flowers

Roadside “weed”, roots are used for roasting and medicinal purposes

Radicchio

Cichorium intybus 

  var foliosum

Generally bright red and white striped center heads  with  some bright pink and pale green red flecked varieties 

vegetable leaf production as a food crop

Puntarelle

Cichorium intybus 

var foliosum

Elongated pale green spears, with dandelion like leaves

Asparagus like spears of the flower stalks are harvested early for vegetable consumption

Belgian Endive, Witloof Endive

Cichorium intybus 

var foliosum

Pale white to yellowish green elongated chicons

vegetable leaf production as a food crop

Frisee

Cichorium endiva.

var crispum

Serrate curly leaves ranging from green to pale white centers

vegetable leaf production as a food crop

Escarole

Cichorium endiva.

var latifolia

Broad dark green l rosette of leaves, with blanched centers

vegetable leaf production as a food crop

 

Image from Shawn Linehan

A  Brief History 

There is a long documented history of the use of chicory for food and medicine. Dating back to the first century AD.  References for recipes can be found in both ancient Roman and ancient Greek cookbooks. The Renaissance brought even more detailed accounts of how to eat Chicory.  With recipes that include cooking the leaves and roots with oil vinegar and salt (2). Coincidentally, last night for dinner I made escarole and white beans and used all of those same ingredients. The oil, acid and salt help balance out the bitterness of the leaf. 

Chicory roots were found to taste somewhat like coffee in the 18th century. The roasted roots were used as a coffee substitute during wars and financially difficult times (3).  You can find roasted chicory root  coffee substitutes at most health food stores today. There are many medicinal attributes associated with chicory roots as well ranging from help to the digestive tract, liver and spleen issues and for treating skin and eye infections. Chicory is generally regarded as a safe food and medicine with just  a few documented cases of allergies (4).   Red leaf chicory varieties such as the Chioggia types are known to be high in antioxidants and anthocyanins. Which have been studied to have positive impacts on gastrointestinal issues, some cancers and brain function (5).

Most of the well known edible chicory varieties were bred and produced in Europe, with Italy being a main producer of varieties like Radicchio, Treviso and  Radicchio, Palla Rossa.  It is native to the Eurasian continent but has spread to the United states as a food, medicine and weed (6). Belgian Endive or Witloof Endive was discovered by accident by a Belgian farmer. It was originally grown by blanching the chicons with soil but eventually in order to keep up with production demands farmers switched to hydroponic methods of growing this variety (7). 

Witloof chicory is a biennial and the part you buy at the grocery store is  the result of allowing a chicory root to re-sprout; this in turn forms a compact delicious blanched creamy head of chicory (8).

 

How to Grow

June is an excellent time to start your chicory seeds. You can directly sow them into prepared garden beds. However, I prefer to start my chicory seeds in flats because sometimes they can take up to 2 weeks to germinate. Chicory germinates best at soil temperatures around 65-75 degrees. Very hot soil temperatures can reduce the germination rate. Starting your Chicory seeds in  mid to late June will ensure a lovely crop for you to harvest in the  fall. Some varieties are even cold hardy and can be harvested throughout the winter.  There are a lot of different cultivars so be sure you are choosing the right one for your growing zone and planting time.

Though there are many ways to grow and harvest chicory for the average gardener it will be easiest for you to grow them as you would any other crop. When the heads are ready to harvest, peel back the darker outer layers to find a bright beautiful compact head in the middle.  

There have been a lot of trials on how to grow chicory most effectively.  It does enjoy a hearty amount of water about 1-2 “ per week and will grow best in full sunlight. One study out of Italy shows that it prefers water every two days (9).   You can interplant your chicory plants with salad mix or radishes. These crops will be ready to harvest by the time your chicory has spread out. Chicory matures best in cool weather so late June and December plantings are most common. 

We hope you enjoy growing these beautiful vegetables as much as we do. If you are weary of eating something described as bitter, try soaking the radicchio leaves in ice water to help reduce the bitterness.

 

  Happy Gardening!

-Taryn Hunter

 

References

1. Riklef Kandeler , Wolfram R. Ullrich, Symbolism of plants: examples from European-Mediterranean culture presented with biology and history of art: NOVEMBER: Chicory, Journal of Experimental Botany, Volume 60, Issue 14, October 2009, Pages 3973–3974, https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erp248

2. Puhlmann, M. L., & De Vos, W. M. (2020). Back to the Roots: Revisiting the Use of the Fiber-Rich Cichorium intybus L. Taproots. Advances in Nutrition, 11(4), 878–890. https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmaa025

3. Riklef Kandeler , Wolfram R. Ullrich, Symbolism of plants: examples from European-Mediterranean culture presented with biology and history of art: NOVEMBER: Chicory, Journal of Experimental Botany, Volume 60, Issue 14, October 2009, Pages 3973–3974,  https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erp248

4. Puhlmann, M. L., & De Vos, W. M. (2020). Back to the Roots: Revisiting the Use of the Fiber-Rich Cichorium intybus L. Taproots. Advances in Nutrition, 11(4), 878–890. https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmaa025

5. D'evoli, L., Morroni, F., Lombardi-Boccia, G., Lucarini, M., Hrelia, P., Cantelli-Forti, G., & Tarozzi, A. (2013). Red chicory (Cichorium intybus L. cultivar) as a potential source of antioxidant anthocyanins for intestinal health. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity, 2013, 704310. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/704310

6. Závada, T., Malik, R. J., & Kesseli, R. V. (2017). Population structure in chicory (Cichorium intybus): A successful U.S. weed since the American revolutionary war. Ecology and evolution, 7(12), 4209–4219. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2994

7. Hill, D. E. (1988). The Chicories: Witloof (Belgian Endive) and Radicchio Trials - 1986-1987. The  Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven. Bulletin, 859, May.

8. De Jaegere, I., Cornelis, Y., De Clercq, T., Goossens, A., & Van de Poel, B. (2022). Overview of Witloof Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) Discolorations and Their Underlying Physiological and Biochemical Causes. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.843004

9. Bortolini, L., & Tolomio, M. (2019). Influence of Irrigation Frequency on Radicchio (Cichorium Intybus L.) Yield. Water, 11(12), 2473. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w11122473

 

Written by Taryn Hunter