Belgian Endive
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Belgian endive (''
Cichorium intybus Common chicory (''Cichorium intybus'') is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant of the family Asteraceae, usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Native to Europe, it has been introduced to the Americas and Australia. M ...
),'' also known as ("white leaf") chicory or ''chicon'', is a lettuce-like vegetable or salad green. Belgian endive was developed in Belgium in the 1850s and is nicknamed "white gold" in that country. In 2021 Belgium added it to the country's Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage.


Description and culinary use

It has a small compact elongated head of cream-colored leaves. The tender leaves are slightly bitter; the whiter the leaf, the less bitter the taste. The smooth, creamy white leaves may be served cooked or raw. The highest quality Belgian endives have a small, soft heart, which are typically found in the traditionally-grown vegetables known as ''grondwitloof''. When cooked, the bitterness mellows to a nutty flavor. The vegetable can be cooked whole, cut up, or separated into leaves. It can be stuffed, baked, braised, roasted, or cooked in a sauce. In the US, the Belgian endive is typically served raw in salads or used to create appetizer dishes of stuffed individual leaves and is considered a gourmet produce item. In Europe, it is typically served as a roasted or baked whole vegetable in a sauce, such as a
gratin Gratin () is a culinary technique in which a dish (food), dish is topped with a Browning (food process), browned crust, often using breadcrumbs, grated cheese, egg or cheese.Courtine, Robert J. (ed.) (2003) ''The Concise Larousse Gastronomique' ...
, and is considered an important winter vegetable. A well-known cooked dish is , endive wrapped in ham and baked in
mornay sauce A Mornay sauce is a béchamel sauce with grated cheese added. The usual cheeses in French cuisine are Parmesan and Gruyère, but other cheeses may also be used. In French cuisine, it is often used in fish dishes. In American cuisine, a Morna ...
. The roots of the wild plant are sometimes roasted, ground, and brewed into a beverage called
chicory Common chicory (''Cichorium intybus'') is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant of the family Asteraceae, usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Native to Europe, it has been introduced to the Americas and Australia. M ...
that is sometimes used as a substitute for or an extender to coffee.


Growing

The plant is a
biennial Biennial means (an event) lasting for two years or occurring every two years. The related term biennium is used in reference to a period of two years. In particular, it can refer to: * Biennial plant, a plant which blooms in its second year and t ...
which had been primarily grown for the value of its first-season root in producing the beverage chicory. It had not been exploited for its second season until the development of the second-year sprout as a vegetable in Belgium. According to one legend, the technique for growing blanched endives was accidentally discovered in the mid-1800s when a chicory farmer named Jan Lammers returned from military duty and discovered the roots he had stored had sprouted and the sprouts were good to eat. Another version of the story is that a botanist named François (or perhaps Frans) Breziers, a chief gardener at the Brussels Botanical Garden, developed the Belgian endive in an equally happy accident. In Belgium the vegetable is called Witloof in de Stad or Chicon en Ville and is nicknamed "white gold". As traditionally grown, they are available from December to April in temperate climates, making them unusual. Commercially grown Belgian endive are available year-around. Because the plant has a
taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproot ...
, it cannot be started as a seedling and transplanted into the field or garden but must be started where it will be grown. For its first year, it is field-grown. It is seeded in the spring in northern temperate climates. In commercial growing, at the end of the first growing season, the plant is harvested, the leaves are removed, and the root is stored in cold conditions, mimicking an overwintering. The root is then allowed to re-sprout indoors in the absence of sunlight, which prevents the leaves from turning green and opening up. This hydroponics method was developed in the 1970s and produces an endive called ''hydrowitloof''. In traditional cultivation, the leaves are cut off at the end of the first growing season and the roots are left in the ground covered with layers of straw topped with sheets of metal or thick fabric to block the sunlight to overwinter. The traditional method produces an endive called ''grondwitloof'' (soil Belgian endive) which are typically higher quality.


Industry

Belgium's Praktijkpunt Landbouw Vlaams-Brabant (Practical Centre for Agriculture in Flemish Brabant), formerly the Nationale Proeftuin Voor Witloof (National Testing Garden for Belgian Endive), is in
Herent Herent () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the villages and former municipalities of Herent proper, Veltem-Beisem and Winksele. On January 1, 2016, Herent had a total population of ...
. In the 1970s, the endive was the most-grown vegetable in Belgium and accounted for a quarter of vegetables grown in the country. Producers of hydrowitloof, able to produce year around, pushed out producers of grondwitloof, but eventually were themselves pushed out by cheaper producers in other countries. By the 2010, commercial producers of both types of Belgian endive were leaving the industry. Brussels Grondwitloof was awarded a European Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) designation. As of 2021, production of the vegetable in Belgium is "mostly by amateurs" rather than as a commercial crop; the availability of land and the costs of input, including electricity to create the cold storage necessary for production, had harmed the domestic industry.


See also

*
Endive Endive () is a leaf vegetable belonging to the genus ''Cichorium'', which includes several similar bitter-leafed vegetables. Species include ''Cichorium endivia'' (also called endive), ''Cichorium pumilum'' (also called wild endive), and ''Cicho ...
*
Radicchio Radicchio is a perennial cultivated form of leaf chicory (''Cichorium intybus'', Asteraceae), commonly used in Italian cuisine. It is grown as a leaf vegetable and usually has colourful, white-veined red leaves that form a head. Radicchio has ...


References

{{Reflist Vegetables Belgian inventions Lettuce Crops originating from Europe Cichorieae Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Brussels