the.com/endive
a vegetable grown in total darkness so it stays pale, bitter, and gorgeously aristocratic
means A leafy vegetable, often with crisp pale leaves and a pleasantly bitter edge, eaten raw in salads or cooked.
from From French 'endive,' which came through Medieval Latin 'endivia' from Late Greek 'entybon' — a name for chicory and its kin. The deeper root is murky, possibly Egyptian, so the word's true homeland is lost in the same shadows the plant is now grown in.
- grown blind
- forced in darkness to prevent green bitterness
- happy accident
- discovered in 1830s from forgotten Belgian chicory roots
- two crops
- roots dug, then regrown indoors as pale buds
- belgian pride
- locals call it witloof, meaning white leaf
- edible boat
- leaves double as crunchy spoons for hors d'oeuvres
for instance
witloof chicory — belgian cultivar grown in darkness in bruges region since 1850s, produces blanched white heads
radicchio di treviso — italian red endive from treviso with striped leaves, igp protected since 2010