Common belgian endive (with the yellowish to light green leaves) is much better known and more frequently found on the vegetable shelf than this violet variety. This is a cross between belgian endive and red-leaved radicchio (belongs to the same variety), of which the red-leafed belgian endive variety only inherited the colour. The leaves are as delicate and mildly bitter as those of the green-leaved variety.

Belgian endive denotes to the young leaf buds of a variety of the common chicory (C. intybus). If the young leaves are exposed to strong light, they become increasingly green (or red!) and bitter (the formed bitter principle is called lactucopicrin or intybin).

Chicory can be eaten raw as a salad or fried.

• Edible Leaves (Leaf buds)
• Also edible Root
• Culinary Group Leaf vegetables
• Taste bitter watery
• Trivial Names Chicorée, Roter Chicorée, Zichorie, Treibzichorie, Bleichzichorie, Brüsseler Salat, Brüsseler Endivie, Witlof, Witloof chicory, Brussels chicory, Belgian endive, French endive, Chicon, chicorée de Bruxelles, chicorée witloof
• Size 11 cm
• Taxonomy Asteraceae (Composite Family) Cichorium intybus var. foliosum
• Origin Europe (Map)
• Locality Market 2016