Endive

Origin & history

Endive comes from the eastern Mediterranean and was already in cultivation in Egypt, Greece and Rome; it reached Central Europe by way of the monastery gardens. It belongs to the same genus as native chicory (Cichorium intybus), which gave rise to Belgian endive, radicchio and chicory coffee. The characteristic bitter note sits in the milky sap of the leaf ribs and mellows with the first cool nights — which is exactly why endive is an autumn salad and not a summer one.

Varieties

There are two groups: the smooth-leaved endive (escarole, e.g. “Breitblättriger vollherziger”) with broad flat leaves is milder, tougher and markedly more frost-tolerant — the right choice for late sowings. Curly endive (frisée, e.g. “Wallonne”) is more finely cut and more decorative but rots in the heart faster in a wet autumn. For early sowings it pays to look for varieties explicitly sold as bolt-resistant.

Care

When planting, the heart must not sit in the soil — endive set too deep rots from the inside; cover the root ball just barely. Water evenly and at the base, because plants watered over the top hold water in the heart. Traditionally the heads are blanched ten to fourteen days before harvest: gather the leaves and tie them loosely with raffia, or lay a plate over the heart, and the inside turns pale and mild. Do this only in dry weather and on dry leaves, or the tied head rots.

What can go wrong

After blanching and in wet autumns, heart rot is the biggest risk — the inside turns glassy, then grey and mushy. Only cultivation prevents it: 30 cm spacing, shallow planting, watering at the base in the morning, tying heads only when dry and pulling out rotting leaves at once. Bolting is almost always a matter of timing: sown before June, endive runs to flower in the long days instead of forming a head. In the rotation keep a distance from lettuce and Belgian endive; they share the same pathogens.

Harvest, storage & kitchen

Cut the whole head off at the stem before hard frost; below about −5 °C the leaves are damaged. Whole heads keep two to three weeks in a cool cellar if stood in slightly damp sand. If the salad has turned out too bitter, laying the cut leaves briefly in lukewarm water helps. Escarole is one of the few salads that can also be cooked — briefly braised or in soup.

Frequently asked questions

When do you sow endive?

Raise seedlings from early June to early July and plant them out between early July and early August. Harvest runs from early September to early November. Allow about four weeks from sowing to planting out.

Does endive tolerate frost?

It copes with light night frosts, but it is not winter hardy — the picking window closes in early November. Fleece from October usually buys two or three extra weeks and keeps the heads drier, which in a wet autumn matters more than the frost protection itself.

How long does endive take from planting out to harvest?

About eight to ten weeks after planting out, plus the four weeks of raising seedlings beforehand. A batch planted in early July is ready in September, one planted in early August in October — the late batch grows more slowly in shorter days but tastes milder.

Can I grow endive in a container?

Yes, a pot of about ten litres per plant will do, and with 30 cm spacing it takes only that one plant. Put it in full sun, because every hour of light counts in autumn, and water at the base — containers dry out much faster than a bed.