Re: chicory
William A. Grant wrote:
>
> A beautiful plant is the chicory that grows wild here in California.
> It is disappearing as suburbs appear. Is there a garden worthy form of
> Cichorium?
> Some cichory is native to the Medit.
Two species are grown as hardy vegetables in Europe and I should imagine
in the USA as well:-
C endiva (endive, scariole)
This resembles a loose-hearted lettuce and is grown for its somewhat
bitter leaves which are used in salads, particularly in winter. A small
proportion is often includes in mesclun mixes which sharpens up the
flavour.
C intybus (Chicory, whitloof, raddachio)
The ground roots are use in some places as a coffee substitute or
adulterant but in France, Belgium and Italy many varieties are grown as
cool-weather salad vegetables. Quite a few of these have red leaves.
Whitloof is a white vegetable produced by blanching leafy shoots or
"Chicons".
If either of these species is grown on long enough they will produce the
typical blue chicory flowers, and I guess also any of the ones with
reddish leaves would be good ornamentals in their own right.
Moira
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata,
New Zealand (astride the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
- References:
- chicory
- From: "William A. Grant" <grant@cruzio.com>
