Vegetable food is healthy and fortunately there is a wide choice of tasty or less tasty vegetables. There is such a markedly different opinion about few vegetables as about chicory. You hate it, or you love it. Chicory is relatively new in the low countries and has since grown into an immensely popular vegetable.
chicory
The vegetable chicory can be recognized by its white leaves. The vegetable also gets its name from this: praise or foliage is the designation of the sheet and white obviously refers to the color. In Belgium, the vegetable is chicory called, the Dutch keep it up chicory.
Where does chicory come from?
About the middle of the nineteenth century, 1850-1851, discovered Frans Breziers, culture chief of the Botanic Garden in Brussels, which grew a head of white leaves on chicory roots through the combination of heat, humidity and darkness. The tray turned out to be tasty and can be prepared in many ways into delicious products. The white color of the foliage is caused by the lack of chlorophyll, which is not produced in the dark.
Bitter
Chicory originally had a somewhat bitter taste, which is why some people, especially children, prefer not to eat the vegetable. Today there are fewer bitter varieties, making chicory more accessible to a wider audience.
Winter vegetables
Nowadays vegetables are flown in from all over the world. As a result, we have less awareness of the seasons when the vegetables normally reach maturity on the ground. It was relatively recently that only those vegetables were sold and eaten, which at that time were harvested on the land or in greenhouses in our country. Not all vegetables were available throughout the year, in some months the supply was significantly less. A crop like chicory provided a solution in these times.
The chicory cultivation
Chicory is grown in two stages:
- Growing the carrot
- Growing the crop
Growing the carrot
Chicory is sown approximately in May. As the plant grows, sturdy chicory roots develop. These roots are harvested in the autumn and then kept refrigerated.
Growing the crop
Once the roots are placed in the dark under the right conditions, new leaves will develop on the root. As long as everything takes place in the dark, the leaves will remain white. The creation of the right conditions in which the chicory head can develop is called the forcing. Nowadays a lot of use is made of chicory forcing on running water. This allows a better and more efficient development and production of chicory.
Problems in chicory cultivation
Growing chicory is not that difficult. Unfortunately, there are some nasty diseases that can threaten chicory cultivation. Diseases are caused by fungi or bacteria. Some of these diseases:
- slime rot
- leaf fire
Slime rot
In the fungal disease Slime rot (Sclerotina sclerotorium) the roots rot during the migration. The fungus has already been able to attach itself to the roots during the cultivation of the roots. This also means that the soil in which the roots are grown will be contaminated with this fungus. The consequence is that next year you should not plant any crops on this plot of land that this fungus has an effect on.
Leaf fire
Leaf fire (Pseudomonas) disease is caused by bacteria. This bacteria is on the leaves, which are affected by it. If you get there in time, removing the diseased leaves is often enough to help the plant get back on its feet.
Popular
Chicory has become a very popular vegetable. Northern France is the largest producer of chicory, followed by Belgium and the Netherlands. The average Dutch person eats more than three kilos of chicory a year, the average Belgian surpasses this by verve and brings it up to seven kilos per person. In Belgium chicory (in Belgium we can of course better speak of chicory) is in second place in the list of favorites, in the Netherlands chicory is in third place. The French are not doing badly either, with three and a half kilos per average Frenchman, which is fourth on the national favorites list.
Preparation
There are many different ways to prepare a tasty chicory dish, for example:
- cooked
- stewed
- in an oven dish
- stir-fry
- or make a tasty chicory salad
A preparation example
Cut the chicory into strips and cook for about 15 minutes with enough water. To make the taste less bitter, a dash of milk can be added. Test with a fork whether the chicory is done. If a piece easily sticks to the fork, then the time has come. Drain the chicory and let everything drain very well after cooking. Serve the chicory with ham and cheese. Lets eat!