Endive

If you love salads fresh from the garden, grow escarole and endive. They're the basis of some of the most elegant salads.

Endive and escarole are actually different forms of the same plant. Endive produces deeply cut, curled leaves with mild flavor. It is also sometimes called frisee, and is often included in mesclun salad mixes. Escarole has broad, smooth leaves and tends to be more bitter than endive.

Grow either type in cool conditions for mild flavor. They become bitter in hot or dry conditions. Blanching (covering the plant with a pot to exclude sunlight) for two weeks before harvest also minimizes bitterness. By the way, take care not to confuse endive with Belgian endive, which is often cooked.

Light:

Sun,Part Sun

Plant Type:

Vegetable

Plant Height:

3-9 inches tall

Plant Width:

6-12 inches wide

Top Varieties

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'Natacha' escarole

produces large heads with creamy, blanched hearts. It is tolerates hot weather with its resistance to bolting and tipburn. 48 days
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'Neos' endive

is an extra-frilly frisee type with self-blanching heads. It has a mildly bittersweet flavor. 75 days
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Harvest Tips

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Pick young leaves of endive or escarole for use in salads. Whole heads are ready to harvest as baby greens 45 days after seeding or as mature heads 60-100 days after planting. Harvest individual outer leaves or cut the entire plant at the base.

Propagation

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Seed