Endive

Endive is related to chicory. This tasty vegetable can be eaten raw, cooked or stewed. It’s delicious in a traditional Dutch mash dish (stamppot), but also holds its own in a salad.

Nowadays, endive is available all year round. Originally, the season runs from spring to autumn. In winter, it is grown in greenhouses. There are two types of endive: curly endive and broad-leaved endive. Curly endive has a slightly more bitter flavour than the broad-leaved variety.

Buying and storing
When buying endive, check that there are no brown edges on the leaves. Also avoid dark green soft spots — these indicate that the plant is starting to rot.

Endive keeps best in the vegetable drawer of the fridge. Curly endive has a shorter shelf life. If you briefly blanch the endive for one minute and then cool it in ice water, you can freeze it and store it for several months.

In the kitchen
One of the most well-known dishes is of course mashed potatoes with raw endive. It’s so tasty that some people even eat it during the summer months. But you can also steam endive, combine it with bacon, or use it to make a delicious salad.

The most important thing is to remove the end of the stem, as it’s very bitter.