Why Not Endive ? g. w. hood, ks. 



A "Luxury" Vegetable That Even the Most Modest Can Have With Ease. The Ideal Salad for Winter from Summer Sowing 



Blanching is quite simple: just tie up 

 the green leaves for a week; 



THE call for 

 salad plants 

 usually ex- 

 ceeds the 

 supply during the 

 late fall and early 

 winter, yet the 

 craving for green 

 plants at this sea- 

 son is becoming 

 more marked as 

 their place as ap- 

 petizers becomes 

 recognized. Now 

 lettuce is the one 

 commonly ac- 

 cepted vegetable 

 for this purpose, 

 but there is still 

 another plant — 

 endive — which is grown to only a small extent 

 and is known only to a few people, that will 

 really serve the purpose better at that season. 

 I was surprised last fall when it not only became 

 a task but an impossible accomplishment, to dis- 

 pose of a small greenhouse full of this delicious 

 plant just because it was not known! The gro- 

 cers could not be induced to handle it because 

 they said it was impossible to sell it. Yet endive 

 is no novelty and is highly esteemed in places 

 where it is known. No large estate is without it, 

 and really anybody can have it who wills. 



Endive is not only easy to grow, but thrives 

 well almost everywhere on a great variety of soils. 

 It is a rapid grower, and develops a compact 

 plant with handsome, finely cut foliage and 

 crinkly leaves, which are an ornament in them- 

 selves. The plant fills a most important place 

 in the fall, and although it can be grown in the 

 spring, its greatest value lies in its being a good 

 fall salad plant from summer sown seed. Not 

 only is endive an excellent salad plant but it 

 makes delightful greens or pot herbs when cooked 

 and served the same as spinach, to which, in 

 fact, I prefer it in the fall. When used as a pot 

 herb endive furnishes desirable mineral elements, 

 which can be supplied at much less cost through 

 it than is possible through spinach. Endive is 

 so easily grown that every garden should be sup- 



plied with it, and it keeps well enough so that it 

 can be served until Christmas time, with a little 

 care in storing. Why, now, is it so little known 

 outside of the larger gardens of the country? 

 Why has it not yet come to its own? 



COW the seed from the middle of July to the 

 ^ first of August. It can be handled in one of 

 two ways, either by sowing in drills or by plant- 

 ing in a seed bed. When the seed is drilled in, the 

 plants are thinned out to stand about 12 to 14 

 inches apart in the rows, while the rows are usu- 

 ally 15 to 18 inches apart. If the seed bed 

 method is used, the seedlings are set out the same 

 distance as above, when the first true leaf appears. 

 Watering the seedlings, as soon as the transplant- 

 ing is done, aids materially in establishing them. 



The usual cultural methods should be prac- 

 tised regularly, i.e., cultivation and weeding when 

 occasion demands it, watering of course if the 

 season is dry. Liberal and frequent stirring of 

 the soil supplemented with some irrigation will 

 produce wonderfully fine plants in a short 

 time. 



13LANCHING is the important step in endive 

 -*-* growing and is probably the phase of culture 

 that is not well understood and one of the reasons 

 why the crop is not popular. Yet it is indeed a 

 simple matter. Unless blanched, endive is 

 strong and bitter, and when eaten in this con- 

 dition is not very palatable; when blanched, it 

 is a beautiful product of creamy white, crinkly 

 leaves, not only palatable but appetizing in 

 appearance. Of course it should be here stated 

 that as compared to lettuce endive has always a 

 bitter pungent tang. 



Any method which will exclude the light will 

 bleach the leaves, but some ways are either not 

 practical, or cause the plant to rot. The two 

 mostcommon methods of blanching are (1) todraw 

 the leaves together and tie them with a soft cord; 

 or (2) to pull the leaves together and cover 

 the plant with a heavy sack. A paper band tied 

 around the plan't will also serve. The blanching 

 should be done when the plant has reached a 

 suitable size, after it is full grown, and only a few 

 plants should be tied up at one time because as 

 soon as the plant is blanched, it begins to break 



down. A sufficient 

 number for family 

 use should be tied 

 up each week, to 

 give a constant 

 supply. When 

 freezing weather 

 arrives, the plants 

 can be taken up 

 and stored in a 

 box of sand or 

 soil in a cool 

 cellar, and can be 

 used until late in 

 the season. 



TF YOU have 



never used en- 

 dive, try one of the 

 following methods 

 of preparation: 

 To make endive 

 salad, select two 



well grown plants that have been blanched until 

 the centre is a creamy white. Remove all of 

 the outer leaves and select only the centre which 

 is blanched. Cut the endive into small pieces, 

 slice a medium sized onion with the endive, and 

 dice a fair sized boiled potato into the two. 

 Thoroughly mix the salad with salt and a 

 little sugar, and add sufficient vinegar to almost 

 cover the salad. Serve cold. 



To serve as greens, select the blanched centres 

 of the plant, cut into pieces and add one or two 

 slices of bacon which has been cut into small 

 pieces. Boil until done, add salt, pepper and 

 vinegar enough to give it the desired flavor. 

 Serve hot, the same as spinach. 



— Or fit an ordinary paper bag over 

 the plant , first gathering up the leaves 



' I V HE different kinds of endive as grown for 

 -*- salad are merely garden variations of one 

 species of chicory, the difference being chiefly in 

 the form of the leaf. The so called French en- 

 dive or Witloof chicory is quite different, being 

 indeed the product of the same species that gives 

 the chicory of commerce that is used to adulterate 

 coffee and which gives us the pretty blue roadside 

 flower in midsummer. 



There are two types of endive shown here. The broad leaved is usually not blanched so much as the curled which is considered the better and almost exclusively grown for fall use. Endive is really 

 easier to grow than lettuce in its season. It has a crisp texture and a less or more bitter flavor according as it is blanched or not 



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