Curly Chicory Minerva plants - Cichorium endivia crispum

The Crisped Chicory Minerva is a large and resistant salad, with green, highly cut, curly and crisped leaves that lay flat around a yellow heart. It is a variety particularly suitable for harvesting in autumn and winter. If possible, 'blanch' the foliage by depriving the plant of light, fifteen days before harvesting, which helps remove some bitterness.

The Crisped Chicory is a vegetable plant that belongs to the Asteraceae family. It has the Latin name Cichorium endivia crispum, and is also known as Endive Chicory, Ribbed Endive, or Crisped Endive, without being a common endive in the usual sense. It comes from the wild Chicory that is naturally found in meadows and roadside edges.

Crisped Chicories have a rosette habit and green, cut and curly leaves. Some varieties need to be temporarily deprived of light to remove any potential bitterness, while others naturally blanch. The Minerva variety should be deprived of light by placing a blanching bell on the chicory 10 to 15 days before harvesting.

They are quite hardy but tolerate winter harshness less than wild chicories. It is therefore advisable, in particularly cold regions, to provide protection such as forcing cloths or tunnels.

In the garden, they thrive in any moderately rich soil, rather moist but well-drained.

Crisped Chicory leaves are mainly consumed raw in salads, but can also be cooked in juice, gratin, with cream, braised or in béchamel sauce.

Chicories are all known for their tonic, purifying and slightly laxative properties.

Harvest: chicories are harvested as needed and as they grow.

Storage: they can be stored for a few days in a cool place after harvesting.

Gardener's tip: Regular hoeing and weeding is recommended, and mulching is advised in case of drought.

Note: Attention, our young plug plants are professional products reserved for experienced gardeners: upon receipt, transplant and store them under cover (veranda, greenhouse, frame...) at a temperature above 14°C (57.2°F) for a few weeks before being installed outdoors once the risk of frost is definitively ruled out.