Endive

Cichorium endivia

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By Elizabeth Schneider

Published 2001

  • About

Including curly endive (curly chicory, frisée) and broad-leaved endive (escarole, batavian)

See also: BELGIAN ENDIVE

This vegetable is not mixed up; its names are. Endive (pronounce the word any way you like; it will be correct) is one plant that has two primary forms: the first with curly, feathery leaves; the second with broader, more flattened leaves. Each form can be grown from mini to massive, and from creamy-pale to deep green. But all sizes, shapes, and colors are Cichorium endivia, which is endive, correctly speaking, in the United States of America and in Britain. (In France, endive, pronounced ahn-deev, refers to what we call Belgian endive, a misnamed chicory.) Incorrectly speaking, a jumble of conflicting common names creates a salad daze in the marketplace.