A bitter leaved, tangy salad plant, chicory is easy to grow and adds a nice texture to winter salads in particular. There are three types:
Red chicory often known as radicchio or Italian chicory
Forcing chicory – which is ‘forced’ by depriving the plants of light to produce tender, sweet white growths called chicons (which are a lot like tender cos lettuce)
Sugarloaf chicory which is like lettuce
Chicory can be grown in a raised bed or open ground, or even in a pot – so it’s ideal for the balcony grower. You can grow them as baby leaves or let them grow on to produce a compact head. Forcing chicory can often be the only way of having tender young salad leaves in a very cold climate as you are forcing them indoors in pots – and the little chicons are a delicacy.
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