Gadenin日本語Get the appKnowing when a head is ready
A blanched head is ready when the center has gone from green to cream or pale yellow through roughly the inner third of its leaves, and when the head feels solid and heavy if you press the top gently with the flat of your hand. That is generally 10 to 16 days after covering, sooner in mild weather and later once nights are cold and growth has slowed.
An unblanched head is ready when the rosette has stopped widening and the inner leaves have folded over the center by themselves. It will be green throughout and frankly bitter raw, which is fine if you intend to cook it; broad-leaved endive braised or wilted is arguably better than the blanched version and does not need the fortnight of covering.
Do not leave a blanched head standing. Unlike a cabbage, it does not hold. Beyond about ten days from the point it reached full pallor, the center begins to soften and the outer leaves start to rot inward, and one warm wet day can take a whole row. Cut on time even if you are not ready to eat it; it keeps far better in the refrigerator than in the ground.
| Sign | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Inner third of leaves cream to pale yellow | Blanching is complete | Cut within the next few days |
| Head firm and heavy under a gentle press | Heart has filled properly | Cut now |
| Center still green after 16 days | Light is getting in, or the plant was too small | Re-cover more thoroughly, or harvest green and cook |
| Pale leaves limp and translucent | Left covered too long | Cut immediately and strip back to sound leaves |
| Sour smell when you lift the cover | Rot has started in the heart | Cut and salvage the sound outer leaves the same day |
Cutting it properly
How you cut matters more with endive than with most salads, because a ragged cut on a dense head in damp autumn weather starts a rot that will spread through the whole head in storage.
- Harvest in the morning, dry Cut once the dew has gone but before the sun is on the bed. The leaves are at their crispest and the surfaces are dry, which is what lets a head keep for a fortnight.
- Take off the tie or cover first Untie the twine or lift the plate and let the head stand uncovered for a few minutes so the outer leaves relax and you can see the true base of the plant.
- One clean stroke at ground level Slide a sharp knife horizontally through the stem just at the soil surface. Cut once. Sawing at it bruises the base and leaves a torn face that goes brown quickly.
- Trim and check the base Strip the outer leaves back to sound tissue and cut a thin slice off the base so it is clean and pale. Any brown or hollow tissue in the stem means the head must be used at once rather than stored.
- Lift the stump out of the bed Dig the root out rather than leaving it. A cut stump left in autumn soil rots, harbors slugs, and is a good place for gray mold to build up before the next crop.
Do not wash a head you intend to store. Water trapped between the tight inner leaves is what makes stored endive collapse. Brush off loose soil dry and wash only what you are about to eat.
Frost, and the case for waiting
A light frost genuinely improves endive. The plant responds to cold by converting some of its stored starch to sugar, which offsets the bitterness, and a head cut the morning after the first frost of the season tastes noticeably sweeter than the same head cut a week earlier. This is a real reason to plan the crop for late autumn rather than trying to rush it.
The limit is a hard freeze that goes through the heart. Once the center has frozen solid it will thaw to mush, and a head that has frozen and thawed cannot be stored at all. Broad-leaved kinds shrug off nights down to about 20F (minus 6C) with the outer leaves damaged and the heart sound; curly kinds start suffering several degrees earlier.
When a serious freeze is forecast and heads are still standing, lift them whole with the root ball attached and stand them close together in damp sand in a frost-free shed or a cool garage. They will hold there for several weeks and will even continue to blanch in the dark. That is the standard way to carry endive past the point at which the garden is finished.
Storage and keeping records
A dry, trimmed, unwashed head wrapped loosely in paper and kept in the coldest part of the refrigerator holds for one to two weeks. Do not seal it in a bag, since the trapped moisture is what starts the collapse. Check it every few days and strip off any leaf going soft before it reaches the ones beneath.
Write down the date you covered each head, the date you cut it, and what the heart looked like when you did. Over one season those three columns give you the actual number of blanching days your garden needs, which varies with autumn temperatures far more than any general figure suggests, and they tell you honestly how many heads you lost to being left too long. Note the first frost date alongside them too, so next year you can aim the sowing at cutting a week after it rather than a month before.