I am following a Paleo Diet these days and I am on the lookout for low carbohydrate, versatile vegetables and chicorium are the perfect food to add to my culinary collection.
Common chicory (Cichorium intybus) is a bushy perennial herb with blue or lavender flowers. It grows as a wild plant on roadsides in its native Europe and in North America, where it has become naturalized. It is grown for its leaves,and is known as leaf chicory, endive, radicchio, Belgian endive, French endive, or witloof.
True endive (Cichorium endivia) is a species grown and used as a salad green. It has a slightly bitter taste and has been attributed with herbal properties. Curly endive and the broad-leafed escarole are true endives.
There are two main cultivar varieties exist:
Curly endive, or frisée (var crispum) with curly narrow leave and Escarole, or broad-leaved endive (var latifolia). Escarole leaves have spine like-dentate margins (dandelion or lettuce like) with thick stalks. Its leaves are less bitter when compare to narrow, curly, intensely bitter leaves of "frisee".
Belgian endive sometimes called French Endive or witloof in Dutch , are becoming a favourite addition to my salad. They have a small head of cream-coloured compressed into a compact 10 to 12 cm long heads. Their nutritional content is impressive. One head provides 17.2 g Carbohydrate of which 15.9 grams are dietary fibre, 11116 IU Vitamin A, 1185 mcg Vitamin K, 267mg Calcium and 86.2 mg Choline.
Endives are enriched with good amount Vitamin A and beta carotenes. Both of these compounds are known to have antioxidant properties. Carotenes convert to vitamin A in the body. Also, vitamin A is required for maintaining healthy mucus membranes and skin. In addition, it is also essential vitamin for vision. Consumption of greens rich in vitamin A helps to protect from lung and oral cavity cancers.
They contains many essential B-complex groups of vitamins such as folic acid, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyridoxine (vitamin B6) and thiamin (vitamin B1), niacin (B3). These vitamins are essential in the sense that body requires them from external sources to replenish and required for fat, protein and carbohydrates metabolism.
Endives contain minerals like manganese, copper, iron and phosphorus . Manganese is used as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase. Potassium is an important intracellular electrolyte helps counter the hypertension effects of sodium.
Frisee lettuce, also known as curly endive, has long, narrow leaves which
lends an edge to salads and cooked greens with its aesthetically pleasing appearance, sharp flavor, and concentrated nutritional content. Frisee can be described as a bitter salad green, although it also has a slightly nutty taste.
Per 100 gram serving it contains 3.3 grams carbohydrates of which .09 are dietary fibre. The protein content is 1.3grams
