America's Heartland

This may look like a scene from a cold and foggy winter morning in London, but it's actually a step in the production of one of California's most unusual specialty crops, with roots in Belgium.

Bonjour, endive!

These little plants live in cold storage for up to ten months on their way to your table.

It's below freezing in here.

That's cold!

But before we get too far into this unusual growing process, let's learn the name of this tasty vegetable.

It's spelled E-N-D-I-V-E, and it's pronounced... [David Moen] Endive is what we sell.

Endive is a leafy green, but they're two different things.

David Moen is sales manager for California Endive Farms in Rio Vista, California.

Endive and its cousin, endive, both come from the chicory family.

The pronunciation, "ON-deev," honors the origin of the plant in Belgium, where, almost two centuries ago, a chicory farmer found out quite by accident that long term cold storage of chicory plants would produce tender, tasty leaves.

In the U.S., an aspiring farmer named Richard Collins began growing endive in 1983.

The company he started, California Endive Farms, was sold in 2016, but it's now America's largest grower of endive with more than 5 million pounds a year.

Endives and Richard Collins were featured in one of our America's Heartland Farm to Fork cooking segments with our own chef Sharon Profis.

[Richard] Endive is really versatile in that it not only can be used for nice fresh preparations but it can be cooked.

[Sharon] So, you can grow endive year round?

[Richard] We never stop.

[Celina Lemus] People don't know what it is, um, but when... when people do get their first taste, they love it.

Celina Lemus is plant manager at California Endive Farms.

[Celina] It's such a great vegetable to have.

There's so many things you can do with it.

It's... it's just a really nice addition to a meal.

You know, you can do an appetizer, you can do a salad, you could do a soup, you could do a main dish.

Endive is all about the leaves.

White endive has pale yellow leaves.

Its sibling, red endive, makes a striking visual statement.

The leaves may look delicate, but endive survives harsh conditions of extreme heat and cold, sunshine and darkness.

It's a two-step process.

As the team at California Endive Farm says, this vegetable is... [David Moen] ...so special, it's grown twice!

In the first step, endive has a fairly traditional growth on about 300 acres in California's hot Central Valley.

After about five months, the endive roots and plants are harvested, cut just a few inches above the root line.

[David] And from digging it, it goes into big trucks to bring it down here.

It's sorted, and then goes into bins.

[Fork lift honking] We put it in cold storage.

As many as 3 million roots stay in cold storage for up to ten months.

It's a long, cold, dark nap, complete with icicles.

Then, the plants are moved to a slightly warmer room for their second growth.

[Celina] So, we're in our forcing rooms right now.

This is the forcing of the rootstock that we've brought in from the field.

It'll stay in here for anywhere from 18 to 28 days, depending.

Um, we'll give it some water.

We keep it dark and we let it grow.

When the endive emerges from its second growth, it's ready for your table.

The most edible part of the plant is separated from the base.

Exterior leaves are discarded so that you get the crispest, tastiest inner leaves.

Then, the endive is packaged, boxed and shipped to your grocer.

To demonstrate the versatility of endive, David Moen prepared two easy recipes, one cold, with apples, walnuts and blue cheese, and one hot, baked with olive oil, panko breadcrumbs and a little bit of fresh thyme.

And he made them both in about a half hour.

[David] You could be complex with endive, or you could be really simple.

And so, I tend to like to be simple.

Although endive has been around a long time, it's still being discovered by consumers.

The folks at California Endive Farm say their goal, like their motto, is simple.

[Celina] Eat more endive!

[David] Eat more endives.

And say it in French...

"ON-deev."

Endive, or witloof, as it's known in Flemish, is an accidental vegetable.

The story goes that back in 1830, a Belgian farmer forgot some chicory roots that he had stored in his cellar.

The roots had sprouted white leaves, which turned out to be pretty tasty!