Endive salad: composition and useful properties. Chicory salad

Those who sowed lettuce chicory in spring need to track how fast the plant has grown in August. If the development is weak, this indicates a lack of beneficial nutrients in the soil and the need for top dressing. In addition, weak growth can be a signal of errors in care.

Features of growing lettuce chicory

Salad chicory, chicory salad, witloof - all these are the names of the same vegetable plant, with the only caveat that Witloof is the name of one of the varieties. But since it is the main and most common, then in colloquial speech has already become a household name and is used for the general designation of chicory salad.

Witloof is a biennial plant. Lettuce chicory is grown outdoors, and is also used for forcing greens in winter. In the first year after sowing, a root crop is formed, and in the second year it blooms and forms seeds.

Shoots are eaten, which are broken off at the root. They have a delicate taste that combines sweet notes and a pleasant spicy spiciness. Its crushed heads go well in fresh salads with apples, oranges, radishes. Its leaves can be stewed and grilled, and these greens fit well in sautéed recipes with other vegetables.

Soil requirements for chicory salad

Chicory salad refers to cold-resistant plants. However, you can call it unpretentious with a big stretch. To get a rich harvest, it is necessary to allocate highly fertile lands for planting. The optimal types of soils are loam and sandy loam soils. The soil must be kept loose and watered regularly - witloof is very moisture-loving.

Nutrient-poor soil is fertilized in autumn or spring immediately before planting. For this, compost or rotted manure, as well as mineral supplements, are suitable. For autumn digging, use the following combination:
compost or humus - 5-6 kg per 1 sq. m.;
potash fertilizers - 10 g for the same area.

For spring digging, you will need the following combination of mineral fertilizers:
nitrogen - 6 g per 1 sq. m.;
phosphorus - 6 g for the same area.

Sowing lettuce chicory and caring for beds

Before the formation of beds, the surface of the soil must be qualitatively loosened. On a bed 1 meter wide, seeds are sown in three rows. With this sowing, the row spacing will be approximately 25-30 cm as the plants develop. To ensure optimal area nutrition, in a row between individual specimens of lettuce chicory, the distance should be at least 5 cm. To achieve this, after the appearance of dense shoots, they will need to be thinned out. Thus, for 1 sq. beds can be grown up to 80 pcs. vegetables.

For the future, it should be remembered that too early sowing of lettuce chicory is not advisable. If you do not know this and make such a mistake, then the vegetables will bloom in the first year of sowing, and this will adversely affect the yield of root crops. Therefore, it is necessary to plan sowing no earlier than the second decade of May.

Plant care consists in regular loosening of the soil and watering the beds. As necessary, during the growing season, lettuce chicory is fed. In August, the beds are fertilized with ammonium nitrate.

Preparation and storage of chicory salad

Harvesting root crops for the winter is carried out late autumn. Dig up witloof roots with pitchforks. Before being sent to storage, it must be inspected for suitability and processed for selected specimens. Root crops should not be too thin and forked - these are discarded. A good root crop will be about 3-4 cm in diameter, the standard length of the underground part of the plant is about 25 cm. They cut off the tops and thin lower root processes. It can be stored in containers and plastic bags at a constant temperature of about +1…+2°C. Optimal conditions for storage - in boxes filled with dry sand. During the winter months, these root crops are also used for forcing greens indoors.

Witloof means "white sheet" in French. That's what they call lettuce chicory- a promising distillation crop, still little known to gardeners. Witloof contains vitamins B1, B2, C, carotene, rich in carbohydrates, as well as inulin, which is important for metabolism in the body, especially in diabetes.

Useful properties of lettuce chicory

In lettuce chicory there is a glycoside intibin - it gives the leaves a bitter taste. It is this piquant bitterness that improves the activity of the digestive organs, liver, gallbladder and pancreas, has a beneficial effect on the hematopoietic organs, the central nervous and cardiovascular systems, and the general metabolism.

In the cell juice of lettuce chicory there is a significant amount of potassium salts, which contribute to the removal of water from the body, magnesium, which weakens vasospasms and reduces the content of calcium and iron. Witloof has a beneficial effect on the assimilation of food of animal origin, stimulates appetite, and regulates the activity of the digestive system. This salad is a source of nitrate, sulfate and hydrochloric salts of potassium, which have a beneficial effect on the activity of the kidneys.

Use of roots and heads of lettuce chicory

Coffee enriched with chicory promotes better blood circulation, dissolves and removes gallstones, gives a person vivacity, reduces insomnia.
It must be said that high nutritional and healing properties chicory known to people since time immemorial. Chicory roots are used for food and medicinal purposes both in its pure form by boiling, brewing and preparing extracts, and mixed with other drinks - coffee, cocktails.
Heads of lettuce chicory are used for cooking vegetable dishes. Moreover, they are eaten separately or with grated carrots, apples, lemon, horseradish, green vegetables. Seasoning - salt, sour cream, mayonnaise, vegetable oil sometimes vinegar.

Origin and distribution of lettuce chicory

From a botanical point of view, chicory is a close relative of the dandelion. Ordinary root chicory has been bred for many years in the Rostov district of the Yaroslavl region for the coffee industry. It is suitable for salads, and as a fodder plant. Root chicory originated from a wild chicory that is ubiquitous in Europe. Varieties of root chicory - Brunswick, Rostov, Gavrilov-Yamsky, Magdeburg. Witloof chicory is based on the widespread Magdeburg variety. There are also leaf forms of this type of chicory.
Another type of chicory is endive, or escarole, it is cultivated mainly in Western Europe as a salad plant.

Salad chicory in the first year produces whitish roots with a large rosette of elongated dark green leaves. In the second year, it forms a flowering stem, on which seeds are formed. From root crops during distillation receive delicious salad in the form of elongated heads of cabbage weighing 50-300 g, depending on the size of the root crops used.
Chicory salad has been known to people for a long time. It is mentioned by ancient authors - Phsophrastus, Pliny, Palladius, Horace and Columella. It was cultivated in Ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt. True, the grown chicory used only leaves for the preparation of medicines and for food. In European countries, chicory gained recognition in the 15th-16th centuries, and it was used both for salad and for making a coffee drink.
Over the past 30 years, lettuce chicory has become widespread in Europe and America, becoming an industrial culture there. Only in France, witloof roots are grown on an area of more than 40 thousand hectares, and most of the country's inhabitants consume it.

In Russia, lettuce chicory has long been known. But decades passed, and this culture did not spread well, and in fact, until the 60s of this century, no one was engaged in it. Frightened off by a significant cost manual labor for the cultivation of roots, and most importantly - the unusualness of the vegetable.

Witloof cultivation and care

Lettuce chicory roots are grown in the same way as table carrots.. Soils for chicory are chosen not clogged, light, rich in organic matter. For this, medium loams or sandy loamy soils well seasoned with organic or mineral fertilizers are suitable. Seeds are sown in early spring at the rate of 0.2-0.3 g per 1 m2. Close them up to a depth of 0.5-1.5 cm. Thus, 40-50 plants will be placed per 1 m2.
Care is reduced mainly to loosening the soil and destroying weeds. If the sowing is thickened, a breakthrough is carried out. Root crops are harvested in late autumn, before frost.

Forcing lettuce chicory

Before distillation, root crops are stored in wet sand or in boxes at a temperature of 1-2 ° above zero. Distillation carried out in several terms, up to April. For distillation, roots from 2 to 5 cm in diameter are selected.
How is the forcing of lettuce chicory? For this, several methods are used. The most common is based on cultivation lettuce chicory in a dark room in winter, and in spring - in greenhouses and on the adjacent plot.
The technology of distillation in "soil culture" is as follows. Root crops are planted in rows in a prepared pit 20-25 cm deep vertically or slightly in an inclined position, almost close to each other (250-400 pieces per 1 m2), sprinkling each row of roots with earth. To facilitate planting in loosened soil, recesses are first made with a peg (hole maker). After that, the roots are abundantly watered and covered with a layer of earth about 20 cm thick. One watering is enough to form juicy heads of lettuce. After backfilling with soil, it is no longer possible to water the roots, otherwise the resulting heads of lettuce will deteriorate. The soil mixture consists of peat, sand and other components. This backfill will protect the heads of cabbage from the action of light. Backfilling with a dense mixture will allow you to get tight, closed heads of cabbage, which cannot be achieved when filling with peat or sawdust.

An even better effect is obtained by pre-planting furrow irrigation with saturation of the soil to full moisture capacity, after which the roots are easily pressed into the soil, softened to a mushy state. As soon as the water is absorbed, the tops of the root crops are covered with a 20-centimeter layer of dry soil mixture.
Witloof is also driven out in special boxes. The temperature is maintained at the level of 12-18°. Heads will be ready for harvest 25-30 days after planting. At home, it is convenient to arrange the forcing of lettuce chicory in special weeding rooms.
The grower consists of a tray with a side wall height of 5-8 cm and a case installed in a tray measuring 20x25 cm and 40 cm high (the size and number of cases can be different), protecting the root crops from light. Water is poured into the pan, and the roots are tightly set inside the case, then covered with soil with a layer of about 20 cm. Before planting, the roots are cut from the bottom so that they have the same length, and after planting, their growth points would be at the same level. For salad chicory distillation light is not needed, the only requirement is warmth, within 15-20 ° above zero. After 20-25 days, forcing ends. The case is removed, and the heads of cabbage, separated from the root crops, are ready for use. The planter can be used again.

Forcing lettuce at home can also be done in small detachable boxes. First assembled crates half filled with soil (mixture of soil with peat 1: 1). Then the planted root crops are watered and covered with a soil layer of 15-20 cm. convenient location. As the tops of the lettuce begin to appear, the top of the box is removed, the heads are freed from the soil mixture and separated from the root crops.

Varieties of chicory lettuce

At present, scientists have several varieties of lettuce chicory. Such varieties as Mitado, Terdivo, Tonko have already become famous. VNIISSOK near Moscow (p / o Lesnoy gorodok, Odintsovo district) is engaged in the selection and seed production of lettuce chicory. The methods of growing witloof root crops for distillation are carried out by the Research Institute of Vegetable Economy, located in the city of Mytishchi, Moscow Region.

Salad chicory for amateur gardens is a new culture. Curious vegetable growers are quite capable of mastering it, promoting it into a wide practice. Foreign experience shows that this plant has great potential. To open them and use them productively is the work of the masters of the beds. And there are so many.

Based on the materials of the journal "Private farming", V. Velik, doctor of agricultural sciences, I. Viruchenko, agronomist of the Research Institute of Organic Chemistry, Mytishchi, Moscow Region, 1982

Increasingly, we have to try little common in our area vegetable crops- asparagus, artichoke, lettuce chicory. How about growing them yourself? Seeds or seedlings? How to properly prepare the soil for a shoot vegetable and an inflorescence vegetable? Advises Oktyabrina Ganichkina.

Asparagus

Asparagus - perennial, forms a fleshy rhizome and thick white roots in which nutrients accumulate. Powerful shoots develop from the buds on the rhizome, giving bunches of thin, delicate stems that play the role of leaves. While in the soil, the shoots remain white in color, and when exposed to the light, they become dark green, coarsen and branch. Adult asparagus bushes reach a height of 2 m.

Asparagus is a dioecious plant: male specimens are more productive and early maturing than female ones.

Salads, side dishes, soups are prepared from asparagus shoots, they are used in boiled, stewed, fried and canned form.

Asparagus also has medicinal properties: serves, helps with diseases of the kidneys, heart, rheumatism, gout, lowers blood pressure and relieves fatigue.

Mature plants are quite cold-resistant, but the seeds germinate together only at 20-25 ° C, and seedlings suffer from frost. Optimum temperature for the growth of shoots - 10-12 ° C.

Asparagus is moisture-loving, with a lack of water, the shoots become bitter, become fibrous, and, conversely, with an excess of its roots rot and die. It is very demanding on soil fertility and structure, plants grow well on light, fertile soils rich in organic matter. Asparagus does not tolerate acidic soils and close standing groundwater.

A plot for asparagus is prepared in the fall. The soil is dug up to a depth of 35-40 cm and 10-12 kg / m 2 of humus or compost are applied. In the spring, they dig it up again, add mineral fertilizers: 1 tbsp. spoon (25 g) "Agricola for root crops" or nitrophoska per 1 m 2.

Growing. Asparagus is grown mainly in seedlings. A plot with loose fertile soil is allocated for the nursery with 5-6 kg / m 2 of humus or compost and 1 teaspoon of urea, superphosphate, potassium sulfate per 1 m 2 for digging. The surface is leveled, grooves are made at a distance of 20-25 cm and abundantly watered with a solution of Energen growth stimulator: 1 capsule is diluted in 5 liters of water.

Seeds before sowing are kept for 2-3 days in a warm solution (25 ° C) "Agricola Vegeta", 1 tbsp is dissolved in 0.5 l of water. spoon, they are kept in a cloth bag for 3 days. The swollen seeds are scattered on a cloth, covered with another damp cloth and placed in a warm place (20-25°C). The seeds that have hatched are sown to a depth of 3 cm with a distance in a row of 6-8 cm and mulched with humus with a layer of 1 cm. Planting is carried out in early June.

Shoots are thinned out, leaving a distance between them of 10-15 cm. 15 days after germination, asparagus is fed organic fertilizers: for 10 liters of water, dilute 2 tbsp. spoons "Agricola Forward" or "Universal Rossa".

To obtain bleached asparagus, during the loosening of the row spacing, the soil is raised first by 10 cm, then by another 10-15 cm, so that the layer of humus above the rhizome is at least 25 cm.

In the next 2 years, soil loosening, watering and fertilizing with fertilizer solutions are necessary.

In autumn, shoots are cut off at the surface of the soil and burned, the rows are covered with manure, peat or leaves.

Harvest in May of the third year. To do this, the soil is carefully raked from the shoots and cut out with a sharp knife, and the holes fall asleep again. The collection of bleached asparagus is carried out daily and only in cold cloudy weather after 2-3 days. Good shoots should be 15-20 cm long and 1-1.5 cm thick. One plant produces 10-12 shoots on average, sometimes up to 30, weighing 20-30 g.

Varieties of asparagus. Early Argenteuil - early maturing; shoots are large, low-fiber, white, have pink heads, above-ground young shoots are green-violet. Mary Washington - mid-season; shoots are very large, thick, yellowish. Above-ground shoots are green-violet. Good for getting green asparagus. Early yellow - new domestic early; shoots are tender, white with a dense yellow head. Above-ground shoots are greenish-yellow. Disease resistant. Harvest-6 - mid-season; shoots are thick, large, white, pink heads. On the surface of the soil, they acquire a green-violet color.

Artichoke

Artichoke is a perennial plant, a valuable dietary product containing inulin, carotene, vitamin C. The receptacle (bottom) and fleshy bases of the outer scales of large unblown inflorescences (baskets) are used for food. The delicate pulp of the artichoke has a pleasant taste.

The artichoke is cultivated in the southern regions of Russia: in the Krasnodar Territory and the North Caucasus.

The plant forms large leaves and a highly developed vegetative mass. The stem reaches a height of 1.5-2 m.

The leaves are green, large, prickly, form a large basal rosette. The flowers are bluish, collected in large spherical inflorescences-baskets with a diameter of 10-25 cm. The roots are strongly developed, long, rod. In autumn, the above-ground part of the plant dies off, and it is cut off. In spring, new stems develop from overwintering rhizomes.

The artichoke is thermophilic, tolerates only small frosts (down to −3°С). With careful warming with manure, straw or leaves, the roots can overwinter in the soil. In the southern regions and middle lane it is cultivated as a perennial covering crop, in the northern regions of the non-chernozem zone - only as an annual crop.

Accommodation. Artichoke is grown on fertile soils rich in organic matter and well supplied with moisture. The area allocated for the artichoke must be protected from the northern winds.

This crop is propagated by seeds or seedlings. The artichoke grows in one place for up to 10 years.

Sowing. Seeds in open ground sown only when the soil warms up well. Place 2-3 seeds in each hole. The distance between the rows is 70-90 cm, between the holes - 70 cm. The seedlings are thinned out, leaving no more than two plants in the hole. With an annual culture, the artichoke is grown from seedlings. To do this, wet seeds are germinated in sawdust for 5-6 days at a temperature of 20-25 ° C and, when they hatch, they are placed in wet sand and kept in a refrigerator at 0-2 ° C, preventing freezing. The seeds prepared in this way are sown in boxes or pots filled with fertile loose soil, optimal time sowing in the southern and central regions of the Non-Black Earth region - the first half of March, in the northern - the end of March - the beginning of April.

In the phase of the first true leaf, seedlings dive in pots and continue to grow them at a temperature of 20-22°C on sunny days, and not lower than 15-17°C on cloudy days. When the threat of frost has passed, the plants are planted in rows on ridges at a distance of 40-50 cm from each other (with an annual crop) and 50-70 cm (with a long-term one).

Care. Ridges with artichokes are periodically loosened, weeds are removed and the plants are watered in small doses during the dry season, covered with covering material on cold nights.

When sown with non-vernalized seeds, plants begin to bloom only in the second year of life, with vegetative reproduction and seedling method with sowing with vernalized seeds - in the first. To make the inflorescences larger, two or three peduncles are left on the plant, the remaining shoots are removed.

housekeeping inflorescences begin at the very beginning of flowering, when the scales open in the central part. The heads are cut off with part of the peduncle. At a low temperature, they can be stored for four weeks, at a temperature of 0-1 ° - two to three months.

The most famous varieties are Maikopsky, Early, Violet and Laonsky.

salad chicory

Salad chicory - biennial plant. This is a valuable medical dietary product. Its leaves contain ascorbic acid, carotene, mineral salts, valuable carbohydrate inulin, intibin. The main advantage of lettuce chicory is that it produces products throughout the winter, when there are no other fresh vegetables yet. In summer, it is grown to produce large root crops for winter planting, from which cabbages are obtained in winter.

Kachanchiki are rich in B, C, PP vitamins, carotene and other nutrients. Heads of cabbage are used for food, various salads are prepared from them, they are used for stewing, boiling.

Growing. Lettuce chicory grows best in loamy soil. Before sowing, 1.2 buckets of peat and 1 tbsp. a spoonful of nitrophoska and superphosphate per 1 m 2. The bed is dug up, watered and grooves are made across it at a distance of 16-18 cm, seeds are sown in the grooves at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other and they are planted to a depth of 2-2.5 cm. In the phase of three or four leaves, the plants are thinned out, leaving a distance of 5-6 cm between them.

During the summer, care for lettuce chicory consists of watering, weeding, and loosening.

housekeeping salad chicory start October 20-25. Root crops are dug together with the tops, put right there on the spot in a small pile with tops outside and left in the garden for 5-6 days. Before storing, the tops are cut 3 cm above the neck of the root crop so as not to damage the apical bud. Root crops are not cleaned from the ground, they are stored in a basement or other premises where the temperature should be 1-2 ° C.

Around the beginning of November, root crops are planted in boxes 50 × 50 × 40 cm in size. The soil is prepared from peat, humus or sod land with sawdust (1: 1), or you can take sawdust or moss alone, etc. Moistened soil is poured into the box with a layer of 10-12 cm. For planting, root crops 12 cm long and 2-3 cm in diameter are selected. Up to 50 pieces of root crops are planted in the box using a bridge method so that their tops are at the same level. Then soil is added to the top of the box - about 18-20 cm. The top of the box is covered with dark and damp material and placed in a room with a temperature of 12-14 ° C for 10-12 days.

The next 12 days lettuce chicory is grown at a temperature of 16-18°C. The whole period of cultivation in a box of sprouts from root crops lasts 22-24 days, and during this time they grow in weight up to 150-180 g. Since sprouts grow in the ground without daylight (in darkness), they are white in color. Heads are cut from root crops and stored in plastic bags for 15 or more days in a refrigerator at a temperature of 0-1°C.

Varieties. There are no domestic varieties of lettuce chicory yet, therefore foreign varieties are used: Extremu for early forcing, Danish Witluf, Mitado - for autumn-winter, Tardivo - for late.

Discussion

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The biennial plant chicory lettuce has gained popularity for its dietary and valuable vitamin qualities. One of the main advantages of chicory over other salads is that it provides greenery during the long winter. In the summer, it is germinated for root crops, which, planted in winter, will produce edible heads of cabbage.

Chicory salad: growing from seeds, types and varieties

Chicory salad - biennial herbaceous plant Asteraceae family is native to India. In the garden, 3 cultural varieties are used:

Witloof (Cichorium intybus var. foliosum) - broad-leaved, forming a large, tender head, similar in shape to romaine lettuce;
Endive (Cichórium endívia crispum) - curly (cut-leaved);
Escariole (Cichorium endivia var. latifolium) - with a rosette of wide, entire leaves with a fleshy vein.

Seeds are often used by foreign producers, because Unfortunately, there are few domestic varieties. Now on sale there are the following semi-headed varieties:

Cone, Rocket, Tatyana - domestic selection;
Radicchio, Belgian Endive, Shtokko, Express - foreign varieties.

And bags with the cunning name “Witloof chicory salad” are a variety of white chicory, which later became the common name for a variety with elongated cabbages.

Leaf chicory (endive) has more varieties on sale:

Varieties of escariole are also represented a few:

Indigo;
Ruby;
Dietary;
Palla Rossa.

The salad greens of these varieties of chicory are used in different ways, so there are differences in agricultural technology: witloof is mainly grown in the garden in the summer, and winter greens are driven out to the table. The tops of endive and escarole are immediately used from the garden, although these varieties can also be used for winter forcing, but without shelter (without bleaching).

Growing from seeds of chicory lettuce

It is best to soak the seeds overnight before planting. Most of all, this plant loves loamy soil; before sowing, ½ peat organic matter is added to the ground. Loosening with a flat cutter upper layer soil, make grooves for planting seeds at a distance of at least 16 cm between rows. Seeds fall asleep to a depth of 1.5-2 cm. Shoots appear on the 10-15th day. When the sprouts grow up, they must be thinned out, leaving 6 cm between them in the first thinning, then (after 1.5 months) - 30 cm.

Witloof: planting and care, forcing greenery

Easy care - surface loosening of the earth, weeding and watering. Harvesting can begin on the 20th of October. All the fruits, together with the tops, are dug up, stacked in a pile with the tops up and do not touch for 6 days. For storage, before laying in the cellar, the tops are cut off, leaving 3 cm of the stem, so as not to damage the apical bud. It is not required to knock down the ground; chicory roots are stored at a temperature of -2 ° C.

In early November, the roots are planted in prepared boxes or boxes with peat, sawdust, humus or soddy soil, it is also possible to use sphagnum moss. Roots are selected up to 12 cm in length and up to 3 cm in diameter.

Up to 50 rhizomes are planted in a prepared container with moistened soil, using a bridge method, making sure that the upper processes are at the same level. After planting, they fill up the earth to the end of the container about 20 cm. Having planted chicory, it is covered with a dark, wet cloth, leaving it in a warm room. For the first time, such delicious white leaves in the cold season were obtained in a dark basement in the 19th century.

Growing in a box can last up to 24 days, while the plant has time to grow up to 180 grams. Heads of cabbage grown without light are white in color and stored in a cool place, packed in polyethylene, for up to 15 days when temperature regime 0-10°C.

Dishes from them are very pleasant, but a little bitterness stops many. Although it is strange, after all, coffee with bitterness.

It has been proven that intibin, which is contained in green culture (and gives it a spicy bitterness), has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system, digestion and blood-forming organs. And this is not all the advantages of vitamin-rich salad chicory: all year round it can be boiled or eaten raw, and as tasty and healthy fresh salad. So for everyone who has not tried it yet, we recommend planting salad chicory, since growing it from seeds in the garden and further forcing greens in winter will become a real storehouse of vitamins for you.

Salad chicory is a vegetable plant that is not common in Russia. However, in some European countries and North America salad chicory is gaining popularity and is even considered a delicacy. It occurs in both natural and cultural forms. Root crops of cultivated lettuce chicory, when distilled in the dark, form elongated creamy-white cabbages made of succulent leaves, unusually tasty and healthy.

From the name it is clear that this plant is a type of chicory. But what else do we know about him?

Description.

Salad chicory is a biennial plant of the Aster family, which forms succulent leaves and a root crop in the first year of growth (from which delicious cabbages are expelled in winter), in the second year (if the roots are not dug up) - flowers and seeds.

The most common varieties of lettuce chicory: Witloof, Mitado, Express.

Benefit.

Being a dietary product, salad chicory has a surprisingly rich set of vitamins (groups B, PP, C), mineral salts, and other biologically active substances. It is especially worth considering that the cultivation of this crop involves the use of healthy ends in the autumn-winter period, when we lack fresh healthy vegetables so much.

Use in food.

Delicate, somewhat sweetish, with an admixture of spicy bitterness, lettuce chicory sprouts have a surprisingly pleasant taste. They are used for salads, for frying, stewing, preparing complex multi-component dishes, and even for salting. For queries like “chicory salad dishes”, search engines now give out a huge variety of delicious recipes.

Growing.

To obtain delicious heads of cabbage from seeds, lettuce chicory roots are grown in summer, and in autumn, winter or spring, with the help of distillation, the final healthy and tasty product is obtained.

1. Growing root crops.

The soil.

The plant prefers fertile loose soil with a neutral (or close to it) reaction.

Sowing.

The seeds of the plant are sown in the second decade of May in grooves 1.5-2 cm deep. The distance between the grooves is about 30 cm, between the seedlings 4-5 cm. We water.

Care.

Plant care is no different from caring for other root crops and includes the main ones: weeding, loosening and watering.

When the first two true leaves appear, the sprouts are thinned out, leaving a distance of 15-25 cm between them.

Cleaning and storage of root crops.

Root crops are usually harvested in October, sometimes in early November (with late planting).

Most best root vegetables have a length of 23-26 cm and a diameter of 3-4 cm. They are best left for forcing. And non-standard root crops can be used to make a coffee substitute. This is done very simply: the roots are cut into thin slices, dried and lightly fried in the oven, become brittle and fragrant, crushed by hand.

They are stored in containers, boxes, in bulk at a temperature of +1 ... + 4º C.

2. Forcing salad chicory.

Creation of necessary conditions.

Most often, distillation is carried out in dark, cool cellars and cellars.

In the light, the leaves turn green, bitterness appears in them, they become unsuitable for use in food. Therefore, distillation is carried out only in dark rooms.

At elevated temperatures, the leaves appear faster, but the sprout is formed too loose. At low temperatures (below +10º C), the leaves appear too slowly and the sprout is formed soft and loose. The optimum temperature for distillation is + 14 ... + 17º C.

Landing and care.

For distillation, boxes or containers with a depth of about 50 cm are used. Soil soil is poured into them and root crops are planted so that their heads are flush with the surface of the filled soil.

After planting, the roots are watered and then covered with fertile soil with a layer of 25-30 cm.

Harvesting.

After 25-30 days, sprouts reach a height of 18-25 cm and a weight of 150 g.

The covering layer is raked off, the sprouts are cut off with part of the head of the root crop so that they do not crumble. After removing the heads of the first harvest, several small shoots may form on the root crops. They are kicked out in the same way.