The bitterness of endives


The bitterness of endives
As I write these lines, we are entering the endive season, and if you like it, it's time to enjoy it, if possible with your local producers.

Endive is good, but the reproach that is often made of it, and children in particular, is: "It's bitter!

And it is (somewhat) true of course, endives have a little bitterness in them that contributes to their charm, and that we may not like. Bitterness moreover which is accentuated with cooking, it is discrete on a raw endive, a little stronger on a cooked one, and very marked on one too cooked.

So if you want to eat cooked endive that is not too bitter, is it possible?
11 K 4.9/5 (16 reviews)
Grade this page:
Keywords for this post:EndivesBitternessChildren
Last modified on: February 9th 2019
For this post: Comment Follow Send to a friend
The bitterness of endives
Yes, and there is a trick to this, a trick that consists of removing, and discarding, the most bitter part of the endive, the heart, before using it.
This part, shaped like a cone, is at the base of the endive and can be removed with a small sharp knife like this:

retrait cœur d'endives



Once this is done, use the endive as normal, but keep in mind to cook it for as little time as possible, it is not a vegetable that is meant to be cooked, but to be stopped cooking as soon as it is tender.

Another way to reduce this bitterness is to blanch them. If you have a recipe for cooked endives, for example endives au gratin, do not hesitate to blanch them for 1 or 2 minutes in boiling salted water, then drain them very carefully before using them normally.

Well, you have to be honest, you will reduce the bitterness with all this, but not make it disappear, the bitterness is part of the taste of endive, there is a big work of seduction to do with children to get them to eat it...

If you are in this moment, I suggest you to start with an endive salad with walnuts (raw then) finely sliced with a walnut oil dressing, it is a very good, and very progressive beginning, for a discovery of endive.

To sum up: For less bitter endives: 1) Remove the core 2) Cook as little as possible.

Lasts posts
Should potatoes be washed twice?
Should potatoes be washed twice?
Let's say you have to make a recipe that includes potatoes, let's say sliced, you'll most likely proceed as follows: Peel the potatoes, wash them, slice them, wash them again, pat them dry and add them to your recipe. But there's a "but": depending on the recipe, the second washing may be a bad...
May 19th 20251,840 15
Grilled bacon is much better in the oven
Grilled bacon is much better in the oven
Some recipes call for thin slices of bacon to be cooked and added to the recipe, or to prepare one of those delicious breakfasts known as "à l'Anglaise".
April 25th 20251,8385
The thermometer is your friend
The thermometer is your friend
There are many recipes or foods that require a (very) precise cooking temperature: foie gras, sugar for caramel, meats and fish, and not forgetting pastries. For these few examples, getting the cooking temperature wrong can spoil the whole recipe or dish: undercooked, it's no good or misses the...
April 10th 20252,1475
Travel cakes
Travel cakes
You may have come across the term "travel cakes" ("gateaux de voyage" in french) for certain pastries, so let's take a look at what they're all about.
January 27th 20253,616
The aromatic power of sugar
The aromatic power of sugar
In the kitchen, sugar doesn't just sweeten, it also has an exceptional ability to capture flavors. Combined with aromatic ingredients, such as citrus zest, it acts as a veritable sponge for aromas. By taking the time to let the sugar soak up the flavors, you can transform your desserts, making...
December 25th 20244,0675

Other pages you may also like
The right weight of pastry for a pie
The right weight of pastry for a pie
Let's try to solve a thorny problem: How much dough will I need when I make my next pie? You're planning to make a pie, you're going to use your favourite mould or circle, but how much pastry will you need to fill it completely with a well spread pastry, without being too thin, or on the contrary...
March 20th 202063 K4.3
85 grams of eggs?
85 grams of eggs?
Some time ago, I already spoke to you about the difference between baking and pastry-making, I emphasized, among other things, the precision of pastry-making which requires grams, cm, degrees and minutes. That's why, on the one hand, you have baking and cooking, where a certain tolerance is...
November 26th 201851 K4.6
The French baguette and UNESCO
The French baguette and UNESCO
As you may have already read here or there, France has initiated for some time the procedure to try to have the French baguette classified as an intangible world heritage by UNESCO. When you put it like that, it sounds a bit namby-pamby, and it would be tempting to imagine an American (for...
March 18th 202012 K4.9
The return of the vegetable grater
The return of the vegetable grater
If you are of a certain age (say +50) you may have known, when you were a kid, something that your grandmother had in her kitchen set, the vegetable grater. A kind of mill, to be turned by hand, and which with cutting discs of different sizes, allowed to grate a lot of vegetables, carrots first...
March 20th 202114 K4.6
The gelling agent in a cream
The gelling agent in a cream
If you start making a Bavarian cream for example, or any other that contains a gelling agent such as gelatin or agar-agar, you will sooner or later be confronted with the problem: How to properly incorporate this gelling agent into my cream? (and we will focus on gelatin).
June 18th 202212 K4.9
Post a comment or question
Posted by:
I am not a leaving thing

Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
I am not a leaving thing
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.

Back to top of page