Last summer a friend came to the garden and was puzzled to see neatly spaced plants which looked just “like dandelions on steroids” to quote. This was Witloof Chicory, the sort that’s forced to produce pale chicons like those in the picture. The forcing and blanching process was discovered accidentally by a Belgian farmer from Witloof in 1830. Chicory roots, which were used as a cheaper coffee substitute, were grown quite widely in the 19th century. The farmer was storing harvested roots in a cellar before selling them on when he noticed the new white leaves. He tasted them and found them moist, crunchy and slightly bitter. A horticulturist from Brussels Botanical Garden refined the forcing process and ‘chicons’ were first sold in Brussels market in 1846. However, forced chicory did not become widely eaten until the 1920s and 1930s and it’s still much more popular on the continent than here.

Ideally, chicory seed needs to be sown directly into the ground in late April, May or early June and then thinned so that each rosette is six inches (15 cm) apart. This encourages long, slender tap roots and these look similar to dandelion roots. However, I grew our plants in pots (because space was short) so individual plants were put out in early June. They were kept well watered and finally in early November the first batch of five roots were lifted. The remaining plants were left in the ground for later forcing.

The lifted plants had all their foliage cut back to within an inch of the roots and the sheared plants were then potted up in a large black plant pot. This was covered with a black plastic bucket to exclude the light. The chicons need temperatures of 50F/10 C and this should produce large, pale buds about six inches in height in four to five weeks. But the broom cupboard was a bit warmer (roughly 62F/16 –17 C) and within three weeks and two days there were five chicons that needed eating. I currently have three other buckets (in a variety of places of varying warmth) and this should give a succession until late January.

The chicory leaves are crisp and crunchy, but the inner leaves are much sweeter than the outer ones. However, the bitter flavour works well with chicken and Nigel Slater has a very good recipe on the BBC website using white wine and crème fraîche. It went down well here and I shall be growing it every year now!

The University of Oxford Botanic Garden Winter Lecture Series (Tel 01865 286690/www.botanic-garden.ox.ac.uk) The following five lectures will be held at The Said Business School at 8.00 pm. Tickets cost £10, including a glass of wine, or get the whole series for only £45.

  • Thursday, January 28: A Year in my Norfolk Garden by Bob Flowerdew
  • Thursday, February 11: Artistic Ecological Gardening by Nigel Dunnett
  • Thursday, February 25: Restoring Hidcote – Back to Johnston by Head Gardener Glyn Jones
  • Thursday, March 11: Anointing Indispensables, Dispensing Disappointments, Dan Hinkley
  • Thursday, March 18: New Gardens and Landscapes by Tom Stuart-Smith