Chicory & radicchio: tender-bitter sparring partners for the BBQ!
While the existence of umami as a "new" fifth taste was scientifically proven only a few years ago (although umami has been known since the beginning of the 20th century), Ayurvedic cuisine has known six tastes for more than 5000 years. According to Ayurvedic teachings, sweet, sour, salty, spicy, bitter and tart should be in a balanced ratio in every dish. A strong desire for a certain taste therefore indicates a deficiency or imbalance. However, our often industrial diet has often reduced our ability to perceive these different tastes intensely. And we only feel a particularly strong desire for sweet or salty things. We may still reach for something bitter if we have eaten too much, because as our grandmothers already knew: "What is bitter in the mouth is good for the stomach."
Valuable bitter substances?
Bitter substances do not play a major role in our diet, and this is entirely justified from an evolutionary perspective. A bitter taste would have set off an alarm bell for our ancestors, preventing them from eating a potentially poisonous wild herb. Even today, "bitter" can indicate a health hazard - for example, in zucchini or pumpkins, which are believed to have an increased tendency to produce bitter substances known as cucurbitacins, which are harmful to the intestines, in very dry summers. But these dangerous bitter substances can also develop through backcrossing with ornamental pumpkins, which can occur in hobby gardens when ornamental pumpkins and edible pumpkins grow in close proximity. Bitter substances are structurally very different. Many of these substances are found in plants, others are produced by animals, and still others are formed during the processing of food or during aging and decay processes. Many of these heterogeneous bitter substances are found in everyday foods, such as caffeine from coffee, limonin from citrus fruits, quinine from bitter lemons, ethylpyrazine, which is produced during roasting processes, sinigrin from various types of cabbage, and also in medicinal ingredients. In order for us to be able to perceive them all, humans have 25 different types of bitter receptors with which they can recognize thousands of natural, synthetic and bitter substances that arise during food production and ripening. This is a big difference to the taste of sweet, because we perceive sweet things with only one type of receptor. The fact that we are rather skeptical of bitter things is therefore innate. The food industry also relies on our desire for sweet and salty things with its products; after all, the aim is to sell as much as possible. To make fruit and vegetables tasty for as many consumers as possible, bitter components are bred out. However, with the bitter substances, a number of positive effects are lost. The bitter taste stimulates saliva flow, promotes the secretion of digestive juices and activates gastrointestinal movements. Classic examples of bitter vegetables include radicchio and chicory. They contain the bitter substance lactucopicrin and are rich in beta-carotene and minerals such as fluoride, potassium, phosphorus, calcium and magnesium. Older varieties that have a higher bitter content are often found at farmers' markets or in organic supermarkets. Chicory has also been available with red-colored leaves for some time now. It comes from a cross with radicchio and is not only a nice splash of color in salads, but also has fewer bitter substances than older varieties.
Both types, chicory and radicchio, don't need much effort to be a great side dish for grilled food. Chicory is best cut in half, while radicchio can be grilled in slices.
From coffee substitute to sparring partner for BBQ
When grilling and barbecuing, strong, salty and sweet flavors dominate alongside the smoky aromas. Complementing these with something bitter rounds off the overall taste positively and is also good for our health. While domestically grown chicory is actually available from October to April, regionally grown radicchio is in season from August to the end of November. "Actually" because both salad vegetables can be found in stores all year round, and not all of them are imports from abroad. Radicchio comes from greenhouses out of season, but then does not have the typically intense aroma. In the commercial production of chicory salad, modern technology makes cultivation independent of seasonal times. The two-year-old chicory plant only spends the first five months in the field. In mid-October, the leaves are mulched, the root vegetables are harvested, stored in a cool place and brought to light-protected and air-conditioned rooms. Only there, regardless of the weather, do new leaf buds sprout in basins of heated water within three weeks, and these are used as chicory salad. This is possible all year round. Absolute darkness is necessary so that the cone-shaped shoots retain their pale color.
This salad vegetable originally comes from the Mediterranean region. Until the 1980s, radicchio was cultivated almost exclusively in Italy, but today it is grown worldwide. The leaves turn red as soon as the nights get cooler. The compact, small lettuce heads that we find in stores are only the tightly closed inner heads of the lettuce. The outer, predominantly greenish leaves are removed beforehand because of their strong bitterness. What we commonly refer to as chicory are the sprouts of the root of the salad chicory, a cultivated form of the well-known chicory, whose family includes radicchio and endive. In our latitudes, the use of the dried root was first known: as a coffee substitute for coffee beans. To make chicory coffee today, the root is still chopped up, roasted and then ground. In the 19th century, Belgian farmers discovered by chance that chicory roots that had been stored over the winter sprouted again and thus grew edible lettuce sprouts.
Food & Raw Materials
Around 800,000 tonnes: this is the amount of chicory root vegetables that are produced as a waste product throughout Europe every year during the production of chicory salad. The root vegetables are currently disposed of in composting plants or biogas plants after the chicory salad has been harvested. This is a real shame, according to two researchers from the University of Hohenheim. This is because hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) can be extracted from these root vegetables, one of the basic materials for the plastics industry of tomorrow. "The root vegetables make up around 30% of the plant. The stored reserve carbohydrates are not completely used up to form the lettuce buds, so valuable reserve materials remain. However, the root vegetables can only be used once for growing chicory, and after the buds have been harvested they become waste and have to be disposed of," explains agricultural biologist Dr. Judit Pfenning. In contrast, the value of HMF in the chemical wholesale trade is currently around 2,000 euros per kilo. Another aspect makes the project even more promising: "The chicory root is not only so well suited to the extraction of HMF because it is a waste product," emphasizes Prof. Dr. Kruse. "It also produces a higher-quality chemical than the equivalent from petroleum." This means that PET bottles made from chicory HMF could, for example, be made thinner than those made from petroleum PET. This saves transport costs and improves the environmental balance even further.
Quick side dish for meat, fish & seafood
Both varieties, chicory and radicchio, don't need much effort to be a great side dish for grilled food. If the bitter substances of the newer varieties are too strong for you, remove the stalk from the plant in a wedge shape, otherwise only remove wilted outer leaves. Wash briefly and pat dry and the vegetables can be put on the grill to absorb roasted aromas and to get a nice grill pattern. Chicory is best cut in half for this, radicchio can be grilled in slices. As the chicory leaves turn dark slightly when cooked or grilled, it is advisable to use an iron grill grate. Chopped up and paired with grilled cherry tomatoes and a few crispy bacon slices, a lukewarm side salad is quickly made that is also popular with children. Add a little olive oil, salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar - the latter also neutralizes the bitter substances - and it is ready to serve. Crumbled feta cheese or freshly grated parmesan go well with it. If you prefer something crunchy and sour, combine it with citrus fruits such as grapefruit or orange, and add a sweet component with dried fruits such as dates, apricots or plums. There are no limits to your own desire to experiment.
storage
When buying, it is important that the stalks or heads are firm; the chicory should only have light yellow tips. If these are green, it has been exposed to light while growing and has therefore developed more bitter substances. In general, the fresher chicory or radicchio is processed, the better it tastes. But they also stay tasty in the fridge for up to a week. The best way to do this is to put the vegetables in a bowl and cover them with cling film. Store them in as dark a place as possible, as light also changes the taste during storage.
Author: Stephanie Prenzler
