It is one of the most popular (winter) vegetables: endive. Delicious in a stew, but also tasty as lettuce. You can boil, braise and stir-fry it. How healthy is this shaggy-looking, slightly bitter-tasting leafy vegetable?
Endive (cichorum endivia) is a robust plant and family of the chicory. Curly endive and frisee are a variation with more curled and divided leaves. The common endive has an undivided leaf (no incisions). Because endive consists for a large part of water, the vegetables wither quickly. So only buy fresh and firm heads. The underside of the stump should also not be brown or moist.
With the same water, it is best to eat endive as soon as possible after purchase. It will keep for about two days in the refrigerator. If you blanch the endive and pack it well, you can also store it in the freezer. Calculate about 370 to 450 grams of raw endive per person after preparation at the needed 250 grams to come. Endive is shrinking quite a bit!
Healthy
On average, endive contains more minerals than other vegetables. Especially the outer green leaf is rich in vitamin A, vitamin C and minerals. This makes the vegetable healthy for the heart, stomach and liver. It is also said that endive has a diuretic effect and detoxifies the liver. It is also said to have a positive effect on the kidneys and brain.
Nitrate
Like spinach and lettuce, endive is a nitrate-rich vegetable. Previously, it was advised to do no more than twice a week of these vegetables to eat. You were not allowed to reheat nitrate-rich vegetables for a second time. The harmless nitrate is then converted into the harmful nitrite and cancer-causing nitrosamines can be formed from nitrite.
However, recent research has shown that the health risks are very small. The restrictive advice for eating nitrate-rich vegetables has therefore been lifted. The Nutrition Center only recommends to be careful with nitrate-rich sports supplements.
When?
Endive is available all year round. Only the Dutch variant is usually not available in January and February.
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