Italian chicory is a wild plant with pretty blue flowers producing leaves with a bitter taste used in salads. For those who like a bitter coffee, chicory root may be used as an additive. In times of hardship it has even been used as a substitute. Cultivated versions include radicchio, forced white chicons of chicory and endives. The bitterness can be slightly ameliorated by the use of lemon juice. The names of chicories are often confused and you may find that these are the leaves of the closely related Italian dandelion, with yellow flowers.
is arugula or “rocket” and is a peppery-mustard, slightly smoky, and almost meaty tasting salad green which is also used as an herb. Its leaves are lobed and similar to dandelion. If the plants are allowed to mature, the taste becomes increasingly bitter and wild varieties have an even greater amount of spicy heat.
Italian dandelion or chicory is a yellow flowered Italian dandelion. The slightly bitter flavoured Italian dandelion looks similar to the field dandelion but is larger and has slightly more jagged leaves and less stringy stalks. It is a form of chicory which grows well in pots. It is used in salads or may be cooked. Cultivated versions include radicchio, forced white chicons of chicory and endives. Names of different types of chicory are often confused, so you may find that the leaves of Italian chicory, which carries a blue flower.
A plump, pear-shaped, but small variety of aubergine (US: eggplant) with a lavender to deep purple-black skin.
A semi-indeterminate, vigorous variety of tomato with golden-coloured fruit of exceptional flavour and weighing around 175 g (6 oz). Suitable for outdoor growth and fruiting late in the season. Particularly good for making rich sauces and pastes.
Egg whites are beaten in the normal way until the soft peak stage and then sugar syrup is beaten in instead of the more traditional sugar crystals. It results in a soft, chewy meringue with a sheen.
