Edible parts of Endive

Leaves raw or cooked. Leaves of wild plants are very bitter but there are many named forms with only aslight bitterness. The leaves are quite large and often form arosette like cabbages. They are very easy to harvest. Endive makes avery acceptable addition, in moderate quantities, to the salad bowl, though the leaves are too bitter for most tastes to be used as the main salad leaf. The leaves are often blanched (by excluding light from the growing plant) in order to reduce this bitterness, though this process also reduces the nutritional value of the plant.