Continuing the stay in beautiful North Carolina, I came across quite an interesting book. Across news racks and stands in the area sits this helpful flier put out by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP).

The Local Food Guide is about a 100 page catalog of locally grown food and where to purchase it. Search the free guide for farms, wineries, grocers, restaurants, bakers, tailgate farmers’ markets, u-pick farms, CSAs and more. ASAP has also included a seasonal produce chart along with a regional farm event calendar.

If you live in the area this is quite a helpful aid for the local food eater. ASAP also has the complete listings online at www.buyappalachian.org.

Continuing our guide for Identifying Salad Greens, today I wish to cover the slightly bitter leaves of chicory. Chicory, being those blue or lavender flowers growing on the roadside, are a bushy perennial herbs that are quite hearty. You can also cook them, I’ve seen them turn out well grilled or braised.

Photo: CountryDreaming

Belgian Endive

Belgian endive is the shoot of a chicory root, growing in small, close bond head with leaves that come to a sharp point. The leaves are white and commonly grow with yellow tips. Sometimes I will see a variety with a slight purple tint to them.

Hamster and Belgian Endive. Photo: knittingskwerlgurl

Curly Endive

Curly endive is has green, rimmed, curly outer leaves. The outer leaves of darker green and pointed are sturdy and slightly bitter. The inner leaves will be more of a yellow color and are more tender and less bitter. It’s strong flavor is a wonderful match witch citrus and goes well with strong cheeses. I have heard people refer to curly endive as just chicory.

Curly endive and cracked bowl. Photo: Jay Chef

Escarole

Escarole, or broad leaf endiv, is similar to curly endive but has a thicker leaf -thus the name broad leaf. Escarole has a slight bitter flavor as well and those broad leaves great for adding texture. I think Escarole matched well with grilled meats and poultry.

Escarole. Photo: Cranberry Bagel

Radicchio

Radicchio looks like a small red cabbage. Its red color is quite vivid and holds when cooked. Radicchio is very bitter and very easy to overuse when in a salad, but when you can find it or can afford it it does add great color.

Radicchio Bath. Photo: nikolieau

While picking ingredients for dinner during work yesterday, a stop at one of the farmers tables gave me an idea for an informative series here on Rooftop Kitchen. This is for all the farmer’s market shoppers out there that are intimidated by the variety of greens this world produces - and are too shy to ask. A guide for Identifying Salad Greens is the topic of the week, starting today with lettuce.

Lettuces, eaten far and wide, are members of the genus Lactuca. The most common types are butterhead, crisp head, leaf and romaine.

Photo: Lettuce Cultivars by David Shankbone, New York City

Butterhead Lettuces

Butterhead lettuces have small, round, loosely formed heads with soft, butter-textured leaves ranging from a multitude and degree of red and rosey colors along with greens and yellow tinges. The flavor is sweet and succulent. Because the leaves are quite tender, they require gentle washing and handling. Boston and bibb are two of the most popular butterhead lettuces, their soft, pliable, pale green leaves have a buttery texture and flavor. Boston is larger and paler than bibb. Both Boston and bibb lettuce leaves from cups when separated from the heads which make convenient bases for holding other foods on cold plates.

Boston Lettuce:

Photo: Clara Wu

Iceberg

Iceberg lettuce, or crisp head, forms tight, dense heads that resemble cabbage. They are generally the mildest of the lettuces, valued more for their crunchy texture than for flavor. In the United States iceberg lettuce is most common, outselling all other varieties combined. Iceberg llettuce remains crisp for a relatively long time after being cut or prepared. When purchasing, select heads that are from but not harde while the leaves are free of burnt and rusty tips.

Photo: Branflakez

William Shropshire has a nice flikr set of an Iceberg head

Leaf

Leaf lettuce grows in bunches. It has separate, ruffle-edged leaves branching from a stalk rather than a head. Both red and green leaf lettuce should have nicely shaped leaves free of bruises, breaks or brown spots.

Red and Green Leaf Lettuces

Photo: Tony

Photo: Happy_sleepy

Romaine

Romaine lettuce, also known as cos, is a loosely packed head lettuce with elongated leaves and thick midribs. Its outer leaves are dark green and although they look coarse, they are crisp, tender and tasty without being bitter. The core leaves are paler and more tender but still crisp. Romain has enough flavor to stanbd out even with strong dressings. A good quality head has dark green outer leavse that are free of blemishes or yellowing

Photo: trishiak

Photo: E Woud

 Additional Sources:

Labensky, Sarah R. and alan M. Hause. On Cooking. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007.