Frisée
Cichorium endivia var. crispum · Leafy green
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Frisée — the finely curled form of endive — is the lacy, spiky salad green of a low, sprawling rosette whose narrow leaves are slashed and curled into a mass of thin, hairlike fronds. The plant is self-blanched or tied closed so that its heart fades from green to a pale creamy yellow-white, and that blanched centre is the prize: tender, mildly bitter and faintly nutty where the dark outer fronds are coarse and sharply bitter. It is the bitter backbone of the French frisée aux lardons and a lively, crinkly contrast leaf in mixed salads.
Picking a good onedrag
Crisp and squeakyLimp and slimy
SofteningStill fine rawDressed salads, sandwiches, tacos
Cut coreRim tanned, sap dried
Rib snapBends a little, then snaps
Leaf colourGreen, outer leaves dulling
SmellGrassy and neutral
These cues are Lettuce's, and hold across its varieties; where this one differs, its own page says so.
What you get from one
95%
Edible part
539 g · core out
567 g
Weight each
each one
Keeping ittap a temperature
A domestic fridge holds it about 5× longer than the counter.
95–100% — as damp as you can get it
Humidity
Wrapped, never sealed
Airflow