Radicchio

Radicchio (/rəˈdɪkioʊ/ or /rəˈdiːkioʊ/; Italian pronunciation: [raˈdikkjo]) is a perennial cultivated form of leaf chicory (Cichorium intybus, Asteraceae) sometimes known as Italian chicory because of its common use in Italian cuisine. It is grown as a leaf vegetable and usually has colorful white-veined red leaves that form a head. Radicchio has a bitter and spicy taste which mellows if it is grilled or roasted.

Pliny the Elder said that radicchio was useful as a blood purifier and an aid for insomniacs in Naturalis Historia. Radicchio contains intybin, a sedative/analgesic, as well as a type of flavonoid called anthocyanin.

Modern cultivation of the plant began in the fifteenth century in the Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Trentino regions of Italy, but the deep-red radicchio of today was engineered in 1860 by Belgian agronomist Francesco Van den Borre, who used a technique called imbianchimento (whitening), preforcing, or blanching to create the dark red, white-veined leaves. The plants are taken from the soil and placed in water in darkened sheds, where lack of light and ensuing inhibition of chlorophyll production cause the plants to lose their green pigmentation.[citation needed]