endive, a vegetable with a particular production method

They grow in the dark, out of sight. Only their yellow and white color ​makes it possible to distinguish them: the endives, in this Alsatian farm, grow by the thousands, from floor to ceiling. He reigns in the warehouse a tropical atmosphere, with 17 degrees, 90% humidity and total darkness. “For to be able to prevent the endive from photosynthesis, otherwise it will turn green”, says Angèle Gloecker, one of the last endive producers in Alsace.

It’s the only way to contain the bitterness of root vegetable, which grows without any soil, only fed by a water circuit. Angela Gloecker took over the family business, created in the 1970s by his father. “I I really fell in love with the product, the method of production”, she says. It is this particular mode of production that Alexis Albrecht came to discover, restaurant manager “At the Old Convent”, who cultivates it himself some in the sound cellar ​establishment. He can thus offer endives on the menu for a good part of the year, and revisit one of the classics of French cuisine: the ​famous endive with ham.