Pickled Chicory Recipe

This glorious pickled chicory recipe is flavoured with mustard and coriander seeds for an aromatic finish. The pickling process gives the chicory leaves a beautifully sweet edge, which can then be incorporated into a huge range of dishes.

Chicory is a forced radicchio, which results in a sweeter, more tender leaf than the usual, incredibly bitter (but equally delicious) radicchio. They’re delicious fresh and pickled, and we use both chicory and radicchio en-masse at the restaurant. If you can’t get hold of chicory, then radicchio works well.

Pickled chicory

1 white chicory, thoroughly washed
2 red chicory, thoroughly washed
700g of malt pickling vinegar
1 tbsp of coriander seeds
2 tsp black mustard seeds
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns
100g of caster sugar
15g of fine sea salt

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Divide the chicory into individual leaves by cutting off the root at the base and separating them out. Gently pack them into a sterilised Kilner jar

Add the vinegar, sugar and salt to a saucepan and place over a medium heat

In a separate frying pan, add all of the spices and place over a medium heat. Keep heating the spices until the oils are released and there’s a lovely scent of warm spices. A good indicator that this is happening is when the mustard seeds start to jump out of the pan!

Add the spices to the vinegar pan and bring to a simmer (if it isn't already). Stir through, remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature