What Is Puntarelle? A Guide to Italy’s Crunchy Bitter Chicory
Puntarelle looks like a leafy green hiding an entirely different vegetable inside.
The outside resembles a loose head of dandelion greens. Pull those leaves aside and a cluster of pale, hollow shoots appears at the center. Those crisp shoots are the part most closely associated with the name puntarelle.
In Rome, they are sliced into thin ribbons, curled in ice water and dressed with anchovies, garlic, vinegar and olive oil. Farther south in Puglia, shorter puntarelle shoots are also eaten whole and preserved in oil.
They are crisp, juicy and pleasantly bitter, with enough character to stand beside rich meat, salty fish, cheese or a crowded antipasto plate.
What exactly is puntarelle?
Puntarelle is a cultivated form of chicory, botanically identified as Cichorium intybus. It belongs to the same species as radicchio, Belgian endive and several other vegetables prized for their bitterness.
The plant is commonly called Catalogna chicory, Catalonian chicory or asparagus chicory. It grows as a tall head of serrated green leaves surrounding a dense cluster of pale inner shoots.
Those shoots are the puntarelle.
The word comes from the Italian punta, meaning point or tip. Puntarelle roughly describes the many little points crowded into the heart of the plant.
Is puntarelle singular or plural?
Puntarelle is grammatically plural in Italian. A single shoot can be called a puntarella.
English food writing often treats puntarelle as the name of an ingredient or dish, much as it treats pasta or radicchio. That is why “What is puntarelle?” sounds natural in English even though the Italian word is plural.
When referring specifically to the individual shoots, a plural verb also works: “The puntarelle are crisp.” Both constructions appear because one names the ingredient and the other describes its separate pieces.
What part of the plant do you eat?
The pale inner shoots are the prized portion for raw puntarelle salads. They are hollow, succulent and less aggressively bitter than the outer leaves.
The leaves are edible too.
They can be boiled or blanched and then sautéed with olive oil, garlic and chile, much like other Italian bitter greens. They also work in soups, savory pies and braised vegetable dishes.
The plant therefore supplies two different textures: crisp shoots for salads and preserves, plus leafy greens for cooking.
What does puntarelle taste like?
Puntarelle tastes fresh, vegetal and distinctly bitter.
The bitterness is usually cleaner and less persistent than that of the darkest outer chicory leaves. The center shoots also contain enough water to give them a crisp, almost celery-like bite.
Fresh puntarelle can suggest a meeting point between chicory, celery and the tender interior of an artichoke stem. None is an exact substitute, but the comparison gives a useful sense of its combination of bitterness, moisture and crunch.
Preserved puntarelle adds acidity, salt and gentle sweetness from the brine while retaining much of that natural bite.
Why is puntarelle associated with Rome?
Puntarelle is eaten across central and southern Italy, but its most famous preparation belongs to Rome.
During the cooler months, Roman markets sell whole heads of Catalogna chicory as well as tubs of already-cut puntarelle soaking in water. The prepared strips curl into tangled green ribbons that are ready to drain and dress.
The classic dish, puntarelle alla romana, combines those crisp curls with a forceful dressing of anchovies, garlic, vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil.
Rome’s official tourism site describes it as a traditional accompaniment to fish, baked dishes and lamb, including abbacchio a scottadito. It also appears on Roman tables around Christmas and New Year’s meals.
How is puntarelle alla romana made?
Fresh puntarelle shoots are separated from the outer leaves and cut lengthwise into very thin strips.
A traditional puntarelle cutter pushes the shoots through a small grid of wires. A sharp knife works too, although the narrow, uneven stalks make the process slower.
The strips go into very cold water, often with ice, until they become crisp and curl at the edges.
The dressing is made by crushing anchovy fillets with garlic, vinegar and olive oil. The softened anchovies disperse through the oil rather than remaining as obvious pieces of fish.
The result is assertive without being heavy. Bitterness counters the oil, vinegar sharpens the shoots, and anchovies supply enough salt and savory depth to season the entire bowl.
Why does ice water make puntarelle curl?
The thinly cut shoots absorb cold water and become firmer. Their cut surfaces respond unevenly, causing the strips to bend and curl.
The ice bath also improves their snap.
After soaking, the puntarelle must be drained and dried thoroughly. Water left clinging to the strips dilutes the anchovy dressing and prevents the oil from coating them evenly.
Are all puntarelle long and curly?
No.
Different regional forms of Catalogna chicory produce shoots with different proportions.
The puntarelle commonly associated with Lazio and the Roman salad have longer shoots that are well suited to slicing and curling. Puntarelle grown around Galatina in Puglia tend to be shorter and are often served whole.
That regional difference explains why a jar of Puglian puntarelle may not resemble the tangled ribbons seen in a Roman market. They come from the same broader chicory tradition but are prepared for a different eating experience.
Fresh puntarelle versus preserved puntarelle
Fresh puntarelle is raw, juicy and sharply crisp. It requires cleaning, trimming, slicing and soaking before it becomes the familiar Roman salad.
Preserved puntarelle is ready to eat.
The shoots have already been selected, cleaned and balanced with acid, salt and oil. Their texture becomes slightly more yielding, and the brine tempers the raw vegetable’s bitterness without removing it.
The preserved form is closer to an antipasto vegetable than a substitute for a bowl of freshly curled puntarelle alla romana.
How I Contadini prepares puntarelle
I Contadini grows and processes its vegetables in Salento, the southern portion of Puglia.
Its puntarelle come from Catalogna chicory grown around Galatina in the province of Lecce. The tender shoots are selected and cut by hand, then processed raw rather than subjected to an industrial precooking treatment.
The shoots mature for several days in a delicate sweet-and-sour brine before being packed in sunflower oil and extra-virgin olive oil.
The ingredient list is short: Catalogna chicory, sunflower oil, extra-virgin olive oil, apple vinegar, sugar, unrefined sea salt and lemon juice. There are no added herbs or spices competing with the chicory.
The result is clean, crisp and gently agrodolce, with the vegetable’s bitterness still intact.
How to serve puntarelle from the jar
Begin by serving it at room temperature rather than refrigerator-cold.
Lift the shoots from the jar with some of their oil still clinging to them. Taste before adding salt or vinegar; the preserving liquid may already provide everything they need.
For the simplest plate, arrange the puntarelle beside good bread, aged cheese, olives and cured meat.
Add lemon only if the plate needs more brightness.
I Contadini Puntarelle Chicory Shoots can also go directly into sandwiches, salads and antipasto spreads without further cooking.
Add anchovies
Puntarelle and anchovies belong together for good reason.
The vegetable’s bitterness keeps the fish from tasting excessively rich, while the anchovy supplies the salt and savory depth that lean chicory lacks.
For a quick version inspired by the Roman salad, mince one or two oil-packed anchovy fillets with a small amount of garlic. Stir in a spoonful of vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil, then spoon the dressing over drained preserved puntarelle.
Use less dressing than you would with fresh shoots. The jarred vegetable already contains acid, oil and seasoning.
Our complete guide to anchovies explains the differences among oil-packed, salt-packed and fresh marinated styles.
Serve puntarelle with meat
Bitterness and acidity make puntarelle particularly useful beside rich meat.
Serve it with roast pork, grilled sausage, lamb chops or steak. The shoots perform the same palate-clearing job as mustard, pickles or a sharply dressed salad.
Steak tartare is another strong match. The cool beef and egg yolk benefit from something crisp and acidic, while the puntarelle’s bitterness keeps the dish from feeling flat.
Put it in a sandwich
Preserved puntarelle is unusually well suited to sandwiches because it brings crunch, acidity and seasoning in one ingredient.
Pair it with mortadella, porchetta, roast beef, salami or a firm Italian cheese. Chop the shoots if they are too long to bite through cleanly.
It also works in a vegetarian sandwich with fresh mozzarella, roasted peppers and a little of the oil from the jar.
Add it to salads without losing its identity
Puntarelle can disappear in a large bowl of unrelated greens.
Give it ingredients that make its flavor clearer instead: white beans, celery, radicchio, fennel, roasted peppers, hard cheese, walnuts or apples.
Keep the dressing simple. Olive oil and vinegar are usually enough because the preserved shoots already supply complexity.
Use the oil
The oil and brine left in the jar carry chicory flavor, acidity and salt.
Whisk a spoonful into vinaigrette, drizzle it over white beans or use it to dress boiled potatoes. It can also season bread for a sandwich containing the puntarelle themselves.
Taste first. The liquid is an ingredient, but it is already seasoned.
What should you drink with puntarelle?
Puntarelle favors drinks with freshness and enough structure to handle bitterness.
Crisp Italian white wine, dry sparkling wine, light lager and dry cider all work. A bitter aperitivo can echo the vegetable, although pairing bitter with bitter is most successful when the drink also has citrus or sweetness.
For a nonalcoholic option, choose a dry sparkling tea or a bright citrus-based aperitif rather than something heavily sweetened.
How should an opened jar be stored?
Refrigerate the jar after opening and keep the remaining shoots covered by their preserving liquid.
Use a clean utensil each time. Follow the storage period printed on the package rather than assuming every oil-packed vegetable has the same opened life.
Let the portion you plan to eat lose some of its refrigerator chill before serving. The oil flows more freely and the chicory’s aroma becomes easier to perceive.
A vegetable built around contrast
Puntarelle is bitter but refreshing, sturdy but juicy, and closely identified with Rome while also belonging to the agricultural cooking of southern Italy.
Fresh Roman puntarelle becomes a mass of crisp curls under an anchovy dressing. I Contadini’s Puglian version preserves the shorter Galatina shoots whole, allowing them to function as a ready-to-eat antipasto vegetable.
Start simply.
Put a few shoots on a plate with bread and cheese. Add an anchovy if you want the Roman connection. Then try them beside meat, inside a sandwich or scattered through a white-bean salad.
The bitterness is not a problem to solve. It is the reason puntarelle can make an otherwise rich plate feel complete.
Shop I Contadini Puntarelle Chicory Shoots.
