🥬 Cornet de Bordeaux Escarole: Growing Guide
What it looks like
Why this variety
Cornet de Bordeaux is the upright escarole: spoon-shaped leaves standing taller than most escaroles, folding into a self-blanching heart, with very good cold tolerance that carries it from autumn into winter. It is the escarole for gardeners who want a winter green that does not flop in frost — upright leaves shed cold air and shed rain alike.
Upright chicory habits matter in wet winters: leaves that stand up drain better, dry faster, and rot less than leaves that lie flat on damp soil. Cornet de Bordeaux’s upright form is part of why it holds so well into winter, and its cold tolerance is the other part — chicory sweetens after light frost, as starches convert to sugars, so a frosted escarole is often a better escarole.
Florida translation: Cornet de Bordeaux is a fall-through-spring escarole here, and it is the one to plant for the longest harvest window — sow in fall, pick outer leaves through winter, and let the heart finish as spring approaches. Its upright habit also suits Florida’s humid beds, where airflow around the crown keeps rot at bay better than a flat rosette.
How to grow
Sow Cornet de Bordeaux Escarole directly or transplant, spacing as listed in the hero block. Endive and escarole are cool-season chicories: in Florida, the sowing window is fall through early spring, with the fall crop usually the sweetest, because cool nights mellow bitterness and frost firms the hearts.
Escarole hearts sweeten as they fold inward; tying outer leaves up for a week before harvest makes the palest, mildest hearts of all. Keep beds weed-free and watered; chicory roots run deep, so a deep watering once a week beats daily sprinkles.
Water & feeding
Chicory wants steady, deep moisture: about an inch a week, delivered at the base, plus mulch to keep roots cool. Uneven watering makes bitter, tough leaves; even watering makes crisp, sweet hearts. Feed lightly — worm castings at planting and one side-dress mid-season. Too much nitrogen grows lush outer leaves and a loose, bitter heart.
Common problems
Slugs love low chicory rosettes in damp weather — trap, hand-pick at dusk, and keep mulch pulled back from crowns. Aphids cluster in hearts; blast with water before harvest. Downy mildew shows in humid spells — space for airflow, water at the soil line, and remove affected outer leaves promptly.
Bitterness is the honest trade of chicory: heat, drought, and over-maturity all sharpen it. Pick in cool weather, blanch hearts where the variety calls for it, and pair bitter leaves with fat, acid, and salt in the kitchen — that is what the bitterness is for.
Harvest
Cut Cornet de Bordeaux Escarole whole at the base when heads feel full and firm, or pick outer leaves over weeks for a longer, smaller harvest. For the mildest hearts, blanch by tying outer leaves up over the center for a week or two before cutting — the pale inner leaves are the prize. Refrigerate promptly; chicory keeps about a week, and its crunch is the point, so do not let it wilt.
Nerdy fact: Cornet de Bordeaux takes its name from its horn-like, upright leaves — cornet means a small horn — which makes it the rare vegetable named for a musical instrument it resembles only when you squint, and then only if you are feeling generous.
Saving seeds
Cornet de Bordeaux is an upright French escarole, and escarole comes true from seed — save seed from your best plants and let it dry fully before storing. The full method is in the Saving seeds section of the Escarole guide.