Chicory
To date chicory has been relatively unknown in the UK but has seen ever increasing attention and recognition in recent years. Chicory is the most complicated of all the crops which we grow here at Scholes.
In order to grow a chicory root the land must be cultivated to the highest quality. The seed bed must be stone and clod free to give the small seed the best opportunity to establish. The seed is roughly the size of a needle tip. The seed is sown with great precision and accuracy one seed at a time using a vacuum powered precision drill. The chicory is drilled in twin lines on the top of a row. Once the root has developed the natural cycle of the plant is broken and the root is harvested and placed into cold storage until required.
To produce a saleable product the second phase of the life cycle has to be artificially created. The process is known as “Forcing”. Forcing is a process in which the root is stimulated through the use of hydroponics which simulates year two of the natural growing cycle, culminating in a secondary vegetative growth from the crown of the root. This is called the “Chicon” and is made up from attractive, tightly packed yellow leaves. In order to produce this high quality product there are many different variables which have to be controlled.
Forcing takes place in a light free, temperature and humidity controlled environment which is manipulated to best suit the individual varieties.
Stocks are stored in a mixture of ambient and long term cold storage, and are brought to the packhouse as required. We place a great deal of importance in store monitoring and stocks are checked on a regular basis so as to ensure crop quality is maintained.