Raging Radicchio!

For todays post, I am doing a sensory evaluation of a brand new food for me. I chose radicchio! The vibrancy of this purple and white leaf vegetable is what caught my eye and made me interested in its flavours. I decided to use the radicchio in a salad with some romaine and Belgian endives, with a balsamic vinaigrette. Preparing the radicchio almost reminded me of a small cabbage, having to core and then gently remove the leaves. The leaves are round and fairly firm. When tearing the radicchio for the salad, the leaves were snappy and looked very fresh. There was a slight spicy smell when tearing the leaves. The flavour of the radicchio really surprised me! It was super bitter, sharp and a little spicy. It was nice balanced out with the other lettuces. The texture reminded me of cabbage biting into it, having a light crunch, but the flavour was something new that I have never had before. I enjoyed this salad, but I think next time I have radicchio I wanna try cooking it, to try to get rid of some of the bitterness. Im not a huge fan of bitterness but the spicy touch was super pleasant. This exercise definitely surprised me, I thought I was going in for more of a lettuce rather than what it was, but i'm glad I tried a new flavour that stands out to the eye and taste buds!