What is Blonde Frisée? Brace yourselves: this is pretty cool! There is a leafy green known as Frisée. Then, there is Blonde Frisée. Both products come from the same plant, but there is a little added alteration to the Blonde Frisée product.
Table of Contents
What is Blonde Frisée?
Blonde Frisée is a leafy green, that looks like a lettuce, but is technically a part of the chicory family (just like Belgian endive). Blonde Frisée is the inner portion of a head of Frisée that has been shielded by the sun to create its “blonde,” yellow color.
How is Blonde Frisée Created
It all starts out with growing Frisée, which you can in the picture below. It is a green, leafy green product.
To achieve the blonde appearance, the workers use rubber bands to tie the bunches of Frisée so that the greens are shielded from the sun for approximately 7-10 days before harvest.
(Can you imagine that? A worker goes through and puts a rubber band around every single bunch. That is extremely labor intensive.)
As a result, the inner portion of the tied up Frisée turns “blonde” in color. It is very similar to the color of bleached blonde hair. This product is sold under the name of Blonde Frisée.
How is Blonde Frisée Harvested?
The Blonde Frisée product is revealed during the harvesting process. The workers are trained to remove the rubber bands and the outer green leaves, so that only the “blonde” portion is harvested.
The following video demonstrates the harvesting process.
The harvesting process is as follows:
- Harvest – Workers use a knife to harvest the Frisée from the ground, and to remove the rubber band.
- Remove Outer Leaves – The workers then use their hands to remove the green outer leaves, so the end result is Blonde Frisée.
- Wash Step – The Blonde Frisée are thrown up to the packing table on the harvesting rig, where workers spritz the heads of Blonde Frisée with sanitized water.
- Packing – The heads of Blonde Frisée are packed into boxes.
- Pallet Formation – The boxes are transported on a conveyor to an adjacent truck, where they are stacked to be taken to the cooler.
Food Safety Considerations
For a Blonde Frisée harvesting and packing operation, some of the main food safety concerns are:
- Cleaning and Sanitation of the harvesting knives – Cleaning and sanitizing of the knives needs to occur on a regular and frequent basis. In addition to this being on a schedule and controlled by the company, there also needs to be a knife dip to store the knives in while the workers are on break.
- Sanitation of the wash water – Although the water is not recycled wash water, there still needs to be a testing and policy in place and implemented. The water needs to be potable and maintained safe to apply to the product.
- Glove policy – Since gloves are required, there needs to be a glove policy enforced. This means that the gloves are controlled by the company, and that they are either disposable or able to be washed, and are changed out appropriately. If the gloves are washed, the company needs to control the cleaning of the gloves.
- Cleaning and Sanitation of the harvesting rig – Every piece of harvested product touches the harvesting rig between being harvested and packed, so it needs to be cleaned and sanitized to prevent any potential cross-contamination issues to the product.
There are many more items to be taken into consideration, but this is just a brief list to get you thinking about it! This is also going to be very similar for most leafy green harvests.
Postharvest Considerations
The most important thing postharvest for Blonde Frisée is that the product makes it to the cooling facility quickly after it has been harvested. Blonde Frisée needs to be maintained at a temperature close to 0°C/32°F to be able to have the longest shelf-life possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Blonde Frisée and Frisée?
They both originate from the same plant. Blonde Frisée starts out as Frisée and is manipulated during the last week or so of the growing period to remove the leaves from the sun and trimmed down to create the Blonde Frisée product.
What other products have a similar growing process to Blonde Frisée?
Belgian endive, although grown indoors, has a similar growing process where the plants are not exposed to light/sunshine and result in a bleached product. They are also both members of the chicory family. You can click here to learn more about the Belgian endive growing process.
Do other companies grow Blonde Frisée and market it under a different name?
Yes. Another term used to reference the Blonde Frisée product is Blanched Frisée.
What does Blonde Frisée taste like?
Both Frisée and Blonde Frisée have a bitter taste. The Blonde Frisée is believed to be a little less bitter, and has tender leaves, which is attractive to specialty chefs.
Featured Grower Information
I would like to thank Babé Farms for the tour and for allowing the gathered content to be shared. Babé Farms is a specialty produce grower and supplier located in Santa Maria, California. You can check out their website to learn more about their company and the other specialty produce items that they grow.
If you enjoyed this post, you might also like: