Chicory is the plant from which delicious surrogate coffee can be made. The chicory flower itself is very beautiful and would not look out of place in a bouquet. The entire garden is decorated with sky-blue chicory flowers. Chicory is a native plant throughout Europe, Egypt and western Asia. Chicory also grows wild in the Netherlands. Chicory regularly grows on fallow land. NB! This article is written from the personal view of the author and may contain information that is not scientifically substantiated and/or in line with the general view.

Contents:

• The origin of chicory
• The origin of chicory(2)
• German coffee
• Make a salad with chicory
• Medicinal effect
• Good for the liver
• Chicory against coffee addiction
• Chicory in the US

The origin of chicory

Chicory used to be commonly known as heaven’s key. That’s because one day Peter dropped the keys to the gates of heaven on earth. An angel went to earth to pick up the keys. Where the keys had been, plants with sky-blue flowers appeared; the heavenly key or chicory.

The origin of chicory(2)

Not everyone believes this version. There is another story about the origins of the chicory plant. You can choose which version is the true one. A young and girl were engaged. Their country was at war with another country. The young man went off to war to serve as a soldier in the army. However, the boy had found a new love in the other country and continued to live there. After the war, the girl stood on the lookout every day on the edge of the village to see where her fiancé was. She cried every day and her villagers asked her to stop. She said she would rather become a field flower than stop crying. One day she disappeared and bright blue flowers stood where she always waited. These flowers have been a symbol of loyalty ever since.If you grow chicory root in the dark, you will get chicory / Source: Rasbak, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA-3.0)

German coffee

Chicory was traditionally known as German coffee. In that country it is very popular as a coffee substitute. German coffee was discovered in 1775 by two French doctors; Brunau and Harpong. The root is used to make surrogate coffee. In order to get a lot of roots, the flowering stem is removed. As a result, the plant will not focus on flowering, but on root formation. The roots are dried and mixed with peanut oil. In the Netherlands it has long been cultivated in the province of Friesland. The people themselves did not eat the leaves, which is possible. Chicory leaves were called boar lettuce because they were given to pigs as food.

Make a salad with chicory

You can eat the leaves of chicory as lettuce leaves. The beautiful deep blue flowers are also edible and can be used to brighten up a salad. The leaves contain a lot of vitamin C, vitamin B9, potassium and fiber. The root is used to make surrogate coffee. In France, chicory and coffee are mixed together. Chicory is said to take the sharp edges off the coffee by neutralizing the PH value. Chicory is the plant that was grown into endive and chicory.Source: Trish Steel, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA-2.0)

Medicinal effect

Both the root and the leaves of the plant themselves have a laxative and diuretic effect, which means diuretic. Chicory has several medicinal properties in folk medicine, not all of which have been confirmed by science. Diseases that have received scientific confirmation in the use of chicory as a medicine are: liver diseases including jaundice, gout and kidney diseases. Because chicory stimulates the liver and kidneys, it also works well against diseases related to an abundance of waste products that cannot be processed. This includes gout and skin diseases such as eczema.

Good for the liver

One of the medicinal properties that have been scientifically established is that chicory is good for the liver. In Pakistan it is a traditional medicinal herb for liver diseases. Scientists have found the polyphenol esculetin in the root of chicory. This substance indeed supports the functioning of the liver, as scientific research has shown. The effect is approximately the same as dandelion leaves, which can also be put in a salad or cooked. The roots of both plants look similar.The chicory root is grown in dark conditions to make chicory. Endive is also a plant grown from chicory. 

Chicory against coffee addiction

Chicory is available in almost every supermarket and certainly every organic store in the form of surrogate coffee, instant coffee without caffeine. Chicory can help you kick the habit of coffee. If you want to drink less coffee but still like the taste, you can mix a cup of very watery, weak coffee with substitute coffee. This coffee variation tastes delicious. Coffee can be a truly addictive substance. Coffee junkies who like to drink 4 cups of coffee or more and suddenly stop drinking almost always get a headache after 24 hours. By mixing the weak coffee with substitute coffee, the headache stays away and you can slowly wean yourself off the coffee.

Chicory in the US

The use of chicory as a coffee substitute was popularized in the US in 1840 in New Orleans. At that time, coffee could not be drunk due to a port blockade due to the civil war. However, the residents of New Orleans were great coffee lovers and subsequently created an old European, especially German, custom of roasting and grinding chicory roots and drinking coffee substitute. The result was so tasty that many people still drink chicory coffee.Just like coffee, chicory contains acryamide, but many times more. The advice is therefore to use chicory in moderation.

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