chicory

     

Common chicory (Cichorium intybus) is a bushy perennial herb with blue or lavener flowers. It grows as a wild plant on roadsides in its native Europe, and in North America, where it has become naturalized. It is grown for its leaves, or for the roots, which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and additive. Common chicory is also known as blue sailors, succory, and coffeeweed.

Trivia about chicory

  • Popular in New Orleans, its top is a salad green & its root is roasted & mixed with coffee
  • One type of this salad plant is roasted & used as a coffee substitute, particularly in Louisiana
  • This radicchio relative can be dried, roasted & used as a substitute for coffee
  • This plant related to & sometimes confused with endive has been used to flavor coffee since the 18th Century