COMMON: Chicory, Blue sailors, Blueweed, Blue daisy, Bunk, Succory, Coffee weed, Witloof.		BOTANICAL: Cichorium intybus
Click on the pic for a close up.		PRONOUNCED: sik-KOR-ee-um in-TYE-bus HEIGHT LIGHT ZONE 3 ft. - 5 ft. Full sun 3 - 7 BLOOMS COLOR July-September Blue
		Soil: Calcium-rich, well drained soil. Tolerates poor conditions but has less flavor.
		Description: Perennial. A deep rooted, stemy, upright plant with Azure blue flowers which close at midday. The leaves are oblong and bristly and mostly near the base of the stems. The young, toothless leaves are sometimes mistaken for dandelion leaves, but are much more bristly. A fast grower.
		In The Garden: Chicory was often grown in floral clocks for the regular opening of its flowers and their closing five hours later. These opening times relate to latitude, but the leaves always align with the north.

Cultivation/propagation: Sow seeds outdoors in early spring, thinning to 1 ft. Keep weeded and moist. Not to be confused with its cousin, Cichorium endiva (Endive).
Harvesting: Use the fresh leaves in salads or cook like spinach. Collect the roots in the fall, and dry and grind them for a coffee substitute. Chicory does not dry or freeze well.
Culinary Uses: The basal leaves are the part of fresh chicory usually eaten. However, like dandelion, chicory contains a milky, bitter sap which must be minimized if the fresh leaves are to be enjoyable. If wild chicory is to be served as a boiled green, it is recommended to change the water two or three times during boiling. Chicory roots are generally gathered for eating before the flowering stems arise and are tasty either fresh or processed. Many cultures simply boil and eat chicory roots like parsnips or carrots. The roots also can be dried, ground, and made into bread. European chefs have long used it to add body to soups, meats, and vegetables. In the southern United States, ground chicory root is used as a common seasoning for stews and gravies.
Medicinal and Folklore: According to folk tales, the flowers of chicory are a beautiful clear blue because they are the transformed eye of a girl weeping for her lover's ship. The Roman writers Horace, Vergil, and Pliny mentioned chicory as a root and salad vegetable. Ancient civilizations all around the Mediterranean knew the plant and took sustenance from it. The roots were in such popular use in England as late as the early 1900's that they were used as an item of barter in some areas. The use of chicory in (or instead of) coffee followed upon the growing popularity of coffee itself in Europe. The taste of coffee, at first a strange new beverage, was compared with that of chicory as early as 1592. By the end of the 1600's European monarchs could not resist taxing coffee to reserve it for nobility. In the mid-1700's a process for roasting and brewing chicory offered a coffee alternative for commoners, and chicory soon went into production throughout Europe. Necessity eventually gave way to preference, and chicory is still a favored addition to coffee in France and Belgium. Presumably the French influence made its way to Louisiana, now a stronghold of chicory coffee in the United States. Whether using chicory root as a coffee additive or as a substitute, purveyors of the root have not always been strictly aboveboard about including in the blend, especially in times when coffee becomes scarce. Toward the late 1800's, however, typical 'coffee' mixtures often consisted of such materials as clay, pea hulls, low-grade bran, molasses, or flour in addition to chicory and perhaps less than 25% real coffee. Some writers feel that chicory unfairly took the blame for the lack of flavor; 'chicory coffee' becoming a synonym for cheap and adulterated coffee.