My little Chicory
A few choice words about Chicory and Coffee by Tara Zucker

(from Ground Control Issue #19)

Cover your ears, coffee lovers. I'm about to say a bad word. "Chicory". OK. You can let the kids back in the room now. Why is it the mere mention of the word chicory can send some coffee drinkers into a state of apoplexy?

Just What Is Chicory, Anyway?

Meet cichorium intybus - the rather misunderstood chicory plant. (In England, it's Chickory. The K is silent.) Dating back some 5,000 years to the days of Cleopatra, the species name "intybus' is from the Egyptian word "tybi,' meaning January, the month in which chicory grows in Egypt. A perennial found in Europe and parts of the United States, chicory is a tap-rooted plant, similar to a carrot. Growing from approximately 3 to 5-1/2 feet tall, it produces a rosette of basal leaves, with angular stems and smaller lance shaped leaves further up. The ray like flowers are usually bright blue (although pink and white can also be found). Do you know there's a chicory myth?

Once upon a time, a beautiful girl fell in love with a sailor, who left her for his true love, the sea. After waiting patiently for years for his return, the gods took pity on her and turned her into a chicory plant with sailor-blue petals. In West Virginia, chicory is called Blue-Sailors, and in Long Island it's referred to as Ragged-Sailors.

Chicory grows easily by the roadside, and thus is often thought of as a weed. But once you get to know it better, this unassuming little plant actually has quite a multi-faceted personality. A distant cousin to chicory is the dandelion. More closely related are endive and escarole. Belgian Endive is a broadleaf form of chicory that is grown outdoors as a root crop, then stored in darkness or semi-darkness and force harvested. The result is a blanching of the leaf, which becomes pale and tender. Escarole is a curly-leafed type of Endive. In Italy, all chicories are known as radicchio (rah-deek-ee-oh), but in America we use the term for the red leaf variety only, the name change instantly doubling the price of your salad.

Would you like to visit a chicory museum? The Laroux family, based in Orchies, France, is the world's number one chicory producer. (The drained marshes of this coastal area support the growth of such cooler climate varieties as onions, garlic, root vegetables, and chicory.) The family has opened their home, the Maison de la Chicore, to tourists, and displays a host of packaging, labels and marketing materials produced by several generations of chicory roasters in Orchies. In near-by Saint-Omer, you can tour the fields of market gardens in the Audomarois marshes and the river valleys which produce rows and rows of lovely chicory. (What a great alternative to the annual family vacation at Disneyland! Don't forget to check out the gift shop!)

But wait! There's more!

The Root Of The Matter

Dried, roasted, and ground, the root of the chicory plant can be used in several ways. Long praised for it's medicinal-like effect on the digestive tract, the root contains inulin, a natural prebiotic, which nourishes the good bacteria in the digestive system. Did you know you can get dog food with chicory in it? The root is harvested, washed, dried and ground, and added as a completely natural ingredient to aid Fido's digestion. Chicory is also recommended as a remedy for dogs who aggressively guard their food, toys, and their "humans.'

But the most common use for the root has been as a hot beverage. You can brew your chicory drink right in your home coffeemaker. Use two to three tablespoons of ground roast chicory for each cup desired. Vary the amount to suit your taste. Sweeten with sugar and lighten with milk or cream. Yum.

So. Pretty blue flowers, good for the digestion, tasty in salad, and drinkable, too. That's all well and good, but how in the world did chicory get into coffee?

Chicory and Coffee

"Francis Thurber, a late 19th century grocery man, told the story about a man who went into a restaurant and asked whether they had chicory. When the waiter said yes, he requested it.

The waiter brought some and the man asked if they had any more. When the waiter responded that they did have more, the customer asked the waiter to bring all the chicory in the restaurant. When the customer had been assured that he had all the chicory in the restaurant, he then said "OK. Now make me some coffee.' (Chicory story, courtesy of Andy Smith.)'

In 1785, the governor of Massachusetts first introduced chicory to the American colonies, and it became a common household product. People were drinking chicory root as a substitute for coffee, as it contained no caffeine and was good for the digestive system. Meanwhile, the city of New Orleans, located at the gateway to the Caribbean, was the closest port of trade for coffee to enter the newly formed United States. By the late 1840's, the port was the 4th largest in the world. Coffeehouses or "exchanges' as they were called, sprung up on Exchange Alley in the French Quarter. Businessmen would meet to "exchange' information and ideas about economic development. Ten years later, the city directory listed over 500 coffeehouses. And what were they drinking? Coffee with chicory in it!

In La Grand Dictionnarie de Cuisine (pub. 1873), Alexandre Dumas addressed the issue of coffee and chicory. (Yes, that Alexandre Dumas. Perhaps Dumas' interest in good, strong coffee explains why the Three Musketeers had such swash in their buckle.) Dumas wrote:

In 1808, when Napoleon had initiated his "continental blockade' which deprived France of cane sugar and coffee, beet sugar was substituted for cane and coffee was bolstered with chicory. Even now, after the continental decree has fallen into disuse, grocers and cooks continue mixing in a certain amount of chicory with their coffee, maintaining that it improves the taste and is better for one's health.

The response of the connoisseur has been to order coffee bought only in the form of whole beans. But coffee merchants replied by constructing moulds in the shape of beans and filling them with chicory paste. So, whether one likes it or not, chicory has remained wedded to coffee.

(FYI -- the word "chicanery' derives from the French "chicaner, " to quibble, apparently from Middle Low German "schicken,' to arrange, with the meaning "to arrange to one's own advantage.' So no connection to chicory, although it does seem those merchants were engaging in a bit of chicory chicanery, no?)

During the American Civil War (1861-1865), a similar situation arose. The flow of coffee to the South was cut off by the Union Naval Blockade, and chicory was again used as a filler in an effort to extend the South's dwindling supplies of ground coffee. Good idea? Well, no historian has ever suggested it, but we all know how that war turned out.

The use of chicory as an "extender' of commercial grade coffee continued through the years, as well as barley, oats, chick peas, and even ground acorns. In 1907 the Food and Drug Act became effective, requiring labels to state when a filler was employed. Perhaps realizing that the public might object to a steaming mug of coffee and ground acorns, the practice declined somewhat. But head South, and chicory in coffee is still not only available, it is actually preferred.

Chicory Coffee and You

So. Back to the apoplectic reaction. Many people believe that chicory in coffee makes it taste bitter. Others contend that the chicory is sweet, and actually cuts the bitterness of the coffee. If you're home roasting, it's unlikely you're drinking bitter coffee to begin with, but some people actually do enjoy the taste of chicory in their coffee. In New Orleans, they're passionate about it, and the chicory coffee served in places such as the famous Cafe Du Monde is very strong. (Some say it's the murky Mississippi water that gives all New Orleans coffee it's special flavor. Let's not ponder that one too long.) Chicory coffee can be ordered black, but more often it's served "au lait'(with warm milk) and paired with a local treat called "beignets' - hot fried dough dipped in powdered sugar. Pre-packaged ground coffee with chicory is widely available for home consumption. Popular brands include Cafe du Monde Coffee and Chicory, French Market Coffee and Chicory, Community Chicory Coffee, Luzianne, and Coffee Masters Louisiana Blend.

Curious yet? Ready to give it a try? For the home roaster, pure chicory is easy to use at home, and can be purchased in health food stores or on the web. You buy it pre-roasted and ground, and add it just before brewing. (Home roasting the chicory root itself is difficult, and not recommended.)

Coffee and Chicory:

Measure out half the amount of coffee you usually use to make a pot of coffee. Then add half that amount of chicory and brew. For example: You usually use a certain amount of coffee per cup, divide that in half. (lets say 4 scoops becomes 2 scoops) Now add one half that quantity of chicory (one scoop), but use the same amount of water as you normally would.There you have it.

Whether for health reasons, or as a regional preference, chicory in coffee has been around for ages, and isn't going away.Perhaps it's only a matter of time before that chain coffee house on the corner starts offering a "tall non-fat decaf extra hot chicory latte.'

You heard it here first.

Tara "Latte Girl" Zucker is: tarzucker@yahoo.com
She is available for your writing assignments too.

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