Growing Chicory?

[digitS']

I am thinking of growing Witloof Chicory again. If you are unfamiliar with this vegetable, you may know its relative radicchio which seems often to show up at salad bars in recent years. I don't like the taste of either one . . .



I didn't know that I wouldn't like this veggie years ago when I planted a bed of Witloof Chicory in the garden. I had just seen pictures of the "forced roots" and thought that I might enjoy the leaves in winter salads. The plants grew well and were quite pretty - looking very much like a lettuce. (Victory Seed sell seed for this veggie [click].) They may have been pretty but I didn't like the taste of the young plants.

Undeterred, I just figured that the leaves would be milder when grown from the roots stored overwinter - wrong :/!! But, by that time I had one of those big plastic containers like what you can store blankets and such in. It was darn near full of those roots!!

from Wikipedia

Casting about for what to do with some of the roots rather than just throwing them all out: I tried them as a coffee substitute. It wasn't bad!

I have just harvested some dandelion roots and toasted them in a cast iron pan as I did in this tread from a few years ago: Think you might need a cup of recession-proof coffee? I just don't have a problem with this stuff! I can't go it at 100% of the brew - it just doesn't have enuf flavor. But, at 50/50 or less - I find it very acceptable.

Now, keep in mind that I drink a blend of caffeinated and decaf, anyway. The decaf was difficult to take until I began grinding beans before brewing each pot. I can find an acceptable decaf as a whole bean . . . but, this is kind of an expensive way to enjoy a morning cuppa.

At best, the decaf beans dilute the better flavored un-tampered-with coffee beans, IMO. I mean, the Swiss water-treatment -- what is that? Just another name for brewing coffee and then re-using the grounds?? Kinda tastes like it anyway .

So, dandelion roots and those Witloof Chicory roots from years ago, just dilute the good flavored coffee beans. I don't find that they add much but, hey, they aren't caffeinated!

The chicory was awfully easy to grow in my garden. The roots were easy to harvest and stored well. Both Witloof Chicory and radicchio are Chichorium intybus. It may be a different variety but this species is what is used in New Orleans for the coffee/chicory blends.

Steve

edited to correct the misstatement that Witloof Chicory is not a Chichorium intybus. It IS.

 

[thistlebloom]

Well Steve, I think you are a very dedicated and ambitious coffee drinker. Sounds like a lot of work to me, a drinker of the nasty decaf stuff.
I just add cream and that makes up for the flavor....
In fact sometimes I think I just drink coffee for the cream.

But I am interested in what you have to say about your continuing exploration of good coffee-ish beverages!

 

[digitS']

The size of the roots in the picture appear a little misleading, Thistle'.

The "buds" are probably only about 6" or 8". Still, the roots are the size of a nice, hefty Chantenay carrot!

It wouldn't take many to fill up one of those little bags for the Colombian beans I buy . . . all to often .

Steve

edited to say Chantenay carrot rather than Danvers. It is what I had intended.

 

[digitS']

Here is a little about "forcing" chicory - endive & radicchio.

The radicchio in the picture -- I bet that was forced . . . I kind of like the idea of working with these bitter things. I'd be willing to use a whip and chair but shouldn't need to.

Seeds of Italy

digitS'

 

[digitS']

I was reading the Johnny's catalog last night. You know, it really helps for the seed companies to include the scientific names for their products. Helps us to sort things out . . .

Anyway, Johnny's correctly identifies Witloof chicory in the same species with radicchio and I went back and corrected my misstatement about that.

No one has yet suggested that I sow Italian dandelion seed in my garden . That may make good sense but Johnny's does make clear that - despite its common name - that "dandelion" is a chicory species.

Wikipedia tells us that lettuce, chicory, dandelion, and salsify are all, somewhat, related plants.

Steve
who again has Colombian decaf, Colombian caffeinated and dandelion (1:1:1) in his cup of fresh ground & brewed "coffee" this morning

 

[hoodat]

I grow the broad leaf chicory as a cut and come again rabbit green. They love it and it takes no care at all. It doesn't form a head though and the greens are too bitter for my taste. I don't remember ever eating the witloof variety. The roots have gotten so large they have forced themselves up out of the soil and I keep tripping over them. They're like tree stumps.
BTW they may be appropriate for Haloween. Wiccans use the roots in some of their ceremonies.

 

[digitS']

Hoody, I remember you telling us that chicory roots are roasted before being ground.

I have yet to try that but it should really be easier than my cast iron pan method. One thing I've learned, it is best if the roots are allowed to dry for several days before processing. Otherwise, they cook. It becomes an effort like trying to stir mashed potatoes in a hot pan while not burning them :/!

Maybe next Halloween, I can hang some roots out under the front porch roof for the little witches and warlocks.

Steve

 

[hoodat]

The Cajuns roast the root till it is dry and almost on the point of burning. I'm pretty sure they use a medium heat, more like fast dehydration than roasting. The whole roasted root is sold in some of the back county stores there.

 

[digitS']

Finishing the last of the summer dandelion coffee this morning.

I made a serious mistake at the soopermarket the other day. They didn't have the whole bean Colombian decaf that I have found so acceptable at a 2:1 mix with caffeinated. I'd already been to the other source and, it wasn't there either. So . . . I got the the hazelnut.


Straight - I would rather quit coffee entirely!! Even at 1:1 I can take it only with the copious addition of my wife's artificial, vanilla-flavored Coffee-Mate . With that, it is acceptable . . . but, I feel more like I'm having dessert than enjoying a coffee .

I was reading someone's experience harvesting and processing his own chicory. He lives in Louisiana. It was a wild plant and I don't know if he will ever attempt it again. Oddly, it is just the sheer amount of root that he got from just 1 plant that kind of threw him, making more work than he found worthwhile. I guess.

Now, I wouldn't look forward to digging wild chicory that we have around here. I mean, the stuff grows in the most compacted soil - usually, right at the edge of a road. I've never seen wild chicory enjoying a more favorable location. Maybe it can't compete with the plants elsewhere.

Dandelions are a more acceptable addition than a flavored decaf - IMHO. Goes well with that pineapple upside down cake I made last night .

Steve

 

[hoodat]

Chicory is a pernnial so it comes back every Spring. here is San Diego it grows all year. Some of my chicory roots have pushed their tops above the ground and are huge. The look like small tree stumps.