Chicory

Although there are many recipes using chicory as a leaf or root vegetable, the flavour and aroma of chicory make it a plant that deserves much wider use as a spice.

Chicory plants in flower	Chicory leaves	Endive	Chicory root

Species:	Cichorium intybus.
Origin:	Southern Europe. The related but foreign species endive originated in Southern and Eastern Asia.
Source:	Chicory is cultivated in gravel and chalk areas of England and Ireland and is also widely cultivated across Europe. Endive is cultivated in Europe and Asia.
Used Part:	Root.
Family:	Asteracaea (daisy family).
Effect:	The leaves have a fresh, crisp salad odour and flavour. Roasted ground root has a characteristic warm nutty aroma and a slightly bitter taste.
Etymology:	The botanical name cichorium intybus means "January plant" or "winter salad". It has been suggested that the name succory derives from the Latin succurrere "to run under" due to the depth to which the root penetrates. It may, however be a corruption of ctchorium "chicory", a word of Egyptian origin, which in various forms is the name of the plant in practically every European language. Arabian physicians called it chicourey. Intybus, the species name of chicory, is a modification the Eastern name for the plant, hendibeh, taken into modern Arabic and a term from which the close relative endive derives both its common and specific names.
	Endive and succory are the only two species of the genus cichorium, a plant mentioned in Ancient Greek literature and almost certainly wild chicory, cf. Ancient Greek kikhorion. The names by which the wild plant is known in all the languages of modern Europe are corruptions of the original Greek word, while there are different names in the different countries for the garden endive. The French name barbe de Capucin "Capuchin beard" relates the leaves to the beards of Capuchin monks.
Uses:	Chicory was known to the Romans and was eaten by them as a vegetable or in salads, its use in this way being mentioned by Horace, Virgil, Ovid and Pliny.
	In continental Europe, chicory is cultivated as a salad and vegetable and also as cattle fodder. In Belgium, young and tender roots are boiled and eaten with butter like parsnips and form a very palatable vegetable similar to sea kale. The leaves can be cut and used raw but are generally blanched, as unblanched leaves are bitter. This forced foliage is termed by the French barbe de Capucin and forms a favourite winter salad much eaten in France and Belgium.
	A major reason for cultivation is for the root which, although woody in the wild state, becomes large and fleshy under cultivation. Large quantities of the root are cultivated to provide the ground chicory which forms an ingredient of (or adulteration of) coffee. In Belgium, chicory is sometimes even used as a drink without addition of coffee. When infused, chicory gives coffee a bitter taste and dark colour. The French describe it as a contra-stimulante, serving to correct the stimulant effect caused by the principles of coffee.
	Chicory has various medicinal applications and an infusion has been found effective in treatment of jaundice, liver enlargement, gout and rheumatic complaints. Syrup of succory is an excellent laxative for children, as it acts without irritation. From the flowers, a water was distilled to allay inflammation of the eyes and with violets, they were used to make the confection "violet plates" in the days of Charles II. Chicory leaves have also been used as a blue dye.