Cichorium intybus Chicory Related species:
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Chicory is a vegetable and salad
ingredient with a bitter flavour, often forced and blanched to reduce the
bitterness. The roots and seeds are roasted and used as a coffee substitute
and additive. Chicory tea is used to stimulate bile secretion and to treat
gout, rheumatism, anaemia and liver complaints. The leaves yield a blue
dye.
Chicory is a tough herbaceous perennial, sometimes grown as an annual crop, with a large deep taproot that exudes a milky sap. It is a common weed in parts of America. Chicory should be sown in rich soil in late spring. The roots of witloof varieties are dug up in autumn, trimmed to leave a stump of foliage, and stored in sand until forced in heat and darkness to produce young buds. It can be grown in gardens to attract bees and butterflies. |