Chicory

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Chicory

Postby quink » Mon May 16, 2005 3:47 pm

Has anyone ever tried to roast their own chicory and add it to coffee? I was in the supermarket the other day and one of their own brands was boasting about the fact it contained chicory. I think it was used to be used to stretch coffee supplies when they were scarce in the old days, but I'd like to give it a go and see what the results are like. Thinking that this might be something to try I bought a pack of fresh chicory and promply roasted it up, with less than desirable results, it came out looking like steamed cabbage. Which I wasn't going to add to anything I was going to drink. Any suggestions?
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Postby aloening » Mon May 16, 2005 4:37 pm

I seem to remember from my student days a drink called 'BarleyCup'. I think that was a blend of chicory, presumably barley and perhaps something else. Anyway was supposed to be an alternative to instant coffee. As I remember it was as good a subsititute for instant coffee as instant cofee is for real coffee - Yuk!.

Anyway I grow chicory in the garden and it is great in salads. You can cook it although personally I don't like it. I suspect that inorder to make a drink you have to bake it until is caramelises (is that a word?) and then dry it out and grind, or perhaps make a sort of soup and then dry out the soulble solids.

Interesting - but not coffee!!!
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Postby phil » Mon May 16, 2005 5:00 pm

Witloof?

Arrgggh! :shock:
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Postby quink » Mon May 16, 2005 5:34 pm

Witloof???
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Postby jumper » Mon May 16, 2005 6:51 pm

witloof=cabbage very nice if steamed
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Postby Jo2 » Mon May 16, 2005 7:53 pm

I've been googling on Chicory:

Cichorium intybus (in Latin) is the wild variety of Witloof (Andive). Also called German Coffee.
When the roots are dried and ground they are used as a coffee substitute.
The substitute itself has a bitter taste, but when blended with coffee the result can be nice. The disadvantages of coffee (nervousness and insomnia) are neutralised by the cichory.

By the white cart-road,
Dusty and dry,
Look! there is Chicory,
Blue as the sky!
Or, where the footpath
Goes through the corn,
See her bright flowers,
Each one new-born.
Though they fade quickly,
O, have no sorrow!
There will be others
New-born to-morrow!

The Song of the Chicory Fairy


For those of us who read dutch or french: www.chicobel.be

Freestyle translation:

"The roots are washed thouroughly, sorted and leaked out, after which they are chipped into tiny pieces that are dried in a rotating hot air oven. The root-chips lose 75% of their moisture. The dried chips are then stored for over 3 months moist free.
Then the most important thing is the art of roasting which requires a lot of knowledge and craftsmenship.
The roasting time and temperature is calculated by the size of the chips. The juices have to be caramelised without burning them to preserve the aroma of the cichory. After cooling the chips are hard enough to be ground into graines.

just my three cents...
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Postby Raf » Mon May 16, 2005 8:04 pm

Phil, how dare you say "witloof = beurgh". They're the pride of Brussels! I will make you eat them and enjoy them next time you're here. You probably had some bitter, boiled witloof, instead of the good stuff. Which is like a cup from Charbux compared to a genuine ristretto. We'll take care of that.
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Postby zix » Mon May 16, 2005 8:13 pm

In Sweden, during world war II, they used rye & chickory instead of coffee when they were short of supply (which they were most of the time, it seems).
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Postby MKSwing » Mon May 16, 2005 9:27 pm

zix wrote:In Sweden, during world war II, they used rye & chickory instead of coffee when they were short of supply (which they were most of the time, it seems).


In France and Italy too. In France, it's still used as a breakfast beverage, we even have ads on tv from time to time. I must confess I never tried.
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Postby mattmills » Tue May 17, 2005 6:09 am

You will surprised to see how much is drunk in the UK. There is a fair amount. Interestling enough when coffee prices were high, higher than chicory and fig these were used as a substitute, however, as prices fell then some roasters had to reduce the amount of chicory, as these types of blends were meant to be cheaper!!

Quite tip, is you are ever analysisng a blend that you suspect to have chicory in. Fill a large wine glass with cold water and pour a small amount to the coffee on top. The Chicory will fall rapildly leaving a torpeado trail.... Usuless knowledge
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Postby Gouezeri » Tue May 17, 2005 7:13 am

MKSwing wrote:In France, it's still used as a breakfast beverage, we even have ads on tv from time to time. I must confess I never tried.

Argh, I've got the music in my head now.... You're an evil man Stéphane! :P
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Postby MKSwing » Tue May 17, 2005 8:49 am

gouezeri wrote:
MKSwing wrote:In France, it's still used as a breakfast beverage, we even have ads on tv from time to time. I must confess I never tried.

Argh, I've got the music in my head now.... You're an evil man Stéphane! :P


:D :D :D
I was singing it in my head when I wrote this !

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Postby Gouezeri » Tue May 17, 2005 8:53 am

May your spouts drop off, your pucks always channel and your steam forever be wet :P
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