Guest Blog: Is Chicory a Good Coffee Substitute?

• Studies found that chicory is useful as a medicinal, it is edible from flower to root, but is generally used as a coffee substitute

• Chicory can be harvested by digging down and pulling up the root, which is then dried, roasted until brown, and ground with a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle 

• The ground chicory can be added to coffee grounds or used alone in a french press or the pour-over method

• Serve as you would your regular coffee and enjoy

Living in the deserts of Southwestern Arizona left me dreaming of greener spaces. My entire life I wished that I could learn how to forage for edible plants, but this was difficult to do in the desert. Moving to Missouri afforded me the experience of learning about all the new edible plants around me. The most recent plant I have been thrilled to learn about is chicory.

Chicory is a beautiful perennial that some would call a weed, but with its lovely purplish-blue, pink, or white flowers and many uses, it is considered a beneficial plant. This plant is not only a favorite of bees and other insects, but it is considered useful to humans as well. According to WebMD, chicory has been studied and found to be a prebiotic, can help relieve constipation, can assist in calcium absorption, potentially decrease cancer risks, and reduce skin inflammation. As with all foraging, only harvest what you can identify with 100% certainty. If you don't know, find someone who does! You may be wondering which parts of the plant can be consumed, and would you believe it if I told you that the whole thing is edible? Yes, everything from the flowers on top to the roots below can be used in a myriad of ways, making this plant a summertime delight, but the one way I have been dying to try chicory is as a coffee substitute. Yes, you read that right, a coffee substitute. Chicory has been used as a substitute for centuries but became especially popular during the Civil War when coffee supplies were low. Knowing this information meant that I had to try it!

A quick To-The-Point Video on harvesting and processing chicory root from our friends at HeartlandDIY!

Keeping a lookout for the beautiful flowering plant, I thought I may miss my opportunity, as I had not seen so much as one blue flower. But as luck would have it, over the 4th of July holiday, I spotted it while driving to Arrow Rock State Park. It was suddenly everywhere. I pulled over and hiked out to a spot away from the road, since you do not want to harvest anything too close to the road to avoid any toxins that may enter the plant through runoff. I tried to pull the plant by the root, but that proved almost impossible, so I gave up until I could use my gardening tools. This would require a little elbow grease and sweat, seems how the humidity was so thick I could see it hanging in the air. 

My friend allowed me the opportunity to harvest some of the tough little plants from her house, which I was only too glad to do. I managed to dig up about five roots all together, which was no small feat, and then immediately took them home to prepare them. The preparation consisted of cleaning the roots, cutting them into small pieces and then drying them. I chose to dry them in the dehydrator to move the process along a little quicker, but you can also lay them out to dry. Once they were dry, I laid them on a cookie sheet and roasted them at 300 degrees for approximately two hours. This can also be done in your airfryer if you have a bake setting. The root is ready to grind when it is dark brown but not burnt. I noticed that as the roots were roasting, there was a warm, sweet, vanilla-like aroma that could only be the chicory roots. Once they cooled, I ground the root by using a coffee grinder, grinding it down into a fine powder, but if you do not happen to have a coffee grinder you can use a mortar and pestle, which would be a little more work, but the end result would be the same. 

When I first gave it a go, I mixed it into my coffee grounds. My husband noticed no difference, but I also did not tell him I was experimenting with something new. I noted a hint of vanilla and a slight bitterness, but when I used the ground root in my French press coffee pot, the scent was undeniable. It had a hint of warm florals and vanilla, but the flavor was definitely not sweet. I purposefully avoided adding cream and sugar so I could get the full experience of the chicory root. While my husband did not appreciate the full flavor, I actually liked it and would like to try it again, but this time I would like to try it with honey and cream. 

I hope it is not too late to harvest more, but I would also like to gather a few seeds to potentially grow my own chicory next season. While it is not exactly coffee, chicory definitely won me over. I look forward to spending next winter with a warm cup of chicory coffee and a good plant book. Happy gardening!

SDW Palma

Tales of a Missouri Emigrant