| Common Chicory | |
|---|---|
| Illustration from Thomé's Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz, 1885 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Tribe: | Cichorieae |
| Genus: | Cichorium |
| Species: | C. intybus |
| Binomial name | |
| Cichorium intybus L. |
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Common chicory, Cichorium intybus,[1] is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Various varieties are cultivated for salad leaves, chicons (blanched buds), or for roots (var. sativum), which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and additive. It is also grown as a forage crop for livestock.[2] It lives as a wild plant on roadsides in its native Europe, and in North America and Australia, where it has become naturalized.
"Chicory" is also the common name in the United States for curly endive (Cichorium endivia); these two closely related species are often confused.[3]
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Common chicory is also known as blue sailors, succory, and coffeeweed. It is also called cornflower, although that name is more commonly applied to Centaurea cyanus. Common names for varieties of var. foliosum include endive, radicchio, Belgian endive, French endive, red endive, sugarloaf or witloof.
When flowering, chicory has a tough, grooved, and more or less hairy stem, from 30 to 100 centimetres (10 to 40 in) tall.
The leaves are stalked, lanceolate and unlobed.
The flower heads are 2 to 4 centimetres (0.79 to 1.6 in) wide, and usually bright blue, rarely white or pink. There are two rows of involucral bracts; the inner are longer and erect, the outer are shorter and spreading. It flowers from July until October.
The achenes have no pappus (feathery hairs), but do have toothed scales on top.[4]
Wild chicory leaves are usually bitter. Their bitterness is appreciated in certain cuisines, such as in the Liguria and Puglia regions of Italy and also in Catalonia (Spain), in Greece and in Turkey.[5] In Ligurian cuisine the wild chicory leaves are an ingredient of preboggion and in Greek cuisine of horta; in the Puglian region wild chicory leaves are combined with fava bean puree in the traditional local dish Fave e Cicorie Selvatiche.[6]
By cooking and discarding the water the bitterness is reduced, after which the chicory leaves may be sauteed with garlic, anchovies and other ingredients. In this form the resulting greens might be combined with pasta[7] or accompany meat dishes.[8]
Chicory may be cultivated for its leaves, usually eaten raw as salad leaves. Cultivated chicory is generally divided into three types, of which there are many varieties:[9]
Although leaf chicory is often called "endive", true endive (Cichorium endivia) is a different species in the genus.
Root chicory (Cichorium intybus var. sativum) has been in cultivation in Europe as a coffee substitute. The roots are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and additive, especially in the Mediterranean region (where the plant is native), although its use as a coffee additive is also very popular in India (see Indian filter coffee), parts of Southeast Asia, South Africa and southern United States, particularly in New Orleans. It has also been popular as a coffee substitute in poorer economic areas, and has gained wider popularity during economic crises such as the Great Depression in the 1930s. Chicory, with sugar beet and rye was used as an ingredient of the East German Mischkaffee (mixed coffee), introduced during the "coffee crisis" of 1976-79.
Some beer brewers use roasted chicory to add flavor to their stouts.
Around 1970 it was found that the root contains up to 20% inulin, a polysaccharide similar to starch. Inulin is mainly found in the plant family Asteraceae as a storage carbohydrate (for example Jerusalem artichoke, dahlia, etc.). It is used as a sweetener in the food industry with a sweetening power 1⁄10 that of sucrose[11] and is sometimes added to yogurts as a prebiotic. Inulin can be converted to fructose and glucose through hydrolysis. Inulin is also gaining popularity as a source of soluble dietary fiber and functional food.[12]
Chicory root extract is a dietary supplement or food additive produced by mixing dried, ground chicory root with water, and removing the in soluble fraction by filtration and centrifugation. Other methods may be used to remove pigments and sugars. Fresh chicory root typically contains, by dry weight, 68% inulin, 14% sucrose, 5% cellulose, 6% protein, 4% ash, and 3% other compounds. Dried chicory root extract contains, by weight, approximately 98% inulin and 2% other compounds.[13] Fresh chicory root may contain between 13 and 23% inulin, by total weight.[14]
The bitter substances are primarily the two sesquiterpene lactones Lactucin and Lactucopicrin. Other ingredients are Aesculetin, Aesculin, Cichoriin, Umbelliferone, Scopoletin and 6.7-Dihydrocoumarin and further sesquiterpene lactones and their glycosides.[15]
| Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) | |
|---|---|
| Energy | 96 kJ (23 kcal) |
| - Dietary fiber | 4.0 g |
| Protein | 1.70 g |
| Calcium | 100 mg (10%) |
| Iron | 0.90 mg (7%) |
| Magnesium | 30 mg (8%) |
| Manganese | 0.429 mg (20%) |
| Phosphorus | 47 mg (7%) |
| Potassium | 420 mg (9%) |
| Sodium | 45 mg (3%) |
| Zinc | 0.42 mg (4%) |
| Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient Database |
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Root chicory contains volatile oils similar to those found in plants in the related genus Tanacetum which includes Tansy, and is similarly effective at eliminating intestinal worms. All parts of the plant contain these volatile oils, with the majority of the toxic components concentrated in the plant's root.[16]
Chicory is well known for its toxicity to internal parasites. Studies indicate that ingestion of chicory by farm animals results in reduction of worm burdens,[17][18][19] which has prompted its widespread use as a forage supplement. Only a few major companies are active in research, development, and production of chicory varieties and selections, most in New Zealand.
Chicory (especially the flower) was used as a treatment in Germany, and is recorded in many books as an ancient German treatment for everyday ailments. It is variously used as a tonic and as a treatment for gallstones, gastro-enteritis, sinus problems and cuts and bruises. (Howard M. 1987). Chicory contains inulin,[20] which may help humans with weight loss, constipation, improving bowel function, and general health.[21] In rats, it may increase calcium absorption and bone mineral density.[20]
Chicory has demonstrated antihepatotoxic potential in animal studies.[22][23][24][25]
Chicory is highly digestible for ruminants and has a low fiber concentration.[26] Chicory roots are an "excellent substitute for oats" for horses due to their protein and fat content.[27] Chicory contains a low quantity of reduced tannins[26] that may increase protein utilization efficiency in ruminants.[28] Some tannins reduce intestinal parasites.[29][30][31][32] Large quantities of tannins bind with and precipitate proteins, resulting in low digestibility and nutrient reduction.[29]
Although chicory might have originated in France, Italy, and India,[33] much development of chicory for use with livestock has taken place in New Zealand.[34]
The chicory plant is one of the earliest cited in recorded literature. Horace mentions it in reference to his own diet, which he describes as very simple: "Me pascunt olivae, me cichorea, me malvae" ("As for me, olives, endives, and mallows provide sustenance").[35] Lord Monboddo describes the plant in 1779[36] as the "chicoree", which the French cultivate it as a pot herb. In Napoleonic Era France chicory frequently appeared as either an adulterant in coffee, or a coffee substitute.[37] Chicory was also adopted as a coffee substitute by Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War, and has become common in the United States. In the United Kingdom during the Second World War where Camp Coffee, a coffee and chicory essence, has been on sale since 1885.
The cultivated chicory plant has a history reaching back to ancient Egyptian time. Medieval monks raised the plants and when coffee was introduced to Europe, the Dutch thought that chicory made a lively addition to the bean drink.
In the United States chicory root has long been used as a substitute for coffee in prisons.[38] By the 1840s, after New York, the port of New Orleans was the second largest importer of coffee.[37] Louisianans began to add chicory root to their coffee when Union naval blockades during the American Civil War cut off the port of New Orleans creating a long-standing tradition.[37]
A common meal in Rome, puntarelle, is made with chicory sprouts.[39] The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that Chicory is a native plant of western Asia, North Africa, and Europe.[1]
Chicory is also mentioned in certain sericulture (silk-growing) texts. It is said that the primary caretaker of the silkworms, the "silkworm mother" should not eat or even touch it.
The chicory flower is often seen as inspiration for the Romantic concept of the Blue Flower (e. g. in German language 'Blauwarte' ≈ 'blue lookout by the wayside'). It was also believed to be able to open locked doors, according to European folklore.[40]
| Wikiversity has bloom time data for Cichorium intybus on the Bloom Clock |
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