Chicory
Cichorium intybus
For comprehensive information (e.g. nutrition, health benefits, recipes, history, harvesting tips, etc.) please check out our Chicory PDF magazine.
Chicory is a perennial herbaceous plant with a blue or lavender flower. Its leaves are tastiest in the spring and autumn as the summer heat tends to make them taste a little bitter – but they are still edible. Toss them in a salad but before doing so, blanch them. They can be mixed with other greens to minimize their strong flavor. The mature green leaves can be used as a cooked vegetable.
Distinguishing Features
Chicory is a branching, scraggly-looking plant. It often stands out alone in gravel areas, or open weedy fields and the flowers only open on a sunny day.
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Flowers
The flowers are 2 to 4 cm. wide and are usually a bright, light blue. There are two rows of involucral bracts - the inner are longer and erect, the outer are shorter and spreading. Chicory flowers from July until October.
Fields
of Nutrition has medicinal benefits and vitamin/mineral content of Chicory.
Leaves
At the base leaves resemble dandelion leaves then alternately spaced and much smaller as they get higher up on the stem.
Height
When full grown, chicory can reach heights that vary between 90 and 180 cm.
Habitat
Open areas, roadsides, grassy areas near parking lots, and 'weedy' fields all over Ontario and most of Canada and the U.S.
Edible Parts
Leaves and root. Although the flower is edible, it is very bitter.
Recipes
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