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CHICORY
Cichorium intybus

Chicory flower.

Chicory blooming in a soybean field.

Characteristic blue of chicory flowers.



  • 'Intybus' was derived from the Egyptian word for January, which was when chicory was harvested and eaten many thousands of years ago in Egypt.

  • Chicory is considered a salad green rather than a weed in Europe; fresh leaves are sold as radicchio in Italy and the French produce a green they call whitloof chicory, Belgian endive, or French endive by forcing chicory roots to sprout while deprived of light.

  • It is common to roast the roots and use them as a coffee substitute or additive. Roots can also be eaten raw or boiled, or they can be dried, ground, and used as seasoning.

  • Chicory is a productive and high quality forage crop that functions well in rotational grazing systems.

  • The flowers were once used to make a yellow dye while the leaves made a blue dye.

  • Folk remedies used chicory roots for jaundice, spleen problems, and constipation and a tea made from foliage supposedly promoted bile production and released gallstones.

  • In one legend telling of chicory's origin, a beautiful maiden refused the advances of the Sun and was turned into a chicory flower that had to stare at the Sun each day and always faded in the presence of its might.