Chicory tea

[pugslee]

Pick chicory, hang to dry or dry over a small fire, tear pieces that are about 1/2 big, add to boiling water and remove from the heat. can be sweetened with honey or maple sap.

[gryffynklm]

Pick chicory, hang to dry or dry over a small fire, tear pieces that are about 1/2 big, add to boiling water and remove from the heat. can be sweetened with honey or maple sap.

Pugslee, Can you elaborate on the Chicory?? I assume you using the basal leaves and not completely drying the leaves if you can still tear into 1/2" pieces.

I've made chicoy "coffee" by digging up the root give it a good wash and drying it with a towel. I then chop it real fine and slowly toast it in my cast iron skillet. Be careful not to burn the chicory, you have to stir it constantly when it starts to brown. It ends up with a dark brown larger coarse ground coffee look. If I'm at home, I chop the chicory a bit coarser and bake it at 350˚F for just over an hour. I stir it while it bakes about every 15 minutes. I still aim for the dark brown look not burnt. I then take the cooled chicory and grind it in an old coffee grinder. Like you I then boil water then add a tea spoon of the chicory in a tea ball, and remove from the heat. Sweeten as you wish.

[cabingal4]

oh.this is interesting.
i always knew about chicory roots.
theres lots of chicory here in the williamette valley,oregon.
i never knew u could use the leaves.i shall do this.
here is a question i have about chicory.
has anyone every transplanted the chicory plant from the wilds to your in town yard?
i would love to do this.
they are such a pretty flower.

[Lamewolf]

oh.this is interesting.
i always knew about chicory roots.
theres lots of chicory here in the williamette valley,oregon.
i never knew u could use the leaves.i shall do this.
here is a question i have about chicory.
has anyone every transplanted the chicory plant from the wilds to your in town yard?
i would love to do this.
they are such a pretty flower.

Don't have to transplant it here in Southern Ohio, I do have to mow it along with the grass about once a week though !

[kyratshooter]

Same here, it keeps the Roundup company in business.

I have made tea from it and can not use it. I can not even mix it with my coffee, makes me ill.

So Chicory has been eliminated from my wild foods list.

[Rick]

Roasted dandelion roots will serve as well. I roasted them in the oven until dry. It was okay. It wasn't coffee but if that's all you had it would do. I cut them into small pieces. It might work better if you ground them after they were roasted, which I did not do.