Common chicory | |
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Blue-flowered form | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Asterales |
Family: | Asteraceae |
Genus: | Cichorium |
Species: | C. intybus |
Binomial name | |
Cichorium intybus | |
Synonyms [1] [2] | |
Synonymy
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Common chicory (Cichorium intybus) [3] is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant of the family Asteraceae, usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Native to Europe, it has been introduced to the Americas and Australia. [4]
Many varieties are cultivated for salad leaves, chicons (blanched buds), or roots (var. sativum), which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and food additive. In the 21st century, inulin, an extract from chicory root, has been used in food manufacturing as a sweetener and source of dietary fiber. [5] Chicory is also grown as a forage crop for livestock. [6]
When flowering, chicory has a tough, grooved, and more or less hairy stem. It can grow to 1.5 metres (5 feet) tall. [7] The leaves are stalked, lanceolate and unlobed; they range from 7.5–32 centimetres (3–12+1⁄2 inches) in length (smallest near the top) [8] and 2–8 cm (3⁄4–3+1⁄4 in) wide. [7] The flower heads are 3–5 cm (1+1⁄4–2 in) wide, [7] and usually light blue [8] or lavender; it has also rarely been described as white or pink. [7] Of the two rows of involucral bracts, the inner is longer and erect, the outer is shorter and spreading. It flowers from March until October. [8] The seed has small scales at the tip. [8]
Substances which contribute to the plant's bitterness are primarily the two sesquiterpene lactones, lactucin and lactucopicrin. Other components are aesculetin, aesculin, cichoriin, umbelliferone, scopoletin, 6,7-dihydrocoumarin, and further sesquiterpene lactones and their glycosides. [9] Around 1970, it was discovered that the root contains up to 20% inulin, a polysaccharide similar to starch.[ citation needed ]
Common chicory is also known as blue daisy, blue dandelion, blue sailors, blue weed, bunk, coffeeweed, cornflower, hendibeh, horseweed, ragged sailors, succory, wild bachelor's buttons, and wild endive. [10] ("Cornflower" is also commonly applied to Centaurea cyanus .) Common names for varieties of var. foliosum include endive, radicchio, radichetta, Belgian endive, French endive, red endive, sugarloaf, and witloof (or witlof). [11]
Chicory is native to western Asia, North Africa, and Europe. [3] It lives as a wild plant on roadsides in Europe. The plant was brought to North America by early European colonists. [12] It is also common in China, and Australia, where it has become widely naturalized. [13] [14] [15]
It is more common in areas with abundant rain. [8]
Chicory is both a cultivated crop and a weedy plant with a cosmopolitan distribution. Analysis of introduced weedy populations in North America has revealed that naturalized weedy chicory is partially descended from domesticated cultivars. [16]
Chicory grows in roadsides, waste places, and other disturbed areas, and can survive in lawns due to its ability to resprout from its low basal rosette of leaves. It typically does not enter undisturbed natural areas. [17] [18] It most prefers limestone soils, but tolerates an array of conditions. Bees, butterflies, and flies feed upon it. Chicory is classified as a drought tolerant plant. [19]
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Energy | 96 kJ (23 kcal) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4.7 g | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sugars | 0.7 g | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dietary fiber | 4 g | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
0.3 g | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1.7 g | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other constituents | Quantity | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Water | 92 g | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
†Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults, [20] except for potassium, which is estimated based on expert recommendation from the National Academies. [21] |
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Energy | 71 kJ (17 kcal) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4 g | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dietary fiber | 3.1 g | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
0.1 g | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
0.9 g | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other constituents | Quantity | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Water | 94 g | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
†Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults, [20] except for potassium, which is estimated based on expert recommendation from the National Academies. [21] |
The entire plant is edible. [22]
Raw chicory leaves are 92% water, 5% carbohydrates, 2% protein, and contain negligible fat (table). In a 100-gram (3½ oz) reference amount, raw chicory leaves provide 23 calories (96 J) and significant amounts (more than 20% of the Daily Value) of vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, some B vitamins, and manganese. Vitamin E and calcium are present in moderate amounts. Raw endive is 94% water and has low nutrient content.
Root chicory (Cichorium intybus var. sativum) has long been cultivated in Europe as a coffee substitute. [23] The roots are baked, roasted, ground, and used as an additive, especially in the Mediterranean region (where the plant is native). As a coffee additive, it is also mixed in Indian filter coffee and in parts of Southeast Asia, South Africa, and the southern United States, particularly in New Orleans. In France, a mixture of 60% chicory and 40% coffee is sold under the trade name Ricoré. It has been more widely used during economic crises such as the Great Depression in the 1930s and during World War II in Continental Europe. Chicory, with sugar beet and rye, was used as an ingredient of the East German Mischkaffee (mixed coffee), introduced during the "East German coffee crisis" of 1976–1979. It is also added to coffee in Spanish, Greek, Turkish, Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian cuisines. [24]
Some beer brewers use roasted chicory to add flavor to stouts (commonly expected to have a coffee-like flavor). Others have added it to strong blond Belgian-style ales, to augment the hops, making a witloofbier, from the Dutch name for the plant.
The roots can also be cooked like parsnips. [25]
While edible raw, wild chicory leaves usually have a bitter taste, especially the older leaves. [26] The flavor is appreciated in certain cuisines, such as in the Ligurian and Apulian regions of Italy and also in the southern part of India. In Ligurian cuisine, wild chicory leaves are an ingredient of preboggion and in the Apulian region, wild chicory leaves are combined with fava bean puree in the traditional local dish fave e cicorie selvatiche. [27] In Albania, the leaves are used as a spinach substitute, mainly served simmered and marinated in olive oil, or as ingredient for fillings of byrek . In Greece a variety of wild chicory found in Crete and known as stamnagathi (spiny chicory) is used as a salad served with olive oil and lemon juice.
By cooking and discarding the water, the bitterness is reduced, after which the chicory leaves may be sautéed with garlic, anchovies, and other ingredients. In this form, the resulting greens might be combined with pasta [28] or accompany meat dishes. [29]
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: [30]
Although leaf chicory is often called "endive", true endive ( Cichorium endivia ) is a different species in the same genus, distinct from Belgian endive. [38]
Inulin is mainly found in the plant family Asteraceae as a storage carbohydrate (for example Jerusalem artichoke, dahlia, yacon, etc.). It is used as a sweetener in the food industry, with 10% of the sweetening power of sucrose [39] and is sometimes added to yogurts as a 'prebiotic'. [40]
Fresh chicory root may contain 13–23% inulin as a percentage of its total carbohydrate content. [41]
Chicory root contains essential oils similar to those found in plants in the related genus Tanacetum . [42] In alternative medicine, chicory has been listed as one of the 38 plants used to prepare Bach flower remedies. [43]
Chicory is highly digestible for ruminants and has a low fiber concentration. [44] Chicory roots were once considered an "excellent substitute for oats" for horses due to their protein and fat content. [45] Chicory contains a low quantity of reduced tannins [44] that may increase protein utilization efficiency in ruminants.[ citation needed ]
Some tannins reduce intestinal parasites. [46] [47] Dietary chicory may be toxic to internal parasites, with studies of ingesting chicory by farm animals having lower worm burdens, leading to its use as a forage supplement. [48] [49] [50] Although chicory might have originated in France, Italy and India, [51] much development of chicory for use with livestock has been undertaken in New Zealand. [52]
Others varieties known include; 'Chico', 'Ceres Grouse', 'Good Hunt', 'El Nino' and 'Lacerta'. [58]
The plant has a history reaching back to ancient Egypt.[ citation needed ] In ancient Rome, a dish called puntarelle was made with chicory sprouts. [61] It was mentioned by Horace in reference to his own diet, which he describes as very simple: Me pascunt olivae, me cichorea levesque malvae ("As for me, olives, endives, and light mallows provide sustenance"). [62] Chicory was first described as a cultivated plant in the 17th century. [63] When coffee was introduced to Europe, the Dutch thought that chicory made a lively addition to the bean drink.[ citation needed ]
In 1766, Frederick the Great banned the importation of coffee into Prussia, leading to the development of a coffee substitute by Brunswick innkeeper Christian Gottlieb Förster (died 1801), who gained a concession in 1769–70 to manufacture it in Brunswick and Berlin. By 1795, 22 to 24 factories of this type were in Brunswick. [64] [65] Lord Monboddo describes the plant in 1779 [66] as the "chicoree", which the French cultivated as a pot herb. In Napoleonic Era France, chicory frequently appeared as an adulterant in coffee, or as a coffee substitute. [67] Chicory was also adopted as a coffee substitute by Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War, and has become common in the United States. It was also used in the United Kingdom during the Second World War, where Camp Coffee, a coffee and chicory essence, has been on sale since 1885. [68]
In the U.S., chicory root has long been used as a coffee substitute in prisons. [69] By the 1840s, the port of New Orleans was the second-largest importer of coffee (after New York). [67] 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, thereby creating a long-standing tradition. [67]
Chicory is mentioned in certain ancient Chinese texts about silk production. Amongst traditional recommendations the primary caretaker of the silkworms, the "silkworm mother", should not eat or even touch it. [70] [71]
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). Similar to the springwort and moonwort, it could open locked doors, according to European folklore. [72] [73] However, the plant must be gathered at noon or midnight on St. James's Day and cut with gold while being silent, or else one would die afterwards. [73]
Chicory was also believed to grant its possessor invisibility. [73]
Endive is a leaf vegetable belonging to the genus Cichorium, which includes several similar bitter-leafed vegetables. Species include Cichorium endivia, Cichorium pumilum, and Cichorium intybus. Chicory includes types such as radicchio, puntarelle, and Belgian endive.
The Jerusalem artichoke, also called sunroot, sunchoke, wild sunflower, topinambur, or earth apple, is a species of sunflower native to central North America. It is cultivated widely across the temperate zone for its tuber, which is used as a root vegetable.
Inulins are a group of naturally occurring polysaccharides produced by many types of plants, industrially most often extracted from chicory. The inulins belong to a class of dietary fibers known as fructans. Inulin is used by some plants as a means of storing energy and is typically found in roots or rhizomes. Most plants that synthesize and store inulin do not store other forms of carbohydrate such as starch. In the United States in 2018, the Food and Drug Administration approved inulin as a dietary fiber ingredient used to improve the nutritional value of manufactured food products. Using inulin to measure kidney function is the "gold standard" for comparison with other means of estimating glomerular filtration rate.
Rumex crispus, the curly dock, curled dock or yellow dock, is a perennial flowering plant in the family Polygonaceae, native to Europe and Western Asia.
Radicchio, sometimes known as Italian chicory because of its common use in Italian cuisine, is a perennial cultivated form of leaf chicory. It is grown as a leaf vegetable and usually has colorful, white-veined red leaves that form a head. Radicchio has a bitter and spicy taste that mellows if it is grilled or roasted.
Hypochaeris radicata – also known as catsear, flatweed, cat's-ear, hairy cat's ear, or false dandelion – is a perennial, low-lying edible herb often found in lawns. The plant is native to Europe, but has also been introduced to the Americas, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, where it can be an invasive weed. It is listed as a noxious weed in the northwestern U.S. state of Washington.
Leaf vegetables, also called leafy greens, pot herbs, vegetable greens, or simply greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. Leaf vegetables eaten raw in a salad can be called salad greens.
Cichorium is a genus of plants in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae. The genus includes two cultivated species commonly known as chicory or endive, plus several wild species.
Maror are the bitter herbs eaten at the Passover Seder in keeping with the biblical commandment "with bitter herbs they shall eat it.". The Maror is one of the symbolic foods placed on the Passover Seder plate.
The name coffeeweed or coffee weed may refer to various plants used as coffee substitutes, including:
Lactucopicrin (Intybin) is a bitter substance that has a sedative and analgesic effect, acting on the central nervous system. It is a sesquiterpene lactone, and is a component of lactucarium, derived from the plant Lactuca virosa, as well as being found in some related plants such as Cichorium intybus. It is also found in dandelion coffee.
Edible flowers are flowers that can be consumed safely. Flowers may be eaten as vegetables as a main part of a meal, or may be used as herbs. Flowers are part of many regional cuisines, including Asian, European, and Middle Eastern cuisines.
Cichorium endivia is a species of flowering plant belonging to the genus Cichorium, which is widely cultivated as one of the species of similar bitter-leafed vegetables known as endive and escarole.
Lactuca serriola, also called prickly lettuce, milk thistle, compass plant, and scarole, is an annual or biennial plant in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae. It has a slightly fetid odor and is commonly considered a weed of orchards, roadsides and field crops. It is the closest wild relative of cultivated lettuce.
Vaccinium parvifolium, the red huckleberry, is a species of Vaccinium native to western North America.
Sonchus oleraceus is a species of flowering plant in the tribe Cichorieae of the family Asteraceae, native to Europe and Western Asia. It has many common names including common sowthistle, sow thistle, smooth sow thistle, annual sow thistle, hare's colwort, hare's thistle, milky tassel, milk thistle, and soft thistle.
Dandelion coffee is a tisane made from the root of the dandelion plant. The roasted dandelion root pieces and the beverage have some resemblance to coffee in appearance and taste, and it is thus commonly considered a coffee substitute.
Chicoric acid is a hydroxycinnamic acid, an organic compound of the phenylpropanoid class and occurs in a variety of plant species. It is a derivative of both caffeic acid and tartaric acid.
Blanching is a technique used in vegetable growing. Young shoots of a plant are covered to exclude light to prevent photosynthesis and the production of chlorophyll, and thus remain pale in color. Different methods used include covering with soil or with solid materials such as board or terracotta pots, or growing the crop indoors in darkened conditions. Blanched vegetables generally tend to have a more delicate flavor and texture compared to those that are not blanched, but blanching can also cause the vegetables to be lower in vitamin A.
Spring greens, or spring vegetables, are the edible young leaves or new plant growth of a large number of plants that are most fit for consumption when their newest growth happens in the spring. Many leaf vegetables become less edible as they age and bitter, or potentially even toxic, compounds start to form. Harvesting of spring vegetables is common across Native American cultures.
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