Striking chicory plant a zesty treat

Many a pretty wildflower graces our roadsides in summer. Traveling along any country byway in June, you’ve likely noticed a bushy plant with unusually delicate, pale, sky-blue flowers. Maybe you’ve stopped the car to examine the plant a bit closer. Perhaps you have pulled a wildflower book from your glove box, flipped through the pages of color plates and identified the specimen: chicory.

The stems of chicory are bristly. In fact, when it flowers, the entire plant has an awkward, bristly appearance from a distance. Flowers measure 1-2 inches in diameter and are borne irregularly on the craggy stems. Showy petals are toothed at the tips and look like they have been carefully cut by a 5-year-old with a set of pinking shears.

The gorgeous petals surround a cheery yellow eye, and they open brightly during the day and fold up sleepily in the late afternoon.

This striking plant is not native to the United States, but, thankfully, it has naturalized throughout the country. The herbal uses of chicory have been documented since ancient times. Egyptians raised chicory, probably irrigating their crops by flooding the Nile River. Greeks, Italians and other Europeans used the greens and roots of the plant for a range of medical ailments. Seeds of chicory traveled with colonists to the Americas, where the plant became an important crop.

Thomas Jefferson was perhaps the most notable historical figure infatuated with the herb. He raised it en masse at Monticello, as fodder for his cattle and sheep, and as “a tolerable salad for the table.” He lauded the merits of the plant in a letter to George Washington, saying it was “one of the greatest acquisitions a farmer can have.”

It created quite a stir in the 19th century when the use of chicory as a source of livestock feed was expanded to a substitute for coffee. Some coffee merchants used the dried root of chicory to stretch their coffee supply. Although coffee-chicory root concoctions are prized herbal beverages today, consumers in the 1800s were annoyed by this adulteration of coffee. Hence, pure food legislation resulted and coffee dealers were mandated to explicitly provide the chicory content of their products.

Researchers in the first part of the 20th century found that two bitter-tasting compounds in chicory, lactucin and lactucoprin, have a sedative effect on laboratory mice and rabbits. Apparently these chemical agents may counteract the stimulating effect of coffee. If coffee sets off your nervous system or causes your heart to flutter uncontrollably, perhaps it’s time to try an alternative that doesn’t wreak too much havoc on your body. Chicory is a natural, safe alternative to the coffee jitters.

Chicory is a member of the composite family of plants. Like so many of its relatives (which include the dandelion, black-eyed Susan and daisy) raising chicory is a cinch. Direct-sow seeds in the garden in spring or start them indoors 4-6 weeks before the last danger of frost. Thin or transplant seedlings at a spacing of 1 foot. Select a garden soil that is friable and rich in organic matter. Don’t feed your plants with nutrient sources too rich in nitrogen. It will cause the plants to have too many leaves and a poor root system.

Then again, maybe you’ll want to raise chicory for its edible greens. Naturally, you don’t have to have four legs and short black and white hair or wool to enjoy the leaves of this easy plant. Harvest the tender, young leaves from outer whorls for the best flavor. In fact, your favorite restaurant may be serving chicory in its mesclun mix. Have you fallen in love with the trendy baby greens of radicchio or Treviso? These tantalizing Italian greens are simply specially bred chicory varieties.

If you’re not prepared to indulge in the use of chicory as the source of a savory beverage, grow some of these zesty greens to tempt your taste buds. If chicory’s edible qualities don’t suit your fancy, let the plant flower and seed into your garden. You won’t be disappointed by the simple beauty of its blooms.

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, RR1, Box 2120, Montville 04941, or e-mail them to dianagc@ctel.net. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.