Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1877 — What is Chiccory! [ARTICLE]

What is Chiccory!

h short time ago Gossiper made a visit to a coffee-grindibg establishment to get some idea how the fragrant and delicious Mocha is manufactured, and there fur the first time he was made practically acquainted with chiccory, one of the most common and successful adulterants of coffee. Along one side of the room in the mills were a number of bins capable of containing eight or ten sacks of coffee. They were nearly full at the time of the visit. In the first was coffee of a superior quality, next to it some not quite so good; then came chiccory, then barley and other grains, all being roasted and ready for grinding. There was nothing deleterious, only that the most of it was not coffee by any means. Chiccory is a species of dandelion, or' rather it belongs to the same botanical family as the dandelion, and there is a great resemblance in the shape of the leaves of the two, although those of the chiccory are much the larger, coarse, and darker colored. The roots of the chiccory are fleshy and milky and grow to about the size of a parsnip or carrot. They mature in October, when they are taken from the ground and spread out to dry on raised platforms. A few days' exposure to a hot sun makes them suffi. ciently dry for the roasting furnace, which is made in the form of a cylinder suspended over a hot fire and kept revolving until the roots are parched to a crisp. This and the drying process reduce them about one-fourth in bulk. After roasting, the roots are ground to a coarse powder, like ground coffee, which is barreled and sent to the market. The beverage made from pure chiccory is unpleasant to the taste. Chemical analysis proves it to possess few of the elements in common with coffee and very little of the nutritive properties commonly ascribed to it. In cases where it is used a long time its effects are often deleterious, especially upon the nervous system. One variety of the chiccory is cultivated in England as a salad, the tops having a pleasant, pungent flavor, and even the common variety is sometimes eaten here when other salads are scarce, but it is very coarse and strong and rather too suggestive of the diet upon which' Nebuchadnezzar was for a time compelled to feed. The chiccory grows wild in great profusion along ‘the lanes and byways in England, ana in most parts or Europe, and in California on the banks of the San Joaquin, near Stockton, a large area of land is yearly devoted to the growth of this plant, and the rich alluvial soils seem to be peculiarly well adapted to its luxuriant growth.— Boaton Commercial Bulletin.