An edible, tasty wild herb?

The leaves spice up the menu

If you are missing a fresh ingredient for the crisp salad in spring, the chicory with its delicate leaves is there for you. If the foliage becomes a little stronger during flowering, you can use it to prepare a very healthy vegetable that lets you forget the conventional spinach. If you soak the leaves in water for 2 hours beforehand, the bitter substances are broken down and the taste is particularly mild.

Flowers are much more than a feast for the eyes

The flowers of a chicory are truly early birds. From 5 o'clock in the morning the cup-shaped flowers open to longingly turn towards the east towards the rising sun. The light blue flowers stay open until just before noon. In order to use the edible flowers, they are harvested in the early morning hours. How to use the floral ornament in the kitchen:

• As an edible decoration for cold and warm dishes
• Candied as a sweet treat for in between
• Dipped in liquid chocolate as a seductive blossom praline

Don't throw away the flower stems. Briefly blanched in water and then fried in batter, the stems transform into a delicacy close to nature.

Roots serve as an aromatic coffee substitute

Already in the 18th In the 19th century, resourceful farmers discovered out of necessity that a chicory could grow from the roots of a chicory had an aromatic hot drink produced as a substitute for the very expensive and rare Arabic coffee. To this day, this coffee substitute is known under the names Muckefuck or Landkaffee.

The roots are peeled and crushed. Roasted in a pan with sugar and without fat, the pieces are ground last. You brew the resulting powder like coffee with boiling water.