Chicory coffee is a drink obtained from the infusion - at high temperature - of roasted chicory root powder. Chicory is a fairly generic term; these various herbaceous plants of the Asteraceae family (Compositae) are defined, Genus Cichorium, but the species used for the drink in question is the intybus.
Chicory coffee is, to be honest, a misnomer. Coffee is the common name of the plants belonging to the genus Coffea usually used for the production of beverages traditionally defined as such.
Today, chicory coffee is considered a typical product of the United States and in particular of the city of New Orleans - Louisiana. However, not only was it not an American who invented chicory coffee, but the discovery took place thousands of kilometers further east, in Europe.
At the beginning of the 19th century, in France - where chicory is widespread - following the blockade of imports of various basic necessities imposed by the Allies against the Emperor Napoleon, coffee disappeared from the national market; so it was that the French people had to make up for this lack by finding a substitute that became the chicory coffee. From here it reached the colonies such as, in fact, Louisiana. Even after the resumption of the French import of traditional coffee, that of chicory remained in the popular traditions of various localities; sixty "years later this custom became so deeply rooted that France reached a record of 16 million pounds for the export of chicory alone. North America and Australia.
In Italy, on the other hand, this drink became popular only in the 1900s and in particular during the great war conflicts, when very few could afford to buy real coffee.
Chicory coffee has no or negligible calorie intake. Instead, it seems to be endowed with relevant phytotherapeutic properties even if, as often happens, many sources of disclosure tend to exaggerate or distort concepts that are otherwise relevant.
in object - leaves and roots. Recall that to produce coffee, chicory - or rather, the root - must first be roasted and then put in a hot infusion.
Chicory leaves and roots contain phytotherapeutic active ingredients such as: sesquiterpenic lactones - including bitter substances - polyphenols - especially flavonoids - organic acids, hydroxycoumarins and soluble dietary fibers - inulin.
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