CHAPTER XIX. 

 CHICORY AND ENDIVE. 



LARGE ROOTED CHICORY. Cichorium intybus. 



French, chicoree sauvage ; German, cichorie ; Danish, sichorie ; Italian, 

 cicoria; Spanish, achicoria; Portuguese, chicoria. 



THE ENDIVE. Chicoria endivia. 



French, chicoree endive; German, endivien; Dutch, andijvie; Danish, 

 endivien; Italian, indivia; Spanish, endivia. 



The chicory plant cuts no figure at present in the general gar- 

 dening of Californians. The use of the blanched leaves, forced in 

 the dark from mature roots bedded in sand, is confined to a few 

 foreigners who know the barbe-de-capucin of the French or the 

 witloof of the Germans. It is a delicious vegetable, either raw, 

 boiled, or as a salad. Nor are the leaves in their natural state much 

 used here for salad. Both of these uses of the plant should be more 

 widely known in California, for the cultivated growth of the roots 

 in this state is very fine, and for running wild, as an escape from 

 flower garden culture, it might be denounced as a vile weed were 

 not its large blue flowers so beautiful upon the yellow of our dry 

 summer fields and roadsides. 



Viewing the plant as yielding a root rather than a foliage crop, 

 it has been of much importance in this state. The root, sliced, 

 dried, roasted and coarsely ground, is the "chicory" of commerce 

 the adulterant of coffee which nearly every one denounces in theory 

 and many enjoy in practice; for the occurrence of absolutely pure 

 coffee is so restricted that it often, at first, offends the palate of the 

 unaccustomed drinker. California chicory growers for years con- 

 tested the American markets with German chicory, and a very ca- 

 pacious factory was in operation near Stockton for more than 

 twenty-five years, and at one time there was another near Sacra- 

 mento. The vicissitudes of tariff legislation have made the busi- 

 ness uncertain, sometimes very profitable, sometimes not, according 

 as the German product entered free or paid duty. If the tariff 

 would maintain a favorable attitude, California could furnish cheap 

 coffee for the whole country and beet-sugar for its sweetening be- 

 sides. For the last few years, however, the business has been much 

 reduced and depressed. For the home-grower of coffee counterfeits, 

 the chicory plant offers a better material than the "coffee bean" 

 and other substitutes which are offered, but all substitutes have had 

 a hard road under the pure food laws. The growth of the plant 

 and its preparation for the breakfast table are quite simple. 



Chicory grows to prefection on light sedimentary soils which 

 afford the root opportunity for expansion, and retain moisture 



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