How to Get Food From a Chicory Plant
The chicory plant is interesting in that it is usually considered to be nothing but an annoying weed that pops up uninvited in one's garden or flowerbed. The truth is the chicory would be a welcome sight in a survival situation--or anytime you find yourself really, really hungry. How can a chicory help ease that rumbling in your stomach? Read on.
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Instructions
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1
Learn well how to identify a chicory plant--absolutely and without a doubt. The chickory can grow to be 5 or 6 feet tall if left unchecked. It possesses a cluster of dandelion-like leaves at its base with light blue flowers growing higher up (though they only open up on very sunny days). The chicory grows at the edges of lawns, along roadsides, in gardens and anywhere else you might expect to find a weed.
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2
Locate a chicory plant.
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3
Harvest the chicory plant's young leaves. These can be boiled and eaten the same way you might boil and eat any green vegetable. They are also edible raw, as in a salad.
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4
Harvest the chicory's roots, then boil them like a vegetable and eat.
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5
Harvest the chicory's flowers. These are edible raw or boiled.
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Tips & Warnings
Look for the chicory in the types of environments described in Step 1 across North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
If you aren't sure that you are, indeed, dealing with a chicory plant, don't eat any part of it!
- Photo Credit Photo courtesy of Purdue University.
