chicory

Photo: Original book source: Prof. Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thomé Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885, Gera, Germany — Public domain · source

Survives zone 3 through 9

Harvest calendar

Ripens: Leaves in spring; roots in autumn of the first year

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Roots roasted and ground as a coffee substitute; forced blanched shoots (chicons) and young leaves eaten as a bitter salad or cooked green; flowers edible.

Hardiness

Zone 3–9

Habit

Herb

Edible part

Root, Shoot, Flower, Leaf

Ripens

Leaves in spring; roots in autumn of the first year

Mature size

Taprooted perennial herb, flowering stems to ~1.5 m

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

5.8–7.0

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Europe, western Asia and North Africa, on roadsides, chalk grassland and rough disturbed ground; naturalised across North America and Australia, where the sky-blue flowers along summer roadsides are almost always this plant.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

1 yr

Growth speed

Fast — a sowing makes a harvestable root in one season

Spacing

25 cm (10 in) apart — about 16 per m² (15 per 10 sq ft)

Leaf shape

A basal rosette of coarse, lobed, dandelion-like leaves, the stem leaves smaller and clasping the rigid, almost woody flowering stem. Cut leaves and stems bleed a bitter white latex.

Root system

A deep fleshy taproot 20–30 cm long — the part roasted for coffee, and the store that drives the forced chicon. It is also why chicory survives drought and mowing, and why a broken root fragment regrows.

Fruit description

Not a fruit crop: the heads set small dry achenes. The flowers open at dawn and close by midday, and are edible as a garnish.

Propagation

Seed, direct-sown — the taproot resents transplanting. For chicons, lift the roots in autumn, trim the tops, and force them in the dark at 10–15°C.

Pollination

Self-fertile

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.