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It is a vegetable with ancient origins, which for centuries has been served as a side dish on the tables, but which was once also used to treat some diseases. But how do you prefer to eat chicory?
A beneficial food
Chicory has been a food that belongs to the Roman tradition for centuries. It is a vegetable with a bitter aftertaste that is easy to prepare and has truly beneficial properties.
In fact, it seems that chicory is perfect for purifying your body. It contains many vitamins, promotes digestion and can even help treat some diseases.
It also seems that the benefits of chicory were also known to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. They used vegetables to prepare wraps, medical treatments to solve health problems.
Chicory, oil and chilli: an explosion of flavors in a single dish
Even today, chicory continues to be a particularly popular food. It is really difficult to resist its goodness, for this reason it is often served on Roman tables, both at home and in restaurants. It is often accompanied with meat main courses, or inserted into sandwiches.
Whichever way you prepare it, it is truly delicious, although probably the best recipe with chicory as a protagonist is the classic one. It consists of blanching the vegetables for a few minutes in a large pot and then seasoning it with salt, oil and lemon.
An excellent alternative, on the other hand, provides chicory “sautéed” in a pan, which is subsequently flavored with salt, oil and finally the chilli. The bitterness of the vegetable that blends with the spiciness of the spice creates an incredible explosion of flavors, which is impossible to resist.
The symbol of poverty
Today Roman tables serve chicory as a side dish, but there was a time when even coffee was prepared with this vegetable. The roots of chicory have substances that are excellent substitutes for caffeine, so they were perfect for making coffee.
It was a very popular drink in times of poverty and an excellent alternative to Mexican beans. It was often prepared in times of war and during the continental block. In 1806 Napoleon had imposed a ban on the import of products from England and its colonies.
Consequently, coffee beans could not be imported and for this reason it was prepared with chicory.
