What is chicory?

What is chicory?

Chicory is an edible perennial vegetable belonging to the genus Chicory of the Asteraceae family. In daily life, many people call it chicory, bitter vegetable, eyesight-improving vegetable and coffee grass. It is a spring and summer vegetable and will be on the market from April to July. Common main producing areas include Nanjing, Taizhou and other places, and it is widely distributed in the Yangtze River Basin.

What does chicory look like

Chicory will bloom blue-purple flowers during the flowering season. The leaves are round, green, and spindle-shaped with a sharp tip. There is no serrated structure on the edges of the leaves. The plant height can grow to more than 50 centimeters.

How to cook chicory

1. Stir-fry

When stir-frying chicory, you don’t need to add too many ingredients. You can add an appropriate amount of green onions and mix them together. If you can eat spicy food, you can add a little dried chili when frying the oil, stir-fry for a few minutes and then add an appropriate amount of salt.

2. Cold salad

The main way to eat chicory is to eat it cold. You can wash and cut the vegetables, pour soy sauce, vinegar, MSG and other ingredients into the mixed seasoning to eliminate the earthy smell.

The efficacy and function of chicory

Chicory has many pharmacological effects and is very beneficial to the body. It has a good effect on indigestion, chest tightness, and bloating. In summer, it can also clear away heat and detoxify, and relieve summer heat.