07/01/2026
If youâre driving along Iowaâs rural roads right now, youâre bound to see a row of tall, beautiful blue flowers lining each side of the roadway. We often get asked what they are by our visitors.
The perennial flowering Chicory (Cichorium intybus) is not native to North America. The first known use of the plant dates back over 5,000 years by the ancient Egyptians who used it as a beverage, medicine and vegetable. Once introduced to the United States, though, chicory quickly escaped cultivation and spread across the continent.
Like its dandelion relative, chicory has a long, thick root. When the root is roasted and ground, it looks, smells, and tastes like coffee. The use of chicory in coffee dates back to Northern Europe in the late 18th century. Around 1806, when Napoleon imposed a large-scale embargo against British trade, the French turned to chicory as a coffee additive in order to stretch their supply. The habit stuck, even after Napoleon retreated from Moscow and his ban collapsed in 1812.
The information on chicory root presented to Madison County residents between 1886 and the 1940s was often conflicting. While some articles acknowledged its health benefits and ability to save consumers money, others described the use of chicory in, or as, coffee as unappealing at best, and fraudulent at worst.
First mention of chicory in Madison County newspapers appeared in 1886. Under the title âFood Frauds,â the article stated that although chicory coffee was a âswindle in a commercial sense,â it was often tolerated because it didnât have an adverse affect on oneâs health.
In 1893, grocer F. E. Null offered German chicory as a âpurely vegetable substitute for coffeeâ and suggested that it âtastes the same as coffee, reduces expense and makes a more healthful drink.â
In 1895, an expert tester supplied readers with ways in which to test for unadulterated coffee grounds versus those with chicory. Ten years later, a Des Moines doctor appeared before the state board of health on the adulteration of foods, and stated that Iowans continued to eat and drink everything offered for sale without making an effort to ensure it was âpure.â Among a few other items, he listed ground coffee that âis nearly two-thirds chicory.â
During World War I, a letter written from France to an attachĂ© of the U.S. Food Administration described the terrible shortage of food in the country. The author described the situation. âImagine sitting down to the early French breakfast at a hotel like the Ritz, in Paris, and being served sour war bread and this miserable French coffee which tastes like chicory and soft soap, and then being told that you could not have butter for your bread, nor sugar nor cream for your coffee!â
By 1925, Winterset merchant J. E. Smith was assuring customers that he sold only pure coffees. âThey contain no chicory or other adulterationsâŠâ However, by the 1930s, in the era of the Great Depression, articles appeared which extolled the virtues of chicory not only as a substitute for coffee, but as a treatment for diabetes (it contains inulin which we now know is a type of soluble dietary fiber and prebiotic that can help with blood sugar management).
The use of chicory as a coffee substitute or additive continued through the 1940s and beyond. Today, it is a specialty of New Orleans where they often pair it with their famous beignets.
Photo and article by Teddi Yaeger, Project Manager of the Covered Bridges Scenic Byway
