Chicory

Chicory

Description

A perennial herb, Cichorium intybus, in the dandelion family with large bright blue flowers. Chicory is native to Europe and was introduced in the U.S. in the late 19th century. The ground and roasted roots of the chicory produce a bitter brown liquor that has been used as a coffee substitute and as a pale brown dye. The colorant has been added to size solutions to darken new book leaves to the tone of older leaves (Roberts and Etherington 1982).

Synonyms and Related Terms

Cichorium intybu; achicoria (Esp.); cicoria (It); succory; chiccory; chicory root; coffee Ersatz

Resources and Citations

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 212

• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982

• Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia, Douglas M. Considine (ed.), Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1976

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

• Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com Comment: "chicory" [Accessed June 17, 2002].