Chicory – a versatile plant

Every morning a colourful smoothie is part of our breakfast. We make it freshly with plenty of medicinal herbs from the garden, so it’s really healthy.

One flower that we use is the chicory, it’s Latin name is Cichorium intybus. It is native to Europe and grows everywhere here in the gardens. The good thing is that it doesn’t have any special needs concerning the soil so it is pretty robust and doesn’t require any maintance.

Each morning you can observe how the flowers slowly open their pretty, soft blue petals when the sun rises. A few hours later, when it gets too hot, they close them again.

But I don’t only like them because of the fact that they are really pretty, but also because of their health benefits for our body. Even back then in ancient Egypt it was used as a medicinal plant. It has bitter compounds, is good for the digestions and furthermore you can also make a coffee alternative from the roots but I haven’t tried that.

Maybe you also see some chicory flowers the next time when you take a walk in nature.

AR