# When is the best time to harvest wild chicory root?



## tinknal

I want to dry some chicory root to grind and mix with coffee. When is the best time to harvest it? Right now the plants are about 4 feet tall. They have not begun to flower yet.


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## Ray

I don't know what they tell you but we used to dig it after it flowered and dry the roots then grate and dry for coffee, never did like it either, so that may not be right ?? but I dont like store bought either. I guess I am spoiled with the reg. coffee? It grows wild around here by the truckload in the road ditches.


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## ldc

My mother's family did it late summer, early fall, in eastern PA during the war, as Ray described above. ldc


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## Sparticle

I was taught to harvest roots when the energy goes into the root and is no longer in the flower & leaves, so in the fall.

When I used to use chicory root for "coffee", I'd dig it, cut it into 1/2 - 1" pieces, dry & then roast it. I didn't mess with grinding it up or shredding. Then I'd put the little pieces in the hot water. The blacker the root gets when you roast it, the darker the drink will be. I kept the little nubs in a tiny little jar and would put in my purse when we'd go to the little greasy spoon down the road. Get my hot water and put in a few pieces. It was a conversation starter for sure.


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