Chicory is a two-year-old herb with a straight hairy stem and long rhizome. Inside the stem and leaves contains nutritious whitish juice. The plant belongs to the Astrov family and is widely used for cosmetic, confectionery, and medicinal purposes. How does chicory affect the body and is it possible to cook it at home?
Pick your recipe
The plant grows throughout Russia, is found on the sidelines of dusty roads and is often mistaken for ordinary weed. Bright blue flowers immediately catch your eye, and picking one, you will feel a light aroma of almonds, fingers will smell like almonds. The root of the plant can reach a length of 10 to 15 m.
Chicory with various flavors is sold in stores, and roots in a pharmacy. Liquid chicory benefits the body, improves the general condition, but you should not take it more than 100 ml per day - you can cause an allergic reaction or vasodilation. Preparing a healthy drink at home is also not difficult: just pick up the roots of the plant, wash the dirt off clods, chop, dry, as it should in the oven, and fry. The resulting brown powder is used instead of coffee. But, the darker the powder, the lower its quality and nutritional properties.
One teaspoon of powder is tedious to pour 250 ml of boiling water. You can boil the drink on low heat for 3-4 minutes or let it brew in a glass.
Experienced housewives add chicory leaves to salads, and ground powder is a great addition to homemade cakes or to make tinctures. For people with high blood pressure or inflammation of the stomach, a drink is a real salvation - after all, aromatic powder replaces caffeine, which in large doses causes harm to the body. Once upon a time, for saturation, chicory was mixed with natural ground coffee.
Composition and beneficial properties of chicory
The fleshy root of the plant contains trace elements - phosphorus, manganese, iron, potassium, sodium, inulin, choline, a set of organic and tannins, as well as essential oils and vitamins:
- PP;
- IN 2;
- A;
- FROM.
When ground, chicory powder favorably affects blood sugar, stabilizes glucose levels, improves cardiac muscle function and restores pancreatic function. Diabetics can forget about the prohibitions and enjoy the drink for their pleasure. Thanks to inulin in the composition, chicory improves metabolic processes in the body, has a diuretic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, wound healing and soothing effect with insomnia or stress. A low-calorie drink (only 21 cal) stimulates the production of bile juice, improves appetite, provokes a mild laxative effect, destroys bacteria in the oral cavity, and reduces sweating. With the constant use of the drink, heartburn, painful belching, heaviness in the stomach go away. In chicory, you can add a mixture of rosehip herbs, mint, blueberry or raspberry leaves. For women in position, the drink is a real miracle that can relieve swelling, remove excess moisture and wastes from the body. Children are allowed to drink chicory after two years - lactic acid is absorbed, immunity is strengthened, and appetite improves.
To lose weight by a couple kg, just take 1 tsp. chopped chicory, pour 0.5 l of water, bring to a boil over low heat and boil for 10-15 minutes. Then the liquid is filtered through gauze, cooled. You need to drink the solution three times a day, 100 ml, 20 minutes before a meal.