Kitchen.HealthSufficiency

Many people prefer to avoid coffee and its caffeine in particular but like a drink with a coffee like flavour. You can make coffee similar drinks from both beech nuts and chicory.

Collect the nuts from an American Beech Tree after the first hard frost when they have normally dropped to the ground.  You may have to be quick and get them before the squirrel’s begin harvesting.

Remove the nuts from their husks and dry roast in the oven until they are dark and brittle.  Grind the roasted nuts in an electric blender and store in an airtight container.  They store well and can be used all year round.  The beech nut coffee is prepared in the same way as regular coffee.

Chicory coffee is prepared from the roots of the plant which you can find just about everywhere there’s a road.  It has bright blue daisy-shaped flowers and almost leafless stalks.   The white fleshy roots are roasted until dark brown and brittle then ground and stored in an air-tight container.  It stores well but must be kept away from moisture because it will become a rock solid mass.  It is prepared like coffee with 1 1/2 teaspoons of chicory to a cup of water.  It is magnificent prepared in milk and is an excellent tonic for the kidneys.  Drink all year round.

Tags: coffee, chicory, American beech tree nuts, kidney tonic, drinks