I forgot Txikoria, long gone from my coffee world. As soon as I hear it, however, I have been followed by its pleasant smell and bitter taste; before, the corner of the memory that was made in the coffee pot in our childhood.

Anyone knew what coffee was: tostar and grind the seeds of the coffee plant. On the contrary, it cost me a lot to know what chicory was. Almost no one answered this question, and among the few replies there was nothing clear. Then I read and learned what that was from what was added to coffee.

Chicory has been used as a medicinal herb and vegetable since time immemorial. It is good for improving digestion and stimulating the liver and gallbladder. For reasons of our aunt, she has had a problem of casings… Since then it is known more as coffee or as a substitute for it. Coffee is expensive, especially in the case of famines caused by wars, crop losses, etc. Many people have taken the water from the empty chicory as a substitute for coffee. Many others are mixed with coffee, of course, to make it cheaper. But many like, enjoy and smooth the coffee and add a special tasting.

After the Spanish civil war, in order to maintain the general shortage of food, chicory had become a valuable issue; it could not be cultivated everywhere and in any way, it was forbidden: as an example, in 1958, only the six provinces had permission to produce chicory, including Bizkaia. For the period of July 1958-1959, Bizkaia was authorised to build 300 tonnes of chicory. Who was engaged in chicory at that time? To be aware of the size of the value of the chicory, imagine what replaced the coffee with the carrot (Daucus carota) that was falsified or slept in the 19th century, with the suletine beet (Vulgaris 'Mangelwurzel'), with the oak bark (Quercus spp), the sawdust mahogany and the rubio

With this continuous warlike noise there is now, beware, we take chicory to improve the digestion of all the disgust we have to swallow and see what we take…