Foraging Coffee Alternative

Becky Proske wrote:
I make the chaga tea separately and brew it on low in a crockpot for several hours (or all day). I leave the chaga chunks in the liquid while it cools overnight in the fridge. This is my lazy way to do a "double extraction" to get the most medicinal benefits out of the mushrooms. The process can be repeated with the same chaga chunks, but subsequent batches will be weaker and lighter in color. The first batch will be really dark, looking very much like coffee in appearance. This method makes a concentrated brew. I like to freeze it for later and use it in small amounts while cooking or mix it with other ingredients when I want a warm nourishing drink. We make hickory nut milk separately too, and quite often have some of that canned or in the freezer as well. Just chaga and hickory nut milk alone can make a very satisfying drink unique in flavor. It could rival coffee, in my opinion.

Is there an optimal/maximum ratio of water to Chaga for brewing? I like the mouth feel that Chaga gives over leaf teas, but when I've had it it still falls way short of regular coffee. Wondering if that could be improved with technique or amounts...

The common chicory that grows with the pretty blue flowers (sometimes white)and is planted as animal forage is a different species than the endiva. It is Chicorium intybus, it also is said to many health benefits, in fact a chicory root extract is sold as a supplement and is added to many “health foods.”

I think either could be used as a
beverage.  

Some of the many who went back to coffee when it became available may have wanted the convenience, others the caffeine jolt.  Caffeine DOES dilate the blood vessels in the brain, and has a few other benefits, which is why I include it in my morning drink.

Chicory is a major ingredient of Camp Coffee, once popular in the UK and still available.
Chicory and dandelion are related, and I have made a coffee substitute using dandelion roots.
I've also used Cleavers/Goosegrass seeds, easy to overroast! It's mostly found growing through hedges. Once you learn what it looks like, you'll see it everywhere - assuming it's as abundant in the US as UK.

Okay, we love roasted chicory root (which tastes kind of nutty - remember the coffee Chock Full of Nuts, of which was part coffee, part chicory)!

BUT - try roasted dandelion root!!  Where chicory root has more of a nut flavor, dandelion root has more of a cocoa flavor (at least to me!)  And, dandelions grow all over even where chicory doesn't grow.

There are other many wonderful coffee substitutes, but roasted dandelion ranks up there!  Just google how to do it, or you can buy it <3

"cleavers", the sticky semi climbing kind is also a great cat deterrent in the veggie garden. It's weak & easy to pull up. Let it wander around the edge of your plot to keep those cute but digging furry paws out