Chicory root

So I just harvested, cleaned, and peeled some chicory root. I want to use it in ways besides coffee substitutes. I know Kind bars and other food bars contain it, and I'd also like to make it into chicory flour. Can anyone help, at least tell me how to dry it.

I haven't used chicory root, but Green Deane has an article. Methods of prep are at the bottom of his articles.
http://www.eattheweeds.com/cichorium-intybus-burned-to-a-crisp-2/

I have used dandelion roots in soups.
For drying, I would thinly slice it and lay the pieces in a single layer.

I just chopper chicory root, dehydrated it, then roasted it until it smelled like hot fresh chocolate brownies. It has me seriously considering using roasted chicory root as a local, perennial, native, sustainable cocoa substitute! I cant find anything online about people doing this, but I cant imagine why not. This could be a really great thing since everyone loves chocolate, but we over consume it and most of us really have no business eating cocoa anyway since it is far from local for us. Chicory chocolate could be a future business idea!

Brody Ekberg wrote:I just chopper chicory root, dehydrated it, then roasted it until it smelled like hot fresh chocolate brownies. It has me seriously considering using roasted chicory root as a local, perennial, native, sustainable cocoa substitute! I cant find anything online about people doing this, but I cant imagine why not. This could be a really great thing since everyone loves chocolate, but we over consume it and most of us really have no business eating cocoa anyway since it is far from local for us. Chicory chocolate could be a future business idea!

Ok, but does it taste like chocolate as well as smell like it?  Because I'd be really disappointed to smell all the goodness and then have it be bland and/or bitter.

Morfydd St. Clair wrote:

Brody Ekberg wrote:I just chopper chicory root, dehydrated it, then roasted it until it smelled like hot fresh chocolate brownies. It has me seriously considering using roasted chicory root as a local, perennial, native, sustainable cocoa substitute! I cant find anything online about people doing this, but I cant imagine why not. This could be a really great thing since everyone loves chocolate, but we over consume it and most of us really have no business eating cocoa anyway since it is far from local for us. Chicory chocolate could be a future business idea!

Ok, but does it taste like chocolate as well as smell like it?  Because I'd be really disappointed to smell all the goodness and then have it be bland and/or bitter.

I guess I should have said cocoa substitute and not chocolate substitute. Cocoa is bitter and a little bland. Thats why we add sugar and fat to make it chocolate. I think it needs more experimentation but that there is potential. I doubt it will taste exactly the same as cocoa, but it might be close!

I have harvested a couple small batches of chicory this summer and fall. Both times it turned out really good. In my experience, I learned that after washing, chopping the roots in to very small pieces helps in the grinding process after the roasting. At least MY chicory is super tough and woody stuff and extremely difficult to grind, (I actually used a meat grinder). But the second round I chopped the roots in to small uniform pieces for even roasting, and ease in grinding. One thing I did notice about the structure of the roots themselves is that there tends to be a very tough inner core surrounded by a much softer, fleshy type material on the outside of the root. I processed and roasted both parts but was unable to find anything online about which part of the roots might be more valuable in this application. Still, I found the whole process to be rather easy and intuitive. It has a great flavor, totally worth doing!