chocolate

Victor Steinbok aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM
Sat Mar 27 09:56:38 UTC 2010


Most of the GB hits for "chicory-coffee" are from the 1850s and periods
immediately preceding and following. There are two sets of hits that
claim to be 1774 and 1776, but they are off by exactly 100
years--perhaps the printer screwed up for years and never noticed.

But there is a legitimate 1813 publication. The scan of the title page
is ambiguously fuzzy--it looks like 1815, which is what GB put down, but
it could be a slightly less common font for 1813. But the actual
copyright page states that the publication was enrolled in 1813.
WorldCat check also suggests 1813, or maybe even 1812 (I doubt it).

http://books.google.com/books?id=5h4AAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA327
The emporium of Arts & Sciences. New Series. Thomas Cooper. 1813 [1812?]
p. 327
> In England they use (or rather propose, for coffee is too dear there
> to be a common beverage) as substitutes for coffee, 1st. Roasted
> Barley. 2ly. The seeds of the yellow water flag, or flower de luce
> (Iris pseudacorus) 22 Nich. Journ. 70. 3ly. The ockra, which is also a
> fashionable substitute in the West India Islands. But the German
> establishment for the manufacture of chicory coffee, and what I know
> of it by my own experience, leads me to recommend in preference, this
> plant to all others.
> Previous to the capture of Jena, by Buonaparte, there were upwards of
> two millions of pounds of chicory coffee, exported from that place and
> Brunswick to various parts of France and Germany.

I certainly think it deserves a mention, if not a full entry.

Ironically, OED has an entry for chicory alone as a coffee substitute,
but not for "chicory coffee".

> 2. The root of this plant ground and roasted as an addition to, or
> substitute for, coffee.
>
> [1805 HATCHETT in Phil. Trans. XCV. 301 A sort of coffee prepared from
> the chicorée (I suppose endive) root..was given me by Sir Joseph
> Banks.] 1853 A. SOYER Pantroph. 270 Chicory, or succory, is received
> under the mask of coffee.1872 OLIVER Elem. Bot. II. 199 Chicory, the
> kiln-dried, and then roasted and powdered root of Cichorium Intybus,
> used extensively to mix with coffee. Mod. In compliance with the
> Adulteration Act, this is ‘sold as a mixture of Chicory and Coffee’.

This makes no sense to me.

VS-)

On 3/26/2010 11:21 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
> ...
> I am also puzzled that 4.a. includes "dandelion coffee", but not
> "chicory coffee", which has quite a past in the 20th century and the
> only beverage demanded by some who avoid actual coffee.
>
> This is actually a good one, as one early find is 1879 Supreme Court
> Reporter entry.
>
> http://bit.ly/aMUnoV
> Chester A. Arthur v. Emil Herold. Decided Nov. 24, 1879
>> The plaintiffs gave some evidence to show that a different article
>> from the imported article called "patent chicory," or "chicory
>> coffee," was made by an admixture of water and foreign ingredients.
>
> This is that much more interesting because the case hinged on a 1864
> import duty act that imposed a duty on chicory imported into the US.
> In any case, chicory coffee is certainly more important than dandelion
> coffee and deserves at least a link to Chicory if not, indeed, a
> specific citation under Coffee.
>

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