During the American Civil War, the naval blockade of southern ports by the U.S. Navy and the embargo of shipments to Europe froze cotton shipments, as well as food imports from the West Indies and overseas. Deprived of coffee, the inhabitants of New Orleans began adding chicory to their brew to extend their provisions. They discovered that it added body and flavor, and so the Creoles developed a taste for this blend and it is now part of their culinary heritage. If you drop by the famous Café du Monde in the French Quarter, you can enjoy a café au lait with sugar-dredged beignets and enjoy the unique, almost chocolatey, taste of the blend. 

For an authentic New Orleans coffee, try using 2/3 coffee and 1/3 chicory in your normal brewing process.

The European leader in pure chicory, and number 2 world-wide, Leroux alone processes almost 95% of regional production with 80,000 tons each year. It all began in 1858 when Jean-Baptiste Alphone Leroux created the Leroux brand by buying a manufacturing business in Orchies in the Nord-Pas de Calais. The factory was then producing chocolate, tapioca, mustard and roasted chicory: the famous granular chicory. The factory was destroyed by fire in 1871 and rebuilt. Leroux decided then to specialize in chicory alone. In 1899 the Breton girl became the symbol of the packets of granules. Numerous chicory-derived products have appeared since then: soluble chicory in 1951, liquid chicory in 1954, flavored chicory in 1991. To find out more, visit the Leroux Museum which houses the Chicory Museum in Orchies, 26 km south of Lille.