Coffee drink "Kurzeme" is a healthy and tasty food product, which is not only great for breakfast, but also has various healing properties. It has been produced since 1944 and since then has managed to win lasting love from its fans.
The composition of "Kurzeme"
The Kurzeme coffee drink has a very simple composition: freshly roasted chicory and cereals. Among the cereals present in Kurzeme, there are usually barley, rye, oats. Often, cardamom is also added to the composition, and this allows the drink to acquire a special incomparable aroma.
Together, these components have beneficial effects on health: they stabilize the activity of the cardiovascular system, improve liver and kidney function. Also "Kurzeme" has a beneficial effect on appetite, allowing you to better control it. By adding this drink to your first meal, you will notice that it is easier to take a normal, balanced breakfast rich in vitamins (for example, porridge), but at the same time, the desire for large meals in the evenings will disappear.
Barley is an important component of Kurzeme - an irreplaceable source of useful vitamins and minerals.
It is very rare, but you can buy "Kurzeme", to which a little natural coffee is added. Despite the fact that they say "coffee drink", in reality, coffee is not at all a traditional component in "Kurzeme". And the habit of calling chicory drinks "coffee" is due to the fact that in Soviet times it was often difficult to get ground coffee and it was chicory that was sold under its guise. Ground coffee was considered a scarce product, and chicory often grew among the population right under the windows. Even today, chicory still suffers from these past events: some people undeservedly consider it just a bad substitute for coffee, not taking into account its own positive properties and the special taste of the drink.
Since the main component of "Kurzeme" is chicory, it should be said about it separately. Its unusual pleasant taste and health benefits made chicory popular among the ancient Greeks and Romans. It was drunk long before coffee appeared in Europe. The roots of the plant were dried, chopped finely and fried, and then boiled. In medieval Europe, it was believed that chicory perfectly calms the nerves, making a person calm and able to think clearly.
How to cook "Kurzeme"
Usually, this coffee drink is sold in ground form, but it can also be instant. It is necessary to prepare ground "Kurzeme" in a special way so that no lumps form in the cups, which many lovers of this drink dislike.
Take a dry, medium-sized cup, about 250 ml. Sprinkle 2-3 teaspoons of chicory drink in it with a dry spoon. It is very important that both the cup and spoon are dry. Add sugar if drinking with sugar. Now pour in just a little hot water. Stir gently until smooth. You can now pour the rest of the water into the cup. At the very end, add cream or milk to taste.
An unusual but tasty way to prepare "Kurzeme": dilute the dry powder with condensed milk, stir, and then add water. It turns out almost like a chicory cappuccino.
You can also boil ground chicory. To do this, add about 2 teaspoons of "Kurzeme" to 250 ml of water, stir well and put on fire. Bring to a boil and remove immediately. Wait for the thickening to settle, then pour into cups with sugar, cream or milk.
