[Vigilanteman]

I stand corrected. It was roasted wheat bran, not corn bran. I lived in the midst of Mormons (southeast Idaho) briefly after the Teton Dam broke in the mid 1970s. First and last Federal job I ever held.

The locals introduced me to it. As I recall, one of them told me it was inspired by the South when they had no coffee during the Civil War. Since the South used roast corn, I assumed Postum was roast corn as well.

A quick web search shows they still sell it a specialty places like the Vermont Country Store. But it sure is pricey compared to back then, when it might have been $1.19 a jar.

[Red Badger]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicory

“The cultivated chicory plant has a history reaching back to ancient Egyptian time. Medieval monks raised the plants and when coffee was introduced to Europe, the Dutch thought that chicory made a lively addition to the bean drink.

In the United States chicory root has long been used as a substitute for coffee in prisons.[54] By the 1840s, the port of New Orleans was the second largest importer of coffee (after New York).[53] Louisianans began to add chicory root to their coffee when Union naval blockades during the American Civil War cut off the port of New Orleans, thereby creating a long-standing tradition.[53]”