Make Your Own Coffee Substitutes

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Then get oat your favorite mug, steep the parsnip chunks in scaldinghot water (one rounded tablespoonful per cup), and presto! You've got a Java substitute that-in Mrs. Meschke's own words-"is better than coffee . . . with no bitternessl" "I've tried other types of imitation coffee," says Marjorie. "They're good, too. . . but they don't come close to 'Parsnip Postum'!"

WHEAT JAVA

No parsnips in your garden? Don't fret. You can make a deli cious (and delightfully low-cost) coffee substitute from wheat and molasses . . . the very ingredients used in store-bought Postum.

Start with six cups of cracked wheat. (If you have a coffee grinder; use it to grind the wheat on a medium setting. Otherwise, bay the wheat already cracked.) Combine the grain with a cup of milk, a half cup of molasses; and one-half teaspoon of salt . . . mix well . . : then spread the result paste out thin on cookie shee and bake in a 300° oven. Kee an eye on the Java main's they'll tend to burn easily.) Who everything is brown, turn the oven to low and allow the wheat molasses mixture to dry until it's crisp.

All right: Now flip the coating out onto a flat surface, break it into pieces and put the pieces through a coffee grinder or food mill (or take a rolling pin to the crusty wheat-molasses combination). Add one cup of ground coffee to the brown powder and store the blend in sealed jars or cans.

Jenny Pringle of Mesa, Arizona - who's made a good many pounds of "Wheat Java" over the years (and who sent us this recipe)-says to "boil or perk the final product as you would any coffee . . . it's good to t drop

CHICKPEA SURP

Garbanzo beans-plaiW chickpeasalso make a satisf tory coffee-like drink, according to Irene Potter of Neosho, Mis souri. All you have to do, Irene says, is [1] roast some chickpeas' in a 300° oven until they're "the color of roasted coffee beans", then [2] grind the brownblack nuggets, (in a blender, coffee grinder; or Corona-type mill) to the consistency of canned percolator-type coffee. ("Bigger chunks are better than a very fine grind," Ms. Potter advises. "They leave less residue in the pot.")

To prepare a pot-of "chickpea coffee"; simply measure the grinds oat the same as you would regular Java, perk them in a percolator until the liquid looks like fresh-brewed coffee, pour, and enjoy. If you don't have a percolator; just boil the chickpea granules in water. (Be sure, though, to let the boiled pot stand for a few minutes before pouring-or else use a tea strainer-to keep "sludge" from finding its way to the bottom of your cup.)

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