Burdock and salsify - obscure root vegetables

This year I grew some vegetables that I had never grown or eaten before.  Burdock (Arctium lappa) and salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius).  Although, now that I think about it I did find salsify growing as a roadside weed once, collected some seeds, grew some, and moved house before getting to eat any.

Budock and salsify are ancient root vegetables that are pretty rare here.  Only a few people seem to have heard of them, and they often talk highly about both of these vegetables.  So I thought I should grow some and taste them myself.

Both plants grew in similar conditions, I gave them full sun and a little water.  They grew over summer and died back over winter when we harvested them.  The salsify didn't die back completely, the burdock went from large impressively lush plants to nothing above soil in the blink of an eye.  Luckily I remembered where I planted them so I could dig up some roots to eat.

Burdock, Salsify, and Skirret

Burdock

The burdock grew rather large leaves that look similar to rhubarb.  The hottest days of summer scorched the leaves a bit, but it didn't seem to bother the plants too much. 

Burdock is said to be biennial, I am told it will flower and die next year.  I dug up some roots to eat, and replanted the stump to grow/flower over the warmer months.  I'm not sure if that is the best way to do things, but it seemed to make sense to me.

The roots were very long and went deep into the soil.  Most snapped off as I dug them and I didn't dig deep enough to get them all.  The yield per plant, had I dug up all the roots, probably would have been pretty decent for the amount of space they took.

Burdock plant - large leaves

Burdock in the garden

Salsify

Salsify grows as a roadside weed around here.  It has long strappy leaves.  I am told that it is perennial, but have a feeling it may be biennial too.  These easily handled summer heat, and seemed to cope with little water.

I expected the roots to grow long and fat like carrots, but all were thing and short and twisted.  I found the yield per plant to be disappointing, but that may have been my fault for not growing them properly.  They were very easy to grow, so a small yield isn't a deal breaker.

Salsify plant has strappy leaves

Harvest

I dug up some burdock and salsify during winter.  

I don't know the best way to cook them.  I tried some of each raw, that wasn't terrible but I won't be doing that again.

We washed the roots, cut them into small lengths, and roasted them.  We also roasted some skirret, pumpkin, and potatoes too.  I figured that would give us a good comparison of roasted root vegetables.  

The burdock, salsify, and skirret needed far less cooking time than the pumpkin and potato.

Burdock on left, salsify on right

 

The big fat things are the burdock crowns, you can see the growing point where the leaves will emerge from.  I removed the roots for cooking and replanted the crowns.  Hopefully they will grow and flower this year to produce seed.  I don't know if this is the right thing to do, but it made sense to me at the time.  Hopefully I haven't killed them.

I have never grown burdock before so this is all part of the learning curve.

Burdock crowns - roots removed before replanting

Burdock and Salsify Taste

Both burdock and salsify were simple to grow, burdock gave a decent yield and salsify a very small yield, but none of that matters compared to their taste.  I am glad we roasted them with other root vegetables as a comparison.

Out of all the vegetables I ate that evening I love the taste of skirret the most.  It is sweet and wholesome and delicious.  I rank potato and pumpkin next, they taste both good. 

Far behind them I would rank burdock as a distance fourth place in my preference.  I didn't hate it, but didn't particularly like it.  I would eat it again, but there are plenty of other things I would prefer to eat.

Salsify didn't taste great to me and I rank it as fifth.  I didn't hate it, but it sure didn't impress me.  To me it tasted kind of like carrot but without any sweetness.  Perhaps roasting is not the best way to cook salsify?

Maybe my expectations were too high, maybe I am becoming a food snob after eating all the other things I grow, maybe they taste ok but the other roasted veggies we had that night were all better so by comparison it was lacking, maybe these taste better if they were cooked in other ways, maybe other people love the taste and it just doesn't appeal to me, I really don't know.  If you get a chance to try burdock and salsify I still say give them a go.  Who knows, perhaps you will love them.