Unusual Vegetables: Salsify the Vegetable Oyster

There are few seed houses that do not list salsify. Yet I have seldom seen it in any garden or allotment except my own. It is a useful root vegetable with a characteristic flavour all of its own - hence the name vegetable oyster which is often applied to it (and also to the closely related scorzonera) after a fancied resemblance in taste. However, the oyster taste can only be produced after rather complex cooking!

Sowing Salsify & Preparation

Seeds are sown in March or April at stations some 6 inches (15cm) apart. Singled as soon as the seedlings are showing two or three of the rather grass like adult leaves they should produce good sized roots by late September, roots, that is some 9-12 inches (18-30cm) long and 2 inches (5cm) in diameter at the shoulder. Soil preparation can be exactly as it would be for parsnips or carrots. Choose a site that is well tilled and stone free (or plants can be grown in bore holes) as the roots have an exceptional and very irritating, tendency to fork.

Culinary uses of Salsify

In the kitchen salsify is usually sliced thinly and boiled or steamed. It can be served alone as a vegetable (or with a white sauce) and can also be used in soups and casseroles. If peeled and sliced uncooked the roots discolour rapidly and to prevent this they should be sprinkled with lemon juice or vinegar.

If roots are still unused at the end of the winter (they can be left in the soil until early spring) the leaves can be blanched to produce "chards" (not to be confused with Swiss chard!) To do this it is necessary to draw earth over the roots when they begin to sprout. The blanched leaves should be cut at about 6 inches (15cm) and steamed to create a delicately flavoured vegetable or served uncooked in salads.

Showing Salsify

The roots rate 12 points on the show bench - and in my view are grossly under pointed - but are seldom seen. I should be interested to see how judges would treat the chards! To point them at 16, as for seakale would probably be over generous but might provide a useful guide.

Salsify is occasionally grown as a decorative plant for its purple, daisy like flowers which are borne on stems about 18 inches (45cm) tall.

Salsify is, like scorzonera, in the daisy family, a family that includes remarkably few root vegetables. There appears to be just one other true root vegetable in the family, burdock - Arctium lappa. This is extremely rarely grown as a vegetable in Britain (although it is common as a weed) but is widely cropped in Japan. Chicory (and less often dandelion) are grown for their roots to be used when roasted and ground as coffee substitutes.

Then the Jerusalem artichoke and the Peruvian crop, yacon (Polymnia sonchifolia) are grown for their underground tubers - but these are stern tubers not roots. Yacon is now being grown experimentally in New Zealand - we have the kiwi fruit, will we soon have the kiwi potato?

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