Salsify
Todays guest post is from Kevin Feinstein (the leader of our wild food walks), and Mia Adler’s book The Bay Area Forager: Your Guide to Edible Wild Plants of the San Francisco Bay Area. Check at the bottom of the post for a purchase link to their great guide to all things wild and edible!
Salsify, Goatsbeard (Tragopogon porrifolius )
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower, Daisy, Aster)
Tribe: Dandelion
Eurasian Weed
Salsify root was a commonly sold vegetable for hundreds of years and only recently fell out of favor, like many of our heirloom vegetables, due do its inferior shipping ability. Salsify is best stored in the ground and used fresh. It is also called “oyster plant,” as the flavor of the root has subtle hints of oysters. It is a starchy root that is similar to its relative, sunchoke (Jerusalem artichoke).
What does it look like? Light green young leaves look a lot like grass, but the plant is a dicot and becomes less grass-like as it grows. Besides lacking the intense fibrous nature of grass, all parts of the plant exude a sticky, milky white substance when cut. Flowers are purple, sunflower-like, and the seed head looks like that of a giant dandelion (the kind you blow to the wind). Large root develops much like a parsnip and looks similar when fully grown.
When is it available? Plant typically grows all year, although in many dry areas it is only available in the late fall, winter, and spring. Roots are best in late fall or winter, before this biennial begins to flower. Leaves are best when young, flowers and flower pods when available.
Where can I find it? Disturbed areas, gardens, trailsides, parks. Typically likes sun.
How to use/forage: Cooked like parsnips or potatoes, the roots are delicious! The young leaves can be eaten raw or steamed and are quite sweet for greens. Older leaves can be okay, too. The flowers opened and unopened are also quite tasty, especially if sauteed in oil and garlic.
Sustainability: This garden weed is often mowed and weedwhacked and typically ignored. It isn’t as common in the wild as I’d like for it to be, so practice good cut and come again strategies for leaves and flowers. Many areas lack the abundance to actually harvest the root. I usually allow half of mine to go to seed, as to help build up more of these plants. Of course, when you eat the root, the plant dies.
Recipes: Salsify french fries. Often the edible roots of wild plants are the large, evenly shaped and plumped up versions of vegetables you find at the supermarket. They often are small and branching, gnarly and with many points. Just because the salsify root (or any other edible root) doesn’t always look like a singular parsnip, doesn’t mean they aren’t as good. Working with this phenomenon, I pinch the little roots off of the washed root mass, and then fry or roast them in olive oil until crispy, wild French fries!