Salsify & Scorzonera

[Millymollymandy]

Thanks for the info. Are you going to try it out and report back to us?

The only problem I foresee is when you get a glut of something all at once, then it would be hard to eat only a little bit first in order to build up to eating more later on, tho' presumably J. artichokes and salsify etc can be stored like spuds. Can they?

[*stuffed*]

I think they can both be left in the ground until needed but don't quote me on that.

[Cheezy]

Well I took up about 8 plants of my salsify, the rest are still in the ground and look fine (but it has been mild).

The roots were all split into small fingers, which are a right sod to clean and prepare.

The taste, well was nothing like osyster, but definitely a bit asparigus

(with out the enzyme effecting my urine!.)

And worth the effort

I recently read that they are worse than parsnips for root splitting, so you really have to prepare the ground. They advised that if you do get root split, don't even bother up rooting them, leave them in to flower the next spring, since they produce beautiful blue edible flowers which the insects like.

Generally if you preped the ground to produce one root, I think it's a good over winter veg, which you can leave some in to the spring to get tasty flowers.

[hedgewizard]

I'm still going to try it I think, but I thought I'd let you know what happened last week. The kids were on at me to buy a sugary cereal (an occasional treat) so I picked up a box of Weetos Stars which said it had a prebiotic. "Which prebiotic?" says I, being me. Well, it said inulin. Now where have I heard that name before? I thought.

When I got home, I remembered; inulin's the fart-inducing carbohydrate in jerusalem artichokes, scorzonera and salsify. Well, in the name of science I had to try a bowlfull of the stuff, rationalizing that if it really made you fart they wouldn't put it in ceral.

But they did, and it does. Even the 4.5% in a bowl of light-as-air cereal made an impact, so I'll be really interested to see what the salsify does to everybody!

[red]

course the advantage of inulin is the fact it is indigestible - which is why it makes you fart - but it also means it fills you up without the calorific value - so a bowlful of artichoke soup is a good thing if you are trying to lose a bit of fat - seems like a rubbish thing to put in a cereal aimed at kids tho....

[Cheezy]

Hell why arn't we all growing Salsify:
Pro's
1. Easy to grow (in well prepared ground)
2. Tastes a bit like asparagus
3. Over winters well
4. crops from autumn to May
5. Produces edible flowers that insects like
6. Fills you up while having a lower calorific value

Cons
1. A bit of soil prep
2. Makes you fart

I got it from seedsofitaly

(of course!)

SALSIFY SCORZABIANCA

Price : £1.49

Quantity :

White Salsify 'Blue Flower'. Long, white tapering root. Ideal for use in stews. Also known as Vegetable Oyster. Sow Apr-Jul and harvest Aug-Feb.

[supersprout]

Cheezy, with you there
I'm going to cut off the green tops from half of mine then blanch this month - as soon as the wind dies down a bit, don't fancy a bucket's chances out there

[Cheezy]

Salsify update....

How good is this veggie!

As Supersprout said earlier in the year what you can do is cut down the leaves in Autumn earth up and you get what is called "chards", basically blanched flower spikes. You could also lob a bucket our use straw.

Now I didn't do this cos they look really architectural all through the winter.
So mine have flowered:



Arn't they purdy!. But wait it gets better , you pick the young unopened ones:



3 inches down, these you put into simmering water for a few minutes, and serve with butter, and guess what Asparagus!!!!!

So to recap you sow 3 lots.
One lot you dig up remember to treat soil as carrots or parsnips cos they fork.These keep good in the ground through winter.
Second lot you chop down and earth up, you get an early spring green which I suspect will taste like asparagus.(Supersprout update?.)
Third lot you leave and harvest most of the flowers prior to opening. Some you leave cos they are purdy, and you can reuse the seed.

What a great veggie!

[Millymollymandy]

Wow! Now I am going to reread this thread and think about getting some seeds. Do they take up a lot of space or are we talking just the same sort of space as a parsnip?

Come to think of it the rodents ate the last of my parsnips from underground so leaving root veg to the spring isn't an option. Bum!

[Cheezy]

3M , the rodents might not like or know what salsify is therefore they may leave it alone. Also you could just eat most of them as root crop and leave a few in to see if the rodents have a go.

It grows upto 1 m high when its flowering, prior to that its about 40cm high, quite spikey ( abit like a grass/sedge) but not very wide (30 cm?). We have it down the edge of a path and it doesnt really obstruct.

THis is the white salsify I got from seeds of Italy which are £1.49 for a redicually large pack of seed (1000's!) And apparantly the germination drops rapidly from old seeds. Not a problem as I can put hundreds in!.

[sawfish]

I think both salsify and scorzonera are really bland, I'll never grow them again.