black salsify

The black salsify plant has heads of yellow ray flowers.

In the kitchen, I found that black salsify prefers the solace of its own company.

Black salsify is often eaten together with other vegetables, such as peas and carrots.

Like all root vegetables, black salsify should be firm and snappy when bought.

Black Salsify has been used for a long time to treat poisonous snake bites.

Known in America as black salsify, or viper's grass, it was once commonly cultivated here.

Some authorities insist that black salsify is essential.

The black salsify is native to Southern Europe and the Near East.

Black salsify is hitherto mainly a European crop.

Small wonder then, that black salsify, a hardy European rarely grown and barely known in this country, gives shoppers little pause when they come across it.

The best-known of these species is probably the edible black salsify Scorzonera hispanica.

Belgium, France and the Netherlands are the world's largest producers of black salsify; significant amounts are also produced in Germany.

The texture of black salsify does grow silky and buttery as it cooks, its flavor sweet, bringing it within inches of a scallopy delicacy.

Meloidogyne chitwoodi is a plant pathogenic root-knot nematode that is a crop pest of potatoes, carrots, and black salsify.

My introduction to black salsify came in Germany, where it is called schwarzwurzel (black root) and is served in autumn and winter as a sort of poor man's asparagus.

The Celtic and Germanic peoples are believed to have eaten the black salsify, which was considered efficacious against the bubonic plague and snake bites until the 16th century.

Perhaps best described as the love child of a potato and a white asparagus, black salsify, while agreeably starchy, does not have a boiling potato's occasional leadenness or a russet's fluff.

Yellow salsify grows wild in the western United States but is rarely harvested: black salsify, on the other hand, is widely cultivated, principally in Belgium, and popular throughout Europe.

The only black salsify being cultivated on a large scale in this country is in early trials to determine field and harvesting requirements at California Vegetable Specialties in Rio Vista.

They include the Amish gnuttle bean, black salsify, Hoffer Lazy Wife Bean, Wren's Egg Pole Bean, birdhouse gourd, dipper gourd and Jenny Lind melon.

Clam broth scented with rosemary is the bright idea behind the grilled daurade, and caramelized scorzonera, or black salsify, is the surprise guest on a plate of crisp halibut with braised chard and asparagus.

Delahaye's journal reports that he planted celery, chervil, chicory, cabbages, grey romaine lettuce, different kinds of turnip, white onion, radishes, sorrel, peas, black salsify and potatoes; he also had large quantities sewn in the woods, thrown at random where they might grow.

E Map Known for seasonal produce and light, clean flavours, the menu at Joia is also imbued with drama and poetry (a winter dish of globe and Jerusalem artichokes, sweet black salsify and pomegranate is entitled 'Beneath a snowy white carpet').

And it's not that Norwegian chefs are without invention: salt-baked cod with avocado sauce, halibut with soy jus, grilled roe deer with black salsify, crispy dried ham on salad greens, gooseberry soup, delicious potato-barley-rye flatbread and the ubiquitous sour-cream porridge appear on menus in many parts of the country.