Garden salsify (real, raw, organic?)

Black salsify ( Scorzonera hispanica ) is a typical winter speciality and, above all, healthy. If you know how, you can peel it easily.

Use in the kitchen:

If you don't work methodically, peeling is a pain because a sticky milky juice comes out and then oxidizes. You can avoid both by wearing plastic or rubber gloves and peeling the salsify under running water or in water with a vegetable peeler. The whitish-yellow, rubbery milky juice (chyle) turns the skin brown when processed. In some cases an apron is also recommended, e.g. if you have to clean it with the brush first.

After peeling the dark brown skin, immediately place it in a bowl of lemon water to prevent oxidation. This way they stay white instead of turning brown relatively quickly. The lemon water - vinegar water also works - can also contain a little salt - or vinegar and flour water.

A second method: Boil the salsify for 20 to 25 minutes immediately after brushing it well, then rinse it in cold water to make it easier to peel and soak it in lemon water. The skin (peel) can be peeled off after just one blanching. The skin can also be rubbed off when it is hot. However, the aroma is better preserved if the salsify is left with the skin cleaned.

When cooking, add a tablespoon of lemon juice per liter of water to keep it white and to keep the pan free of sticky residue. Instead of lemon, you can also stir flour into the water and then cook with a little flour to avoid oxidation.

Black salsify is cooked like asparagus until it is firm to the bite, i.e. not overcooked. It then has a fine nutty taste, similar to Jerusalem artichokes. Black salsify is low in calories, and its carbohydrates, like those of Jerusalem artichokes, are very well tolerated by people with diabetes because they consist mainly of inulin. Black salsify is also suitable for soups and can also be gratinated or roasted.

You can eat both asparagus and salsify raw. You can cut them into slices or strips and marinate them with salt, pepper, lemon or vinegar. You can also use the cabbage. Mixed with apple pieces, carrots and/or walnuts, they make a tasty salad.

Black salsify can be prepared well with chard, shallots, parsley and oriental spices. A curry sauce is also good. Black salsify can be used with a variety of vegetables. You can also deglaze with your own or purchased vegetable stock.

Here are links to recipes: Instant vegetable stock with carrots, celery and leeks. This can be stored for up to a year. See also the ingredients for extra low-salt vegetable stock with instructions or the vegetable stock with little salt or the recipe for vegan vegetable stock. Of course, you can also use stock instead of stock. Stock serves both as a basic ingredient and as a dish in its own right, whereas stock is a heavily boiled down, concentrated, salt-free, i.e. unfinished, cooking ingredient. See vegan vegetable stock with celery, leeks, fennel, carrots.

Purchasing:

In Europe the season starts in October and ends in April. However, it is available as a fresh vegetable from Holland, Belgium and France from August to May.

Found in the wild:

Black salsify is very similar to the root vegetable burdock ( Arctium lappa, burdock, burdock root). The burdock is actually native to Eurasia and was mentioned as a crop at the time of Charlemagne. It grows wild on roadsides, fences, ruderal areas, on river gravel and in alluvial forests. However, it is hardly used in Europe. But in Japan it is used to prepare root vegetables with soy sauce, mirin and sesame oil. Black salsify can also be prepared as kinpira. ¹

Storage:

Black salsify can be kept in the fridge for a few days without any problems. It can also be wrapped up (tent-packed) if you have large quantities of it fresh. The vegetables must be dry, pest-free and undamaged. Twist or cut off the green parts, but do not wash the vegetables. A small amount of leaves can/should be left, but any soil adhering to them should not leave any damp marks. The very cool storage room should be rather damp. You can put a box of damp sand in the room as a humidifier. Fruit should not be stored in the same room because of the ripening gas ethylene.

Carrots, beetroot, root parsley, celeriac and of course salsify can also be covered in sand. The vegetables should not touch each other. This way, root vegetables stay crisp and fresh well into the winter. See Wikipedia under Miete (Haufwerk) for details.

Cultivation:

Black salsify thrives in loose and slightly sandy soil. It loves partially shaded or sunny locations. In the northern hemisphere, you can sow from mid to late April - or even in autumn - with the same result. The rows should be 25 to 30 cm apart and planted every 15 cm. Black salsify only needs basic fertilization with compost and horn shavings before sowing. In summer, it should be watered now and again.

The seeds today are mostly varieties with unbranched roots. Well-known varieties are Antonia, Duplex (taste), annual giants, Hoffmann's black stake, Meres, (resistant to powdery mildew), Russian giants, Black Peter, improved, non-shooting giant, Verbeterde Reuzen Nietschieters (branched roots can occur) ²

According to Wikipedia, the black salsify thrives especially in alkaline, mostly calcareous, mild-neutral, humus-rich, sandy or pure clay soils.

Ingredients:

In addition to many minerals, vitamins and glycosides, the easily digestible vegetable also contains inulin, a polysaccharide that is particularly suitable for diabetics. However, inulin can also lead to digestive problems such as flatulence or diarrhea in sensitive people. ³ Anyone who has problems with asparagus, such as flatulence, should avoid black salsify.

100 g of black salsify covers 50% of the daily requirement of vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol, TE, D307). The content of folate as a folic acid-active substance group is also excellent, namely 29% of the daily requirement. The coverage for copper is 30%, for iron 24% and for manganese 21%. This is measured against a calorie content of only 2.7%! If you compare the values even lower, then potassium (16%), phosphorus (11%) and calcium (7% coverage) are still high. ⁴

Health aspects:

Black salsify detoxifies the liver, promotes concentration (brain), stimulates red blood cells and acts against osteoporosis. ⁵

Like other vegetables in the Apiaceae family, salsify (oyster mushroom) contains many polyacetylene antioxidants such as falcarinol, falcarindiol, panaxydiol and methyl-falcarindiol. Studies at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne have shown that these compounds have anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal and anti-cancer properties and offer protection against colon cancer and acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). This is something that is more likely to be achieved by eating carrots. ¹¹

Use as a medicinal plant:

In the Middle Ages, Scorzone (Italian for poisonous snake) was used against snake bites and heart diseases. ⁶

Occurrence:

The origin of the black salsify is thought to be in southern Europe or northern Africa and the Middle East, although it is completely hardy. ⁷

The deep-rooted plant also spread to Central Europe. The black salsify is related to the oat root, which has a much simpler taste. The Swiss doctor, Conrad Gessner (1516-1565, died of the plague, called himself Cůnrat Geſſner) cultivated the garden black salsify in his garden.

General information:

Garden salsify is also called winter asparagus or the little or poor man's asparagus because it is prepared in a similar way and salsify is or was cheaper. In the past, salsify was also used to dilute coffee beans, as was the related chicory.

Alternative names are also black salsify (also used for comfrey!), winter asparagus, Schötzenmiere, vegetable oyster, Spanish black salsify, real black salsify, asparagus of the poor, Skorzener root (Skorzener root). English: Black salsify, Scorzonera; French: Scorsončre; Italian: Scorzonera; Spanish: Salsifí negro, Escorzonera. ⁸

From Wikipedia: The true black salsify is a plant genus in the subfamily Cichorioideae within the family Asteraceae. ⁶ The best known Scorzonera species of the approximately 175 species in Eurasia is the garden black salsify ( Scorzonera hispanica L.). Examples are the bristle-leaved black salsify ( Scorzonera aristata DC.), which is found in Spain, France, Italy, Austria and Slovenia. The Austrian black salsify is botanically called Scorzonera austriaca Willd. Other more important species are: Scorzonera cretica (Willd.), the low black salsify ( Scorzonera humilis L.); Scorzonera mollis subsp. idaea (Gand.) Lack. The Scorzonera hirsuta (Gouan) L. is found in Spain, France, Italy and Sicily. The Scorzonera mollis (M.Bieb.) occurs in two subspecies in southeastern Europe and the Middle East. The small-flowered salsify (Scorzonera parviflora Jacq.) is found in central, southern and southeastern Europe and in the Middle East. The Scorzonera sublanata (Lipsch.) is found in Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece, on islands in the Aegean Sea, in Turkey and in the Caucasus region of Russia and the Scorzonera syriaca (Boiss. & Blanche) is found in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and on the Sinai Peninsula. ⁹

The following synonyms exist for the garden salsify ( Scorzonera hispanica L.): Scorzonera denticulata Lam., Scorzonera glastifolia Willd., Scorzonera hispanica subsp. glastifolia (Willd.) Arcang. ¹⁰

There are several subspecies such as

• Scorzonera hispanica subsp. asphodeloides (Wallr.) Arcang. (Syn.: Scorzonera marschalliana CA Mey., Scorzonera stricta Hornem., Scorzonera taurica M. Bieb., Scorzonera transtagana Cout.): It occurs in Portugal, France, Italy, the Balkan Peninsula, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East.
• Scorzonera hispanica subsp. coronopifolia (Desf.) Rouy: Found in Portugal, Spain, France, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
• Scorzonera hispanica subsp. crispatula (DC.) Nyman: Known in Portugal, Spain and France.
• Scorzonere hispanica subsp. hispanica
• Scorzonera hispanica subsp. neapolitana (Grande) Greuter (syn.: Scorzonera neapolitana Grande): Found in Italy.
• Scorzonera hispanica subsp. trachysperma (Fiori) Maire & Weiller: It occurs in Libya. ⁶

Literature / Sources:

1. Pahlow M.: The big book of medicinal plants: Nikol Verlag; 2013. p.186.
2. plantura.garden
3. F. Keller et al., 100 Vegetables, Black Salsify, 1986, p. 122
4. USDA - United States Department of Agriculture.
5. lecker-ohne.de/ black-salsify-asparagus-of-the-poor-man
6. Wikipedia Black Salsify
7. W. Greuter & E. von Raab-Straube (ed.): Compositae. Euro+Med Plantbase – the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity.
8. lebensmittellexikon.de/sch00180.php
9. Wikipedia Black Salsify
10. Wikipedia Scrozonera (Italian)
11. pubs.rsc.org/en/ Content/ ArticleLanding/ 2017/FO/ C7FO00110J and ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pubmed/ 28197615