Topic: Salsify

[AlanP]

Is it time to dig up a couple of salsify yet,  :)   it is the first time I have grown these and not really sure how to tell when they are ready  :(

[lin]

I'm not sure either... I dug a couple of mine up but they were quite small roots and not particularly tasty so did a search on the web, and it seems they are not ready for digging till about October, so I am just going to leave them and wait.

I planted Scorzonera last year which is similar but the roots were so long I couldn't dig them all up so I have them sprouting too this year, but that root was quite tasty (well... what I managed to dig up anyway).
Lin

[saddad]

Leave the Salsify as long as possible.. Alan. The Scorzonera is perennial Lin and can be dug when large enough.. I'm trying to establish a bed but struggling with germination..
 :-\

[cleo]

I agree that it`s a bit early yet for them. I like both sals ify and scozonera but why anyone would describe salsify as a `vegetable oyster` is beyond me.

[bupster]

I can't remember which I planted where - the tops are bunches of long, thin grass-like leaves. Any ideas? Google images just confused me even more!

[Lauren S]

What do they tatste like?
I have never seen any in the shops, so very clueless (Nothing new there then)  ;D

Lauren

[real food]

SALSIFY
You eat the long, thin, brown coloured roots in late Autumn but this vegetable is probably an acquired taste. The plants have a pretty purple daisy like flower. A hardy biannual, from the Sandwich  Islands, and easily grown from seed. The flower bud is edible.

SCORZONERA
A perennial, very similar to Salsify except that the edible root has a black skin, and the flowers are a yellow daisy-like flower. Originally from Spain, it is easily grown from seed sown in situ. Can be harvested through the winter. The flower bud is also edible.

So it is the colour of the roots and the colour of the flowers that will identify which plant you have.
An Italian plotter tells me that scorzonera grows wild in Italy.

I am not growing either this year, as I have got bored with them!

This information is taken from my web site, given below.

[saddad]

Scorzonera has broader leaves... if you don't want to dig them to see which is which... Salsify grows wild on our lotties after I let some go to seed one year...
 :-[