What's in Season: Salsify

An ideal winter vegetable

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What's in Season: Salsify

Salsify is the root of a type of sunflower plant that is used as a vegetable. It can be used raw, often seen as an ingredient in slaws, or can be cooked, when the flavor resembles that of a raw oyster to many people, and thus the alias of oyster plant and oyster root. Salsify requires a long five-month growing season, though the root can be left in the ground once it’s matured -- an easy form of storage that makes salsify an ideal winter vegetable.

Its origins are a little vague, probably because various cultivars are native to various regions of the world, though it is said to have originated in the Mediterranean.

Salsify is essentially a root vegetable, though sprouting leaves from the root can be eaten raw and are added to salad mixes.

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Tags: root vegetable, slideshow, salsify, vegetables, What's in Season, Gregory Dal Piaz

Comments

Nicki-
Spear

Hand of Snooth

178306 4,149

I just had this for the first time this past Saturday and it was delicious. My husband and I ate dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns - amazing restaurant outside of NYC in West Chester County.

Jan 10, 2011 at 4:53 PM