Burdock
On a sparkling day in Cape Town, with the sun appearing for the first time in several cloudtangled week, it's hard to remember that back in in my other home, the hamlet of New York City, a prematurely hot, sticky summer has descended like a sodden, steaming duvet.
(Comforter. Do you say duvet or comforter? Does anyone say eiderdown?)
But that reminds me about burdock, the weed with large furry leaves, whose flowering stalks are now perhaps attaining some serious elevation. But before they are six feet tall, though...you should eat them. Really.
Burdock root is usually known as gobo - and is cultivated as vegetable in Japan, and also Hawaii. But this is all about the easy-to-harvest-stem.
Here's my story about edible burdock - recognizing it and how to use it - in the current edition of Edible Manhattan.
We call it a doona in Australia. I have never heard anyone else call it that. My partner who has Irish parents calls it a duvet. And also sofa instead of couch.
ReplyDeleteWe call it dyne in Danish - not too different
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