Black salsify

Pseudopodospermum hispanicum

vegetable · root · prebiotic

A long root with black skin and white, milky flesh, from a plant of the dandelion family from southern Europe; peeled, then cooked. It provides fructans.

Origin

Southern Europe

Season (United States)

October to March

Preparation

It is peeled with gloves, or cooked first in its skin, which then slips off: its latex blackens the fingers.

Molecules

Fructans (inulin, FOS)

Did you know?

Its name probably comes from the Catalan escurçó, “viper”; in 1612, The Lonely Gardener called it the best root that can be grown in a garden.