Under a tuft of long leaves and yellow flowers, black salsify (Scorzonera hispanica) forms a dark-skinned root that peels like a carrot and stands in for potato in mash, stews or thin strips on the barbecue. Give it deep, light, rich, well-drained soil in full sun and the roots come up superb.
| Name | Scorzonera hispanica |
|---|---|
| Family | Asteraceae |
| Type | vegetable |
| Height | 12 to 36 inches (30 to 90 cm) |
| Exposure | full sun |
| Soil | deep, rather light, rich & well drained |
| Sowing | end of winter, early spring |
| Harvest | from mid-fall to early spring |
Whether you start from seed or plant young plants directly, you’ll see that it’s quite easy to grow superb black salsify roots.
Black salsify can be grown from seed or by planting young sprouts.
This method of growing black salsify can be successfully followed by all, even beginners.
If you’ve purchased black salsify as young plants in pots, plan to transfer them to the ground in spring.
Black salsify is a perennial or biennial that calls for minimal care, perhaps only regular watering in case of high temperatures.
Black salsify is a vegetable that is quite easy-growing and it fears only very few diseases.
Nonetheless, it may be that your plants attract slugs and caterpillars…
One can harvest black salsify from Mid-autumn to mid-spring, simply pulling the roots out.
If frost has set the soil hard, wait for a thaw before lifting, since digging frozen ground is difficult and the unyielding soil makes it easy to break or bruise the roots.
From the first grooves drawn at the end of winter to the last roots pulled in spring, black salsify asks for very little. Here is the whole cycle in one glance.
| Task | When | How |
|---|---|---|
| Sowing | End of winter, early spring and mid-spring | Directly in the ground, in ¾ inch (2 cm) grooves spaced 8 inches (20 cm) apart |
| Thinning | As soon as the first leaves appear | Thin the seedlings out along the row |
| Planting young plants | Spring | 8 inches (20 cm) between plants, 6 inches (15 cm) between lines, in full sun |
| Mulching | As winter draws near | Dried leaf mulch spread over the plants |
| Harvesting | Mid-autumn to mid-spring | Pull the roots up gently, they break easily |
Roots left in place for a second year usually come up larger still.
Scorzonera is another name for black salsify. It’s quite easy to cook and prepare, certainly no more difficult than potato or parsnip!
You can use it in all your recipes to replace potato: mashed, in stews, baked in the over…
In addition, it’s delicious when cut into thin strips and grilled, like on a barbecue.
Simply peel the skin off with a vegetable knife, as you would carrot.
Boiling beetroot whole and unpeeled, then slipping the skins off once cooked, avoids peeling the raw roots and keeps the flesh intact, though the exposed flesh can still stain hands.
Its many varieties like ‘Russian black giant’ and ‘Spanish salsify’, the hispanica variety, must not lead you into thinking that black and white salsify are the same, even though they are quite similar.
It is often confused with salsify which is a different albeit related plant. Black salsify has a higher culinary value.
Black salsify can be identified thanks to its black root and yellow flowers, and white salsify roots are white with pink or blue flowers.
Black salsify has high levels of carbohydrates, allantoin and also vitamins E, B and C. This makes this root a very interesting vegetable as regards nutrition.
It is recommended to amend the soil with compost before planting and to loosen up the soil well.
