Salsify Seed Sandwich Island

Also known as the vegetable oyster this is a vegetable that is rarely seen in UK supermarkets but often seen on the continent. If you don't know this vegetable you should! If you're worried about how to cook this we've put some basic cooking guidance below.

It has a very distinctive and pleasant sweetish mild flavour, totally different from any other vegetable and often said to be similar to oysters - yes oysters from the sea! If that puts you off (which it shouldn't) some stores sell it in tins, ready to eat, so you can try it first.

Grows as a very long white tapering root rather like long white parsnips. The flesh is sweet and tender - in fact, Sandwich Island is often noted as the finest tasting variety.

The roots keep well in the ground all winter long (even in the hardest of winters) and will still be good to eat right through to March.

• Sow thinly in ½" (1 cm) deep drills in rows 12" (30 cm) apart from April-May (can also be sown late summer for harvesting the following autumn).
• Thin to 8" (20 cm) apart.
• Lift as required from August onwards, leaving the remaining roots in the ground; the longer they are left in the ground the larger they will grow.
• Any roots left in over the winter will produce tender shoots which can be cut when around 6" (15 cm) long and cooked like Asparagus; left even longer they will produce pretty purple-blue flowers which can also be steamed and eaten.

• Top Tips
• Always sow direct where they are going to be grown as transplanting will cause forking.
• Salsify prefers a well-drained and well-cultivated soil but will grow well in most soils including heavy clay.
• Avoid recently manured soils and stony soils as these will cause forking.
• Water well in periods of dry weather to ensure sweeter tender roots.
• As with parsnips, flavour is improved after frost.

• Cooking Salsify
• Lift the roots as required.
• Blanch in hot water before scraping with a knife; then pop back into water, to which a few drops of lemon juice have been added, for half an hour.
• Chop into approximately 4" (10 cm) lengths and steam or boil before serving with a melted butter or a cream sauce.
• Alternatively, pan fry in a good quality olive oil and serve drizzled with lemon juice.