Salsify aka: Oyster Vegetable
$4.90
Availability: members only
FAMILY: ASTERACAEAE
GENUS: Tragopogon SPECIES: porrifolius
Description
Heritage Status: New Zealand
Bio-Region of Origin: Christchurch wild harvested
Number of Seeds: 50
Description: Salsify is an old vegetable that is a fantastic addition to the vege garden. This cultivar came from a wild patch outside a retirement village that Henry Harrington found one day in Southland and which had unusually large long fleshy roots. Plant in spring and harvest all winter. The long roots are excellent to eat. A lot like kūmara. You cook them in their skins (and slide the skin off when cooked), and the flowers are also edible and a beautiful mauve star like flower. They self seed and are great to naturalise in wild areas.
Planting Instructions: Direct scatter sow over 2sqm in spring. Cover with an old sheet or 70% shade cloth while germinating. Salsify seed is not long lived.
