For the second in our series of Wild Edibles, I’ve decided to do write about a weed that I have a “love - hate” relationship with: Burdock! If you’re from my neck of the woods, you call it a “cockleburr” …

Now, this is one that I’m pretty sure most of you will recognize. You know … those nasty little buggers that stick to your clothes and won’t let go? Lookie here … I got some on my slippers! And that’s not the only place I got them either, but we won’t go there … *rolls eyes* … next time, I just won’t sit on the grass!

The term Burdock refers to a group of biennial thistles in the genus Arctium, of the family Asteraceae. Common Burdock grows wild throughout most of North America, Europe and Asia. The Asteraceae family includes some plants which you would never associate with a cockleburr … for instance, the Daisy!

Now, I bet you’re wondering how on earth you eat those fuzzy, sticky, obnoxious little parasites …

Well, the short answer is: you don’t!

You eat the root, and the stem … and believe it or not, they’re quite a treat!

About Burdock, Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs says:

Burdock fuses the flavor of potato and celery. The root is used fresh in cooking, and most commonly scrubbed or peeled, chopped, and steamed for about 30 minutes or sautéed for about 15 minutes. It can also be peeled, chopped and soaked for about 30 minutes in several changes of cold water before cooking.

As for the rest of the plant, there seems to be somebody somewhere who eats each part. The tender spring leaves of first year plants become raw salad greens or, steamed or sautéed like spinach. a cooked vegetable. The young stalks can be picked, peeled, and chopped and used raw or, like asparagus, steamed for about 10 minutes. Even the young second year stalks, reportedly, can be edible if peeled to reveal the pith and cooked.

Frequently used in Japanese cooking, burdock’s taste is mild and appropriate in simple soups, stews, pickles and relishes.

I should add at this juncture that the Orientals call this wild delicacy “Gobo.” I found an excellent video about digging up Gobo for the dinner table … take a peek!

The last time we had Gobo, it looked like our yard had been dug up by an army of woodchucks! Those roots go down pretty darn deep! I was prancing around, exclaiming as I went: “Ooooh! Here’s another one!!!” … while my poor husband straggled along behind me, shovel in hand … making loud groaning noises every time I found another. The man has no sense adventure! After a while, the groans his back was making were as loud as the groans he was making, and we decided we’d just stick to picking the stems …

Later on, I scrubbed and peeled … it was horribly difficult work. All my lazy husband did was sit in his chair and moan, hanging onto his back … poor me standing there at the sink, doing all of the hard work by myself … *blink!* Ah well! Men never appreciate a woman’s worth!

Anyway, after all of my hard work, and my husband’s loud groans, we finally got to enjoy the gobo! It made me think a bit of asparagus, but with a hint of celery. The young stems were more tender than the roots, but all had the same delightful flavor.

Photo Credits:

Purdue University
- http://www.vet.purdue.edu/depts/addl/toxic/color02.htm
Virginia Tech
- http://ipm.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/arfmi.htm

On Tuesday last … the 20th … Dr. Hébert left the following comment on one of my posts:

By the way, I am working on another way to blow off steam — a serial novel. I have already written a chapter. I intend to publish it one chapter at a time. If people don’t like it, I’ll kill it off in a few chapters, but if it is well received, I intend to carry it over about 20 installments, maybe more.

Each chapter will be very short, no more than 500 words. Chapter one comes in at 350. It will be a suspense novel, violent, adulterous, lecherous, and consistently silly. By compressing it so much I hope to make it funnier, and very easy to read. It will be a running joke on my site, for awhile, until I run out of ideas.

The title: “The Blistering.”

I told him that if he did, I would link to it!

Guess what! He did! And here’s my end of the deal!

I haven’t decided if the first person we’re meeting is a hero, or an anti-hero yet … I guess we’ll have to wait and see!

He has a very intriguing start … don’t miss out!

Classmate X and I shared a very pleasant course in November and December of last year. We spent a lot of time entertaining each other, since we were required to “post” to our “classroom threads” no less than 3 times a week … with what is euphemistically tagged as “valued added posts.”

To my delight, I discovered that my dear classmate has a web site of his own: The Partnership for an Idiot Free America. I also discovered, even more delightfully, that he’s wonderfully opinionated, blunt, and is a very entertaining read! I would hate to have to answer some of his mail though …

Classmate X and I agree on quite a few points, even if I’m not always quite as outspoken. >;o)

He picked up on the Abuse thread we’ve been having here, and weighed in with his own opinion. As always, he can take whatever is said, and distill it down to its bare essence … and then spit it back out at you in plain English!

If you’re easily offended, politically correct, or lean rather a bit to the left … I warn you now … don’t go there.

P.S.

By the way … should one of us actually tell him that his hopes for an “Idiot Free America” are a bit idealistic? I think that if we ever achieved such a thing, someone would certainly invent a better idiot!

Dr. Bob has posted Part VI of his series: The Maze - Pt 6: The Nigerian Health Care Plan. As we move through the zoo which our health care system has become, we find ourselves in our fourth maze … we have danced with gorillas, been cornered by Rottweilers, and now we’re entertaining monkeys …

In Doctor Bob’s words:

Whoa, Nellie!! you say–surely no sane businessman or doctor with an IQ above room temperature would fall for such an offer? Yup, we docs do, all the time–in fact, there’s little choice in the matter. So how did we get into this mess?

[…]

So while they bent, folded, and mutilated the health care reimbursement system beyond recognition, they reaped a windfall of company profits while premiums soared, physicians’ reimbursements hemorrhaged, and claims hassles for physicians and patients multiplied like guppies.

Who are “they“? The large insurance companies.

Our eyes are closed. We’re not paying attention. The system can not continue in this manner. Turning a blind eye, hoping it will “fix itself,” is eventually going to lead to a complete meltdown.

I’ve never seen it more clearly explained anywhere else … if you want to understand what’s happening to our health care system, this is highly recommended reading.

Here are links to the earlier posts in the series:

Governments Respond to Preliminary Finding of Avian Influenza in Prince Edward Island

Canadian authorities implement disease control measures. First North American response.

As a precautionary measure the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), in collaboration with the Government of Prince Edward Island, has implemented disease control measures in and around a premises in western Prince Edward Island where a young goose in a backyard flock tested positive for an avian influenza virus. It is important to note that this finding does not indicate a new threat to human health.

The virus was determined to be an H5 subtype in testing conducted by the Atlantic Veterinary College laboratory in Charlottetown. The sample has been sent to the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease (NCFAD) in Winnipeg for further testing to confirm its strain and pathogenicity. The NCFAD is Canada?s national reference laboratory for avian influenza. Testing is being conducted on a priority basis, results will be communicated as soon as they are available.

This information obtained from Canadian Food Inspection Agency