Purple Salsify - Oyster Plant - Heirloom Vegetable - 20 Seeds

Salsify is an old-fashioned heritage root crop. This Mediterranean winter vegetable has a delicate taste, ever so slightly sweet, some say slightly reminiscent of oysters so much so that oyster plant is one of its common names. Although primarily a root crop, the young shoots called chards, flower buds, and flowering shoots can also be eaten. A biennial plant, salsify is grown as an annual and harvested in its first year. The leaves look like a clump of grass and the root is about the size of a large carrot, bumpy like a parsnip with beige skin. When cultivated for a few years, salsify will produce stalks that bear purple flowers. Salsifys grass-like tops are slightly sweet and tender enough to be eaten in salads, the roots of the plant are dug up and cooked as you would parsnips.