Conscious Choice: Burdock Root

February 2001 | Cooking with the Seasons

Burdock Root

by Terra Brockman

Rosalind: How full of briers is this working day world!

Celia: They are but burrs, cousin, thrown upon thee in holiday foolery.

If we walk not in the trodden paths, our very petticoats will catch them.

— Shakespeare, As You Like It

Ah, the working day world and the briers and burrs for those who do not travel the trodden paths...that’s a subject for another article. This one is about the lowly and still little-known burdock. Those burrs on Celia’s and Rosalind’s petticoats were the seed heads of burdock (Arctium lappa), a biennial native to Siberia that is now found throughout most of the world. Fall is the time for the seed heads, but winter, as well as this article, is the time for the root.

Before we get there, a few words of praise for the burrs that plagued Celia and Rosalind. They do seem to reach out and grab anything that comes near, particularly petticoats, dogs, and children. A few years ago, when I was working on my brother’s organic farm, his son Asa assiduously picked burrs off of himself and put them delicately around the wrist openings of my sweater. They made such beautiful fall bracelets that I wore the sweater that way for months.

I can relate only one other tale of a person who found the seed-burrs of burdock beautiful and useful — the Swiss inventor George de Mestral. He was in the habit of taking long walks through the autumn countryside with his dog, and both would invariably return covered in burrs. During the de-burring, de Mestral inspected the prickly bracts closely and noticed hundreds of tiny hooks that would grab onto anything passing by. After experimenting with plastic models that he designed to mimic the burrs’ action, de Mestral presented the world with...Velcro.

Bracelets and Velcro notwithstanding, burdock is still considered nothing but a nuisance by almost everyone in this country. But if you look beyond the burrs, you’ll find the secret at the root of the weed: a crisp, earthy-sweet delight.

"Can’t Judge a Book..."

Burdock root definitely falls into the "can’t judge a book ..." category of vegetables. The humble exterior of the large, dark, woody-looking root belies the sweet, nutty, delicate, crunchy flesh within. Although its bark-like skin looks thick, it is actually tissue-paper-thin, able to be scraped away with a fingernail or light scrubbing.

My brother and I first encountered burdock as a food during our separate sojourns in Japan during the 1980s. Although the plant grows throughout Europe and North America, it had, until very recently, been cultivated only in Japan. It is now cultivated here and there throughout the United States, but its consumption is still more or less confined to those on a macrobiotic diet. Only now are we rediscovering what the Iroquois and other American Indians knew — and what the Japanese still know — that burdock is a delicious, nutritious, and even healing root vegetable.

For the Iroquois, burdock was an important winter food. They dug it in the fall, dried it, and then ate it throughout the long cold months of winter.

In addition to being used as a food item for millennia, many cultures have used burdock medicinally. Early Chinese physicians treated colds, flu, throat infections, and pneumonia with burdock preparations. India’s traditional Ayurvedic healers use it similarly. The medieval German abbess Hildegard von Bingen used it to treat cancerous tumors. Herbalists in Russia and India still prescribe burdock for patients with cancer. In the United States and Europe, herbalists often recommend burdock for arthritis, sciatica, indigestion, ulcers, and blood cleansing. Recent research has isolated chemicals in burdock that are antibacterial and antifungal, and others that are tumor-protective and desmutagenic. (Desmutagens are defined as substances that inactivate mutagens [cancer-causing agents] by reacting with them and taking them out of action.)

Burdock can be termed a health food simply by virtue of its high fiber and low calorie content. It is also a very good source of potassium and a moderate source of iron and calcium. In 100 grams (2.5 ounces or about H cup) of the fresh root there are 180 mg of phosphorus, 50 mg of calcium, 58 mg of phosphorus, 1.4 mg of iron, 0.03 mg of thiamin, and 0.05 mg of riboflavin. But perhaps the most unique aspect of the root is its very high amount of inulin, a naturally occurring phytochemical that mimics the actions of insulin. According to one source, from 27 percent to 45 percent of the root is inulin and some people have found it an effective food to control hypoglycemia and prediabetes conditions.

I make no claims for specific healing properties of burdock, but know that once you get over the way the root looks — tough, fibrous, dirty brown — and taste it, you will want it more and more. The crop is dug in the late fall and into the winter. In the frigid predawn of autumn, my brother bundles up in layer upon layer of clothing and drives down to the black bottomland. He parks in front of the gobo-hole, leaving the headlights on, and begins digging. Gobo is the Japanese word for burdock, which is considered an intensely "yang" vegetable. One of the characteristics of yang is heat generation and my brother periodically sheds layers as he carefully extricates the long taproot that goes down three to four feet in a good year. Burdock keeps well, so look for it at winter pantries and farmer’s markets. You may also find it in dried form at health food stores.

Burdock’s flavor is subtle and very much its own. Descriptions of flavors invariably fall short, but I have heard burdock described as "a combination of salsify and artichoke," or as having "a sweet, earthy flavor with a tender-crisp texture," or, my favorite, "it tastes just like burdock." I have done extensive experimentation and come up with all sorts of burdock recipes, ranging from soups to burdock chips. For novices, I recommend starting with the tried and traditional — simply add burdock chunks to stir-fries or your favorite soups and stews.

In Japan, the most common burdock dish is kimpira gobo. This is my sister-in-law’s recipe.

Hiroko’s Kimpira Gobo
(Stir-fried burdock and carrots with sesame and soy)

2 cups prepared burdock
2 cups prepared carrots
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 Tablespoons sesame seeds
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons dashi (optional)
1 Tablespoon water, as needed

1. Prepare the burdock and carrots in the same way, by washing and scraping the outer skin (they don’t have to be peeled). Then cut into matchstick-sized pieces. As you’re cutting the burdock, throw the pieces into a bowl of cold water to prevent them from turning brown in the air.

2. In a large skillet or wok, heat the vegetable oil and sesame oil. When it’s hot, sprinkle in the sesame seeds and cook, stirring, for about a minute.

3. Drain the burdock and add it and the carrots to the pan. Cook and stir over medium high heat for about five to seven minutes.

4. Add soy sauce and continue stir-frying. If you wish, add the dashi (available in Japanese and other Asian markets) and water and continue stir-frying until liquid has evaporated. The total cooking time is about ten minutes. The burdock will change color from milky white to shiny gray/ brown. It will be crisp, crunchy, earthy, and delicious.

Brown Rice with Burdock and Mushrooms

4 medium shiitake (or other robust mushrooms such as dried porcini)
2 cups hot water
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium burdock root (about 1/4 pound)
2 cups cold water mixed with 1 teaspoon salt
1 cup long-grain brown rice
1 small carrot and/or parsnip, sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Cut shiitake caps into thin strips or rehydrate porcini in warm water.

2. Scrub burdock and whittle it off in slivers, placing them in cold salted water as you proceed. Soak five minutes. Drain burdock and place in a heavy oven-proof pot with water, mushrooms, rice, carrot, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

3. Remove from the stove and cover. Bake in a 350 degrees F oven forty-five minutes. Let stand fifteen to thirty minutes. Uncover, fluff, and serve.

Crispy Rolls of Burdock with Prosciutto and Parmesan
(Adapted from a recipe using salsify instead of burdock in Cooking with Daniel Boulud © 1993 by Daniel Boulud)

6 small burdock roots, scrubbed
juice of 1 lemon
6 to 8 slices of prosciutto (1/4 pound)
6 sheets phyllo dough
2 Tablespoons sweet butter, melted
freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4 pinches freshly ground nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Scrub the burdock and place in cold water with lemon juice.

2. Take roots out one at a time and wrap with prosciutto. Place a sheet of phyllo dough on the countertop. Brush the sheet with melted butter and sprinkle it with Parmesan, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Place a root wrapped in prosciutto along the edge of the shorter length of the dough. Tightly wrap each root in this manner. Brush each roll with butter and sprinkle with or roll them in Parmesan.

3. Place the rolls on a greased baking sheet and bake until golden brown — five to seven minutes. Cut each roll at an angle in two-inch pieces. Serve immediately.

Terra Brockman is the director of The Land Connection Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving farmland and promoting small-scale, diversified, organic agriculture in Illinois. Visit www.thelandconnection.org or call 309-965-2407 to learn how to get involved.

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