Black salsify ...advice anyone?

[battybird]

Help! We were in france and bought a packet of what my OH fondly thought were black runner beans (he should have had his reading glasses on!) Now home he has opened the packet and we have belatedly translated the name of the plants...turns out to be black salsify. Has anyone any tips on growing / cooking this veg? We dont speak french and my rough translation seems to be that they are planted 20 cm apart at 2-3cm deep. Then...maybe... plant them in a circle about 8-10cm. Have searched online and found that they are perennial and best hgarvested the following year..and a few bits about cooking them. But personal exprience would be useful...so can anyone help?

[sleepyowl]

I tried them once & I wasn't that impressed with the flavour, though that might have been the variety we grew, I would wash them lightly steam the & serve with garlic butter, this was the tastiest way we had them. They pretty much look after themselves but try to make sure that the soil is not too compacted around them so their roots an swell

[Marc]

I concur with sleepyowl's comments. Easy to grow but I wasn't impressed with them as a vegetable. However, I don't think much of asparagus either so you may not agree

[battybird]

Thanks Marc and sleepyowl! Have i sussed out the planting advice? What did you do? Actually I love asparagus, hate globe artichokes tho!!

[doofaloofa]

I have a book(Grow your own Fruit and Vegitables. Laurence D Hills) that sugests growing scorzenera as Chicken food/compost material (the tops), and then a green manure (the deep roots)

Because they are compositae family,they dont clash so much with the rotatation

[sleepyowl]

you just put them in the ground * let them grow they are low hassle