Burdock (Arctium) root is a tasty addition to a stir fry. You can use either Greater Burdock (Arctium lappa) or Lesser Burdock (Arctium minus).
IMPORTANT: When harvesting burdock root, make sure that you gather it only from first year burdock. Second year burdock is past its edibility prime and is not recommended as a food stuff.
Also make sure when collecting Burdock that you harvest from an area that is flush with the plant. Never completely harvest the whole patch, always leave some plants to continue to grow. Remember this isn’t strip-mining it’s sustainable food gathering.
Step 1
First off, find a nice patch of burdock.
Step 2
Reach down into the stems and push the foliage aside.
Step 3
As you can see the stems are very visible.
Step 4
Dig straight down uncovering the root as you go. The root can be very long, so take care not to dig in your spade and chop off the root before you have got to the bottom of it.
Step 5
Take enough plants to last you a mean. In the picture above, I harvested enough burdock for a stir fry and to make a herbal decoction (medicine).
Step 6
In your kitchen, clean and trim the burdock roots.
Step 7
Now peel the skin off just like you would a carrot.
Step 8
Place peeled burdock roots into a bowl of water with a cap full of cider vinegar. This prevents the root from discolouring.
Step 9
When ready to cook, slice the root into matchstick pieces, along with some carrot. Amounts will vary depending on how many people you are feeding. I use the same amount of burdock root as I do carrot for each person.
Step 10
Fry the burdock root and carrot in a heavy frying pan or wok. Add a small amount of Tamari or Soya Sauce, and continue stir frying your dish. Mine took between 5 to 7 minutes until it was ready.
Step 11
What I like is for the dish to slightly caramelise, but play with the recipe.
Burdock root is also nice peeled, sliced and eaten raw with a little sea salt. I find it reminds me of raw celeriac.
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Great recipe – can’t wait to try it.
Might try to cultivate a Burdock patch in our allotment – ah – but then they won’t be weeds.
cheers,
Rick
Actually I’m all for encouraging folk to plant “wild food” in their veg gardens because not only are they perennial (OK burdock is biannual), they are also extremely disease resistant, as well as having a delicious taste.
OK “not” all wild food tastes fab, but a huge amount of it does, and often I think, better than the veg you buy.
Just wanted something different and fell upon burdock and seem to be in love with the stuff.
How do you know if it is the first year? Also, if I wanted to transfer to my garden, would I just have to take a foraged specimen, replant it in my garden and let it do the rest?
Thanks a bunch
Hi,
Could I just clarify something with you. I am a little confused as to how to identify Burdock and would love to try yours and other recipes. On Wikepedia the image of Burdock is thistle like yet the image you have here looks like dock leaves (used to calm nettle stings). Is this correct?
Sean
Sean: Forget the internet and get some good plant ID books out of the library. Here’s my suggested list.
Thanks for the great pictures! I was able to locate a few patches in our woods here (Columbus, Ohio) and the recipe looks great!!! Thanks again!
Hi. New at this herbal things but very interesting. Wanted to try burdock. Do you recommend eating them dry? I’m a person with low iron, and many other nutrients. So I’m looking for some helpful input.
Thanks
I have never heard of eating the root before, but we eat the stalks…garduna.
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