Hogweed shoots ✦

Berce commune

What it is

Borscht is named after this plant and not after beetroot: the Slavic borshch meant hogweed, and the original soup was made from its fermented stems long before beets took the name over. The same plant gives a second, quite different crop in late summer, when the green seeds smell of cardamom and orange peel.

In the kitchen

Peel the spring shoots — the skin is fibrous and the sap is mildly phototoxic, so pick and peel out of strong sun and wash your hands afterwards. Steam them four or five minutes like asparagus; toast the seeds whole and crush them at the last moment.

Goes with

Butter Egg Cream Cardamom Orange Potato

In season alongside

Sweetfish (ayu) Bell pepper Bitter melon Borage Buckler-leaf sorrel Celery

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