Burdock

Scientific Name: – Arctium lappa

Arctium lappa, commonly called greater burdock, gob?,edible burdock, lappa, or beggar’s buttons, is a biennial plant of the Arctium (burdock) genus in the Asteraceae family, cultivated in gardens for its root used as a vegetable. It is an invasive weed of high-nitrogen soils.
The root contains a fair amount of gob? dietary fiber (GDF, 6g per 100g), calcium, potassium, amino acids, and is low calorie. It contains polyphenols that causes darkened surface and muddy harshness by formation of tannin-iron complexes. Those polyphenols are caffeoylquinic acid derivatives.
The root is very crisp and has a sweet, mild, and pungent flavor with a little muddy harshness that can be reduced by soaking julienned/shredded roots in water for five to ten minutes. The harshness shows excellent harmonization with pork in miso soup (tonjiru) and takikomi gohan (a Japanese-style pilaf).

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