The Italian Vegetable known as Salsola (Barba di Frate)

[Kim A]

I've posted this on F&D as well, but had little luck (only one response!) - can any garden-y type person help? We are growing this in our garden. It's an Italian vegetable plant. We've eaten it raw (it's delicious, by the way!) and we understand that the Italians braise it with oil and cook it in salted water to use as a side dish. Has anyone else out there ever grown it here, and, if so, what did you do with it? My husband was seduced, like so many others, by the description in the seed catalogue, but we've been unable to find much info about Salsola, despite trawling the internet. Any info gratefully received!

[Fitzer]

It seems to be a member of the chicory family so I would imagine you could treat it in the same way (this is the European definiton of chicory by the way, to us it would be radicchio). Here is what Wikipedia has to say http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsola_soda

[Fitzer]

Sorry, I've just seen that you've tried Wikipedia, looks as if you need to trawl Italian cookery books, you could always drop Antonio Carluccio a line ☺ I found quite a few recipes using the Italian Barba di Frate to search but I don't speak Italian and the online translators don't work very well for food items. Good luck

[Kim A]

Thanks, Fitzer - the wiki reference was the one we had already found for ourselves, but many thanks for taking the time to pass it on! It's a really weird plant, also related to tumbleweed. It looks a bit like samphire crossed with asparagus fern, bright green and stalky, but seems to get taller, not broader with each growth spurt. I'm interested in what the Italians actually do with it and if anyone other than the seed supplier we got it from (and us!) is actually growing and using it.

[Kim A]

Ooh, sorry - we've crossed posts here! Good idea, though!