Are Weeds Ever Useful? Looking At Burdock

Don’t confuse this week’s blog with last Tuesday’s blog “Are Weeds Ever Beneficial?”.  What we are talking now is weeds that are used rather than or instead of other plants, for example in cooking.


This week we are going to look at a weed called Burdock.

No wild weed discussion would be complete without mentioning burdock. This weed lives two years, producing a 4- to 5-foot-tall flower stalk during its second summer. The flowers turn to the seed burs that give the plant its name. The burs, with their hooked tips, are said to be the inspiration for Velcro. 

Fresh burdock root is delicious in soup or stew. Prepare it as you would carrots and add it to cooked dishes. Harvest the long root in fall and spring, or in the winter if your ground doesn’t freeze and you can find the plant after its leaves have died down. Burdock is a popular herbal medicine that can help regenerate liver cells.

Actually burdock is used in Asian cooking and even served as a standalone vegetable. Burdock refers to Arctium, a genus of plants, particularly the species: Arctium lappa, or "Greater burdock", a vegetable often referred to by the Japanese name gobō.  Here we see Burdock referred to first and foremost as a vegetable. 

Many folks agree that while Burdock looks rather like a small carrot it has a quite different taste and by many is felt to be too bitter to be enjoyable. ‘=

In many parts of Asia, young burdock roots, flower stems and even very young leaves are consumed eagerly. The long thin root of the burdock is only a few centimeters wide but can reach over a meter in length are crisp and the taste is mild. They are best after thinly sliced and soaked in water to remove any bitter taste. There have been studies that the fiber of the burdock is a good aid to digestion. In the United Kingdom, it is combined with dandelion to make traditional soft drink that is quite popular today.

The burdock in appearance is sometimes confused with cockle burr or even rhubarb, both members of the same family of plants, as is the artichoke. Dark green leaves shaped like hearts or large ovals often up to twenty eight inches in length jut from the hollow stems that can reach over a yard in length. The burdock flowers from June until October, turn into green or silver buds and purple blooms. After blooming, the seeds are enclosed inside the burr, which is equipped with sharp hooks. After the burrs are dispersed, the plant dies down.

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