Overview

Burdock is the long, tapering root of Arctium lappa, a biennial plant in the Asteraceae family. It has a firm, beige exterior and a crisp, white interior with an earthy, slightly sweet flavor and a texture similar to raw potato or water chestnut. The root is cultivated as a vegetable in East Asia and is also known as gobō in Japanese cuisine.

Origin and history

Greater burdock is native to temperate Eurasia, from the British Isles east through Europe and across Siberia to the Himalayas. It has been naturalized in North America, where it is often considered an invasive weed of high-nitrogen soils. In East Asia, burdock has been cultivated as a vegetable for centuries and is especially prominent in Japanese cuisine, where it is known as gobō. It also features in Korean and Chinese cuisines. In Europe, burdock has a long history of medicinal use, particularly in herbalism for blood purification, though it is rarely eaten as a vegetable there.

Varieties and aliases

  • Greater burdock, edible burdock, lappa, beggar’s buttons (English)
  • Gobō (Japanese: ごぼう)
  • Ueong (Korean: 우엉)
  • Niúbàng (Chinese: 牛蒡)
  • No named horticultural varieties are widely distinguished in culinary contexts.

Culinary uses

Burdock root is almost always peeled and then sliced, julienned, or shaved before cooking. It is commonly used in Japanese simmered dishes such as kinpira gobō (stir-fried and simmered with soy sauce, sugar, and chili) and motsu-ni (offal stew with daikon, konnyaku, and burdock root). In Korean cuisine, it appears as ueong-jorim, a soy-braised banchan served as a side dish or used as a gimbap component. The root is also pickled, added to soups, or grated into rice dishes. Its high dietary fiber content and low calorie count make it a common ingredient in macrobiotic cooking.

Notes for cooks

  • Peel burdock immediately before use, as the cut surface oxidizes and darkens rapidly. Submerge peeled pieces in acidulated water to prevent discoloration.
  • When substituting, there is no direct replacement. Salsify or parsnip approximate the texture but not the flavor.