Clean and prepare purple morning star

Wash the leaves. You can then use the leaves in salads or prepare them in the same way as spinach. Before use, brush the roots clean under running water.

Then cook the carrots in their skins, plunge them into cold water and peel off the skin. Use kitchen gloves, as peeling releases a sticky juice that sticks to your hands (salsify has been nicknamed 'kitchen maid's regret' because of this).

Then slice the salsify into pieces.

Alternatively, you can peel the salsify before cooking. To do this, brush the purple morning star under running water. The peel will be a bit harder to remove. Use kitchen gloves for this preparation method too.

Purple morning star is a forgotten vegetable, partly because cleaning it is a lot of work. Yet that is a shame, because the pale cream flesh is delicious and resembles artichoke and asparagus.

Preparation times

Cooking: 20 - 25 minutes
Microwave oven: 4 - 6 minutes
Grilling: 2 - 4 minutes
Braising: 25 - 30 minutes
Steaming: 30 - 35 minutes

Storing purple morning star

In a cool (12-15ºC) dry place, the roots will keep for a few weeks. To prevent drying out, it is best to wrap them in perforated plastic.

Peeled purple morning star (blanch raw first for about 5 minutes) can be kept in the freezer for up to 12 months (at a minimum of -18ºC) in a well-sealed plastic bag or container.

Do you have leftover cooked purple morning star? Then you can keep the leftover in a sealed container in the fridge for 2 days or in the freezer for 3 months.

Storage times

Raw
Cool place: 2-3 weeks
Deep-freeze (blanch for 5 minutes first): 12 months

Leftover cooked purple morning star
Refrigerator: 2 days
Frozen: 3 months

How do I know if the vegetable is no longer good?

Purple morning star is mouldy or feels/is dried out when this root is no longer good. You can recognise this decay by looking or feeling carefully.