01.17.07
Preparing burdock root and yarn.
Last night I cooked up some burdock root with carrots and onions and decided to take some pictures just for the fun of it. Some people may not be familiar with burdock root, but it’s the same as gobo root. Burdock root is the name used by herbalist. The markets may have it under “gobo root,” which I believe is the Japanese name for the same thing. Articum lappa is the scientific name, while common names are lappa, bardane, and beggar’s buttons. The roots, leaves, and seeds can be used, but I’ve only used the roots, so far. According to herbalists, burdock root is used to promote kidney functions and helps these organs to filter blood. It is a good blood purifier and is used for arthritis rheumatism, sciatica and lumbago. The seeds and leaves are a strong surface purifier and are used for treating skin disorders. (According to Chinese medicine, food is better than herbs in regards to good health. Herbs are fast acting, but foods are long lasting. I sure hope they’re right. In that case, I try to focus on eating healthful foods to improve my health even if it may be slow in seeing healing results.) This is what burdock root looks like before it’s chopped and cooked. I suggest only using organic burdock root to avoid artificial chemicals.
To prepare it, take a veggie brush and brush it well. Then chop it up. I like to chop it into sticks as shown in the picture below. For this dish, I chopped up two burdock roots, two carrots, and half a yellow onion. This is what they look like chopped just before cooking.
In a skillet, I put in about 2 tbsp of sesame oil to a medium heat and put in the chopped burdock root. I stir it up and let it cook for about 3 minutes. If the pan is getting too hot, lower the heat. You don’t want the oil smoking because that means it’s burning. Then I add in the carrots and onions and some spring water (about 1/2 cup or more, I tend to eyeball my cooking). If you want, you can also add a little bit of Tamari sauce. Cover skillet and let cook for about 20 to 30 minutes or until the burdock root is fully cooked. Meanwhile, I roast some sesame seeds, which is very quick, and chop up a little bit of green onion for garnishing. after the roots are all cooked, I transfer them into a dish, and add the green onions and sprinkle the sesame seeds on. The finished dish looks like this.
Aside from this dish, I also cooked up some liver with bacon and onions, rice, and a little beans. And that’s what we had for dinner. I cooked this for my mom the other week, and at first she thought the burdock roots were french fries, ha! They do look that way, tho.
The other thing I’ve been up to lately is hand spinning. While running searches on fibers, I came across spinning and found a local shop which carried spinning wheels, hand spindles, fibers, etc. I popped in and the owner was kind enough to give me a free hand spinning lesson. I ended up coming home with a few items to dabble with hand spinning my own yarns. I’m starting with the undyed stuff first to see how it goes. If I can do it, and it’s enjoyable, I’ll see about dying my own fibers to spin. Here’s a pic of the supplies I got. Apparently, you don’t need much. To get started, all that’s needed is a hand spindle, a niddy noddy to wind the spun yarn, and fiber. I chose wool. The hank in the picture is 4 oz. The brown looking fiber draped over my hand spindle was just the test fiber I was given to learn to spin.
Okay, so I’m off to practice!
Marlakins 
