Les Salsifis et Les Scorsonères

In season in late autumn and in winter, there are two root vegetables that are both often called salsify. True salsify is also known in Britain as the vegetable oyster because, it is said, of its slightly fishy flavour but this seems hard to credit. Its skin is light brown and it is shaped like an over-long carrot. In contrast la scorsonère (or scorzonera, from an old Catalan word meaning viper because the roots of one kind were used in the treatment of snake bites) is dark, a