Bruscandoli, Bruscansi

The hop is a climbing plant with small thorns on its stems and only the tops of tender young shoots are used in cooking. This plant grows wild all over Italy, but is a speciality of the Veneto, where it is cooked in risottos. In springtime, little bunches of hop shoots can be found in the vegetable market of the Rialto. In the south, they are used in omelettes or simply boiled then sautéed with garlic. I eat them like asparagus, boiled with a little melted butter or, even better, with some hollandaise sauce.