salsify

[ sal-suh-fee ]

/ ˈsæl sə fi /

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noun, plural sal·si·fies.

a purple-flowered, composite plant, Tragopogon porrifolius, whose root has an oyster-like flavor and is used as a culinary vegetable.

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Also called oyster plant, vegetable oyster.

Origin of salsify

1690–1700; <French salsifis, variant of sassefy, sassef(r)ique<Italian sassef(r)ica) < ?

Words nearby salsify

salpingostomy, salpingotomy, salpinx, salsa, salsa verde, salsify, sal soda, salt, salta, saltando, saltant

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use salsify in a sentence

This method is especially satisfactory with new potatoes and with such vegetables as carrots, parsnips, salsify, and turnips.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 2|Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
When thus prepared, salsify lends itself to the same forms of preparation as do the other root vegetables.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 2|Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
The salsify was more cultivated a century or two ago than it is now.
Origin of Cultivated Plants|Alphonse De Candolle
Or, instead of mashing the salsify after boiling, some prefer to drain it, and to dip each piece in batter and fry it in hot lard.
Vaughan's Vegetable Cook Book (4th edition)|Anonymous

Use a pint of salsify cut fine, boil until soft in a pint of water, mash and put through a sieve.
Vaughan's Vegetable Cook Book (4th edition)|Anonymous

British Dictionary definitions for salsify

salsify

/ (ˈsælsɪfɪ) /

noun plural -fies

Also called: oyster plant, vegetable oyster a Mediterranean plant, Tragopogon porrifolius, having grasslike leaves, purple flower heads, and a long white edible taproot: family Asteraceae (composites)

the root of this plant, which tastes of oysters and is eaten as a vegetable

Word Origin for salsify

C17: from French salsifis, from Italian sassefrica, from Late Latin saxifrica, from Latin saxum rock + fricāre to rub

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012