I'm Mike from Hemlock, NY. My brothers and I harvest the Burdock that grows here-and-there around our homes in upstate New York. We are carrying on a tradition that my grandma instilled in us. We've talked about retrieving the dried out Burdock sticker heads and then crushing them up and sowing their seeds in our garden. But we've never had to do that since our needs are being met with the wild stuff. They grow in the edges of the woods, on the roadsides, and in corners of planted fields. We learned about Burdock from my Grandma Bessie Guiffreda. She called it Cardooni (pronounced "Gar-doon-ee"). Most people around upstate NY just call it Cardoon (pronounced "Gar-doon"). She was a master at getting us kids to drive her all over creation to find it.

From my Grandma Bessie Guiffreda from Tortorici, Sicily:

Cardoons are actually Burdocks in America. In Sicily, Cardoons are not Burdocks, but their stalks are about the same as Burdock stalks. They resemble celery stalks. Burdocks cook up and taste about the same as Cardoons, hence Italians in America started calling it Cardoon even though it was really burdock. Research this and you’ll see what I mean.

Her recipe:

Gather about 2 lbs. Of Burdock stalks. Good time to harvest Burdock is in mid to late spring.

Fill up a sink with cold water. Soak all of the stalks in the water while gently scrubbing with a brush to get off the thin “onion skin” that covers most of the stalk. You don’t want to eat this skin.

Rinse off the stalks again in new fresh water. Cut stalks into 1.5 inch lengths. Put them into boiling water. Sample the thickest stalks after about 4 minutes of cooking. They should be tender by now. If not, continue cooking until tender, but not mushy. Remove from water with a slotted spoon and put into a mixing bowl.

In a separate mixing bowl, beat 7 whole eggs, ¾ cup of grated Parmesan cheese, and ¾ cup of grated Romano cheese, and about 2 Tablespoons of flour to thicken. Add salt and pepper to suit your taste. Mix all of this with the bowl of cooked Burdock. It should be a thick mixture by now.

Heat olive oil to a medium-high heat in a pan. Spoon out the burdock mixture into the hot oil and flatten gently into patties. Brown on both sides, about 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Eat plain, or with tomato sauce.