Food adventure: Gobo Root

Gobo Root

The Super Top Root!

photographed by: Lea Lei http://hennypepper.blogspot.com



            Visiting ethnic food stores has always been gratifying to me because I get to see items not common to local grocery stores in our area.  Every visit is like an adventure.  What new things will I find this time?  Then when you learn something new, you feel like you’re smarter than all your other friends who haven’t been to one! Aha!  This one will be our conversation piece the next time get together with my friends!  I’m just kidding but feel free to take what I just mention seriously.  Of course I still rely on Fred Myer, Safeway, or QFC for most of my grocery items but it can get a little boring when you see same items each time you go grocery shopping.

            One time, I stopped by Uwajimaya, an Asian food and gift store, and came across this odd looking root crop in one of their vegetable shelves.  The price is 89¢ only.  I can’t complain about
that considering the root is as long as a monkey’s tail.  But the thing is I don’t know anything about it. It was a good thing they posted some information about the root.

photographed by: Lea Lei http://hennypepper.blogspot.com

            Now, although I like to know about the root, my desire to buy it just for the heck of it is stronger so didn’t finish reading and bought one long root anyway.  I placed it in my little basket and I felt kind of funny because the root is waggling like a long pig’s tail as I walk which brings me to my other reason why I like going to ethnic food stores like an Asian food store.  People don’t seem to care!  Isn’t that cool?  Try walking inside Safeway with that hairless-tail looking thing and let’s see if people don’t look at you funny like you just butchered your pet dog and brought the tail with you to the store like it’s your lucky charm.   I am serious!  This root that I got has very light color.  It is not exactly brown.  It’s more like pig color with a little bit of fine hairy like roots on it.  So at first glance while it was in my basket, it did look like a long pig’s tail.

            Anyways, I did some reading about my precious root just to make sure I store and cook it right.  There is so much information about gobo on the internet that I started wondering, “am I the only one who doesn’t know what it is?”  I learned a lot of expected and surprising things about it.  As expected, it has medicinal uses but up to what extent is something remarkable.  But before that, the term Gobo is the Japanese name for the root of greater burdock (Arctium lappa).  This particular gobo root I bought is said to have originated from the Siberian region of Northern Asia.   In some articles I read that gobo root originated from the caucas region of Europe.  Gobo was even used as vegetable during the middle ages!  OMG! I have a piece of history in my fridge!

            The part of the root system that is used for both medicinal and culinary purposes is the top root that can grow up to 3 to 4 feet and has a tapering width of about 1 inch.  It has a lot of medicinal uses.  Gobo has diuretic qualities and detoxifying agent.  It’s detoxifying use include treating throat infections, rashes, and other skin conditions and diseases, helping in the treatment of herpes, eczema, and acne.  According to an article in http://food-nutrition.knoji.com  and I quote, “this could be because of the presence of anti-fungal and anti-bacterial chemicals in in burdock called polyacetylenes; discovered by researchers in Germany.”   Once again from the same article it was stated burdock has anti-cancer properties.  And I quote, “Burdock also contains a class of phytoestrogens called lignans.  Lignans, which are also found in asparagus, broccoli and flax, are thought to have anti-cancer properties and may even, inhibit HIV-1 infections.” It is also made into a tea that purifies the blood. Wow! What else can't it do?  If I rub it, will a genie come out and grant me three wishes?  I promise, world peace will be one of the three!

            Alright, so now that I know that not only do I have a piece of history in my fridge but I also have a super top root, how do I prepare it?  Apparently, if the root is smooth and thin you can just scrub it clean and cook it with the skin and all.  If not, it is customary to peel the skin.  However, the root oxidizes fast when exposed to air so soak the chopped, sliced, or shredded root in water with some lemon or vinegar.   Soaking the prepared root in water also takes away its acidic taste.  It could be used as vegetable in a stir-fry, stews, and soups.  I even read a blog that mentions you can make it into fries.  Now, who doesn’t like fries especially if they are gobo fries, the super top root?  In Japan, it is also made into chips for snacks so next the time you visit an Asian food store you might want to check out the snacks isle.   It could be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks for as long as you wrap it in wet towel, it is a root anyway.

            So there it is.  All I need now is to actually coot it.  Thanks for reading and see you again next time!