I taught English in Japan in the early '90's, and my hands down favorite new food was something that I kept ordering at my friend's bar/restaurant while having no idea what it was. Of course it was burdock. It was a modern variant on Kinpira Gobo, a classic dish with burdock and carrots. This was julienned burdock, simmered briefly, drained, rinsed cold, then combined with grated raw carrot and dressed with mayonnaise and sesame seeds. I often add a little grated daikon too, or jicama. IT IS SO TASTY!!!
The trick with prepping the burdock is slice it diagonally into long ovals, as thin as you can. A mandoline would be great for this. Then stack the ovals, and cut them the long way into strips. Add them to a bowl of water as you chop, to keep them from discoloring. Bring some water to a boil and simmer for just 3 minutes, maybe longer if you are using tough old burdock. Drain, rinse, etc. You can probably use any old salad dressing you like on it but it's really good if you use home made mayonnaise with lemon juice and awesome egg yolks. Thanks for the info on growing, I'm going to try an above ground bed with some fencing.
