[Black oyster plant, Spanish Salsify, Serpent root, Viper's grass;
Schwarzwurzel (German); Scorzonera hispanica]
Native to southeastern Europe, Anatolia, and the Levant, this vegetable is first mentioned in European literature as found in Aleppo Syria, in 1575. It is now grown mostly in Belgium, France, Netherlands, and Germany. It produces a taproot that can be up to a meter long and 2 centimeters (0.8 inch) in diameter. Photo by Benreis distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike v4.0 International.
In cookbooks in English, I have seen this vegetable included in Danish root vegetable recipes as "Scorzonera". A possible substitute, (I haven't tried it yet) is Burdock / Gobo, which is very available in Asian markets here in Southern California. It is a member of family Asteraceae, as are both Black and Common Salsify. See also Common Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius), similarly used and better known in North America. It has purple flowers, while Black Salsify has yellow flowers.
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Black Salsify is often cooked mixed with other root vegetables. It is also sometimes served alone with a white sauce in the same manner as White Asparagus. Boiled roots may be coated with batter and deep fried.