The fresh taproot has a celery/potato taste and contains some antibiotics, which some people use to treat dandruff and acne.

You can dry the root to make a tea, which, as a diuretic, may lessen PMS symptoms. The herb also has a long-standing reputation as a liver tonic.

You can eat every part of burdock (also known as beggar’s buttons, love leaves, and pig’s rhubarb), except the flowers and the bur, fresh or cooked. Scrub and peel root and stem like a potato, and use them in much the same way. If you’re going to eat the stem and leaves, pick them while they’re young.

This 5-foot-tall (1.5 m) biennial with a root that grows up to 3 feet (1 m) has magenta, thistle-type flower heads and wavy, spade-shaped lower leaves (gray with down on the underside) that can be a foot long. Upper leaves are smaller and more oval. The flowers give way to round fruits bristling with hooks.

Most people grow burdock as an annual. Give it rich, moisture-retentive, and deeply dug, loose soil. Some gardeners create a mound for it to make harvesting easier. You can dig the root at the end of the growing season, or wait until next spring, when you won’t have to contend with the prickles.