[Sca-cooks] Seeking Costus...

[Terry Decker]

Costus or costum is believed to be the root of Saussurea lappa and is 
sometimes carried in health food stores under the names costus, kut, kut 
root or kushtha.  A couple of other common names are saw wort and snow 
lotus, but they are used rather loosely when referring to various members of 
the genus (containing 300 or so members).

Bear

> I'd love to get some of the root variously called Costus and Costum
> in most of the books i've read, and also called putchuk and kusht in
> "Flavours of Byzantium" by Andrew Dalby.
>
> We have an excellent spice shop in town, called "Lhasa Karnak", which
> carries lots of seasoning and medicinal herbs and spices, but they
> don't have it - heck, for reasons i don't know, they don't carry long
> pepper - i have to get it at, of all places, "Whole Foods".
>
> I did a web search, but didn't turn up anyone selling it. Has anyone
> come across it for sale?
> -- 
> Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)