[Sca-cooks] Eryngo Roots Equal Cilantro?

[Sharon Palmer]

>Greetings! There's a question on another list about what to 
>substitute for eringo/eryngo roots which aren't easily available for 
>cookery. Someone commented that Wikipedia says that is sometimes 
>mistaken for coriander or cilantro. Is this accurate, do you think?
>
>Alys K.
>--

In Wikipedia, the comment about being mistaken for cilantro is 
specific to E. foetidum  or Culantro.

It will depend on which variety you are trying to substitute. It 
sounds like in England that usually E maritinum is meant.

Eringo is usually used as a medicinal, substitutes would not have the 
medicinal value.

http://www.eattheweeds.com/eryngiums-elizabethan-eryngo-candy-2/

E. maritimum, or the Sea Holly ...When the roots are boiled or 
roasted, they taste like cooked chestnuts and are quite 
nutritious.....
Young shoots and tips are blanched then eaten like asparagus. Young 
shoots can be pickled.  Roots can be candied, or boiled or roasted. 
The root is sweet but has little aroma.

http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/h/holsea29.html

Of dried Eringo root Eryngium maritinum, Eryngium campestre
The taste is sweetish and mucilaginous, but the root has no odour.

---Part Used---The root, dug in autumn, from plants at least two years old.

---Description---The roots are perennial, large, fleshy and brittle, 
penetrating far into the sand, often reaching several feet in length.

Ranvaig