Cooking with Comfrey

Today I’ve been eating a comfrey ratatouille. This was partly inspired by Ivan Van Rooyen’s comment on my post ‘Is comfrey edible?” He said “My family and I have been eating comfrey for more than 25 years, about every two weeks when the leaves are good over the summer months. I got to know it 25 years ago when still living in South Africa were I grew up. My parents had a large patch in their vegetable garden. My mom cooked it like spinach and mixed it with potatoes and onions. This mix goes on a piece of toast with some tomato sauce (not catchup) and cheese on top and in the oven for a few minutes like a thick pizza. We’ve had it like that ever since.” It made me determined to explore comfrey as a leaf vegetable a but further. While standing in front of a big patch of common comfrey (Symphytum officinale) this morning, I recalled Ivan’s words but wrongly remembered “potatoes and onions” as “tomatoes and onions”. So here is how to make a very tasty comfrey-tomatoe ratatouille sauce.

Ingredients
2 medium onions
2 handfuls comfrey leaves
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 glass red wine
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste.
1 packet of soba or udon noodles

Directions
Finely chop the onions and fry until soft in the olive oil. Chop the comfrey leaves and add, stirring, until wilted. Add the chopped tomatoes, red wine, balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 12 more minutes with the lid on, then take the lid off, add the noodles and simmer for 5 minutes until the noodles are cooked al dente and the rest is of a sauce-like consistency. Serve while still hot. 

6 Comments

  1. Natasha O’Shaughnessy

    We called it .Moroggo, served with phutu pap or samp ahhhhhh memories

    I have moved into a new house in France and am delighted to find a comfrey plant, I think it’s the Russian Comfrey wish I could find a common comfrey plant to,propagate but people are paranoid about it. Any ideas?

    • Plant tuberous comfrey with the cream flowers. The PAs are exceptionally low in this species and an excellent taste. I thought morogo was usually amaranth leaves which is similar to fat hen and good King Henry.

      • Morogo or Moroho, also known as African spinach, refers to a group of at least three different dark green leafy vegetables found throughout Southern Africa – cowpea, vegetable amaranth, or spider flower are a few examples. The variety of leaves varies widely depending on where you live in South Africa.

  2. i have the lavender, purplish flowering Comfrey. i was informed that the akiloids are dangerous to consume. is that true? the Info I get is that Comfrey is not safe for internal use! I know it speeds up healing cell processes used externally!

    I have almost lost all my right Hip Cartilege in that Joint and found a site that claims comfrey Pultices 8 to 12 hours a day can restore the cartilege! Any input would be appriciated ASAP; as my hip is very painful the last 8 months. I am an otherwise Healthy Male and age 77. A vegan since age 15.

    • Hi. I have written about the alkaloids in another article “Is Comfrey Edible?” here https://monicawilde.com/is-comfrey-edible/ As to poultices, they will encourage the restoration of collagen but I am not aware of it generating new cartilage. However, it does help repair what is there. Comfrey footbaths and poultices were invaluable when I damaged my Achilles tendon!

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