It’s the main herb (fronds, not seeds or the bulb) in one of my favourite Spanish dishes - frito Mallorquin or, in the island’s own language frit de matances. That literally translates as “slaughter fry”. It’s a dish traditionally made on the day of the annual pig killing and is a fry up of potato, peppers, onion and the bits of the pig that can’t be preserved - like the liver.
It’s a dish that appears on restaurant menus throughout the year, as a starter. My sister in law is married to a Mallorcan and, when they were living on the island, we visited and his mother cooked frito for us. There was something unpleasantly chewy in it but, of course, as guests, we chewed, swallowed and smiled as best we could. Only later, we asked the SiL what it was, to be told it was the pig’s lungs. Not nice.
It’s one of the herbs I grow and the SiL always visits to get some fronds when she’s cooking frito.
