'Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets' by John Evelyn (Evelyn 1699) has; "The Lapatha Personata (common Burdock ) comes now and then to the best Tables, about April, and when young, before the Burrs and Clots appear, being strip'd, and the bitterness soaked out, treated as the Chardoon, is eaten in Poiverade; Some also boil them."
Greater Burdock, Arctium lappa
Image: Christian Fischer