See the plants native habitat for ideas on its cultivation needs. The pig nut has at times been cultivated for its edible root. Although quite small in the wild, there is a potential to improve the size of this root through selective breeding and cultivation.

Root - raw or cooked. A delicious taste very much like sweet chestnuts when cooked, but the tubers are very small and fiddly to harvest. Seed and flowers. Used as a flavoring, they are a cumin substitute. Leaves - raw or cooked. They are used as a garnish and a flavoring in much the same way as parsley.

Seed - sow spring in a cold frame. The seedlings only have one cotyledon. Germination is usually free and quick, prick out the seedlings into individual pots as soon as they are large enough to handle and grow on for their first season in pots. Plant them out into their final positions when dormant in the autumn. The seed can also be sown in situ, but this is best done only if you have lots of seed since far fewer plants will result. Division in spring or autumn.

Rough grassland and banks on chalk.