We have so many things growing in our yard, and I know some of them are probably not only edible but also medicinal. I am borrowing a good book from Chris D. to help me identify these plants, but until I'm more certain on the ones I'm not familiar with, dandelions are a no-brainer. I chopped up a bunch of greens the other day to put in with a ham, onion and gruyere quiche-- super tasty, and the greens were so bitter on their own that I know they did our bodies good! I have also been picking the yellow flowers and making tea. Not the best tasting, but it's supposed to be pretty good for you, and it's a lot of fun to just take advantage of what's already growing while I'm waiting for seeds to sprout. I think I have some kind of cress or other edible salad green growing, it tastes really good but I'm not eating a bowlfull until I'm more clear on what it is. Maybe I'll take some pictures and see if anyone can help me identify them. In the meantime, we have plenty more dandy greens to experiment with!
3 comments:
You cannot imagine the depth of my jealousy that you actually have things growing outdoors this time of year... but I am really happy that you do and can't wait for it to warm up enough here! We had a mixed herb salad at dinner straight from the produce isle of the grocery store. It is really a huge mix of different greens and herbs and is really fun to sit and try to identify the chard, leaf lettuce, parsley, cilantro, etc. But I was immediately thinking that soon I will be sending the kids out to harvest tiny tender dandelion leaves.
The other day I made a South African recipe for greens (any kind) sauteed with onions and garlic and then you mix in cornmeal. You can then take that mix and fry it up (in some good old fashioned bacon grease) and the kids loved it! The greens I used were stinging nettles that were harvested last spring, blanched, and frozen. So now we are looking forward to hunting up some more nettles when the time comes.
I have also been thinking about the jerusalem artichokes that surround the back section of the property and that I can go dig out some of those as soon as the ground thaws. Daniel found a recipe I want to try and I am sure I can find a few more. When stuff starts growing again we will have to dig out all of our edible plants books. I have heard about freegans for a long time, but can't exactly say I would feel it worth the effort to dumpster dive for processed food (I know there is often produce, too.) But I always feel like a freegan when I look around me at our lush vegetation and think that there must be more here that I can eat... I just have to figure out what it is. Happy hunting!
I noticed your last blog was on March 10th. How has your "local quest" been going? Maybe I'll leave a message on your facebook. It seems as if you've been really busy on your lovely house!
Thanks for the reminder Kelli-- I'll try to get things going again!
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