Don't weed them – Eat them

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

How to use and benefit from Dandelions

We are now entering the season where people will start to do battle again with the weeds in the garden beginning, no doubt, with the humble Dandelion. But if these maligned yellow-blossomed plants pop up in a yard or garden, there is a much better way to “control” the problem and that is by eating them. But, even though they are edible, do leave the flowers as they are some of the first nigh-nectar flowers the bees will need after winter.

Every part of the Dandelion is edible – leaves, roots, stems, and flowers. And the plants are nutritional powerhouses. The greens are rich in beta-carotene, fiber, potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, B vitamins, and protein. Their nutrition profile compares favorably to kale and spinach and trounces iceberg lettuce, the most widely eaten salad green in the United States.

It may sound strange to forage in the backyard for dinner, but wild greens were once a dietary staple around the world. Many cultures still eat them regularly. Apparently many people in France deliberately grow Dandelion in their gardens as a greens while we in the UK, the USA, and some other places, try our very best to eradicate this beneficial weed.

Some North Americans have caught on to Dandelion's “superfood” status. High-end farmers' markets and boutique grocery stores often sell them in small, expensive bundles. But thrifty consumers can gather Dandelions from lawns and urban meadows for free. However, not all Dandelion greens are equal. It pays to know when and how to safely pick them.

On the other hand why not harvest those in your own garden and why not, like many French gardeners do, grow them deliberately. I have been doing that for years now. I tend to remove them, as far as possible will all of the roots from where I may not want them to planters where I want them to grow.

I get great pleasure out of people – I work in a public park and garden – asking when I am weeding: “As a professional gardener...” and I already know that nine times our of ten the continuation of question will be “...what do you suggest I'd do with the Dandelions in my garden?” To which I, invariably, reply “eat them!” The looks on the faces, generally, are priceless.

Once I said that and got the usual “but aren't the poisonous, seeing they have milky sap”, etc. when a French lady stood nearby who then, when the questioner had gone, commented that she did no understand the Brits as regards to their obsession as to getting rid off Dandelions as the French grew them on purpose and used them.

The entire plant is, by the way, edible, from leaves, over stems to flowers and roots. The French use the leaves in place of rocket salad leaves or the older ones sauteed with garlic as a side dish. The Greek dish “Hortes”, meaning simply “greens” is made of Dandelion and some other wild leaves, including stinging nettle.

How to harvest Dandelion greens: First, be sure to identify Dandelion correctly, because it has a few doppelgangers. Look for smooth leaves shaped like jagged teeth. The plant's name comes from the French dent-de-lion or “tooth of lion”, that's why the German name is “Loewenzahn”. Dandelions' thick stems are hollow and filled with milky sap. Catsears – Dandelions' most ubiquitous look-alike – are often called False Dandelions. They are distinguished by hairy leaves with round lobes and wiry, branched stems. Catsears are edible, but the leaves are not as palatable as those of the Dandelion. Also it must be remembered that not every Dandelion looks alike in the shape of their leaves. Some are wider and bigger, some thinner and smaller.

When harvesting Dandelion leaves pick them from lawns, or other areas, free of pesticides or herbicides only. Avoid areas near building foundations, streets, and driveways, where the soil's lead levels tend to be highest. And always wash the greens well. Alternatively, or in addition, you could, like many French gardeners do, plant Dandelions on purpose.

For the most tender and least bitter greens, herbalists advise foragers to harvest before the plant flowers. However, it can be tricky to find the leaves before the blossom appears. Raw Dandelion greens will probably taste bitter to most people, regardless of when they are harvested. The key is to look for tender leaves and learn how to prepare them based on taste preferences.

The bitterness, however, is no reason to lose out on the benefits of this nutritious plant. There are plenty of tactics to tame the bitterness of Dandelion greens. Moreover, food preferences are malleable and based on exposure. In addition, many health experts believe bitterness is an important, often- neglected key to optimum wellness.

Bitter foods for better health: Bitter compounds are plants' way of protecting themselves from being eaten by mammals. Bitter plants are more likely to be dangerous to humans, so we are acutely sensitized to the taste. However, bitter plants are also more likely to be highly nutritious, because hytonutrients have a bitter, sour, or astringent taste. It is no coincidence that kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and other phytonutrient-rich foods are bitter.

Unfortunately because of consumer preference the food industry has largely bred bitterness out of our food. As a result, we lose out on more than just nutrition. Bitterness is important for liver health. It stimulates the liver to produce bile, which aids digestion and nutrient availability. Bitter foods also modulate hunger.

Eating Dandelion is an excellent way to benefit from bitterness, and Dandelion's curative powers go beyond its bitter taste. It has been used as a medicine for thousands of years for numerous conditions. In fact, its Latin name Taraxacum officinale means the “official remedy for disorders.” What kind of “disorders” is not specified.

Dandelion cures: Native Americans boiled Dandelion and drank the water to treat kidney disease, swelling, skin problems, heartburn, and stomach troubles. The Chinese use the plant to treat breast and stomach issues and appendicitis. In Europe, it has been used for fever, boils, eye problems, diabetes, and diarrhea.

Modern scientific studies are scant, but research has confirmed Dandelions as a folk-remedy diuretic. It is prescribed for edema in Germany and may be safer than other remedies because it replenishes potassium. Preliminary animal studies suggest that Dandelion may help normalize blood sugar and fight inflammation.

Recipes for the use of Dandelions can be found in large numbers in certain books and, nowadays, all over the Internet. My personal favorite is the way we used to eat Dandelion leaves as children, in a sandwich just with butter, salt and pepper. Or, if really decadent, then a good mayonnaise is substituted for the butter. Another is sauteed as greens, with garlic in oil and spices.

Here a link to a more sophisticated recipe using Dandelion greens: https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/fresh-dandelion-spring-salad-recipe-zerz1802zmos

© 2018

Experience: foraging nearly killed me

‘We realised we were reacting to something we’d eaten, but as we tried to work out what, we became confused’

I went to Sicily to learn about Mediterranean horticulture as part of my degree. I’d agreed to work in an ornamental garden on a huge estate for six months, helping to grow crops for the local culinary school to use in their experimental Sicilian cuisine. One night a couple of months in, though, things got more experimental than I had bargained for.

I was sharing a cottage in the grounds with two other foreign students, an American and a Canadian. One evening, they returned from a foraging trip with some leaves they’d found on the estate, which they had identified as chard. They were already cooking when I got in from the garden. It was late and I was ravenous, and I ate at least twice as much of the boiled greens as either of the others. It was a good meal, slightly bitter, but that’s not unusual in the region and, seasoned with salt and a little lemon juice, it went down a treat.

For dessert, we had fresh blood oranges, but I took one bite and spat mine out – it was mouldy. The other two had the same reaction, but when we examined the fruit they looked perfectly fresh. Rinsing our mouths out with bottled water didn’t help, either – that had the same mouldy taste. We realised we must all be reacting to something we’d eaten, but as we tried to work out what, we became confused.

Read more here.

Foraging for wild food and medicinal plants - Hedge Mustard Plant Profile

Hedge mustard (Sisymbrium officinale) is a plant in the Brassicacaea family: The brassica family contains fantastic plants for foragers. They are a completely edible family, providing a number of medicinally valuable foods for us, all year round. Many different species can be found in the garden or allotment, and just as likely on your way there! If you like the peppery flavour in the different 'rockets' (Eruca and Diplotaxis spp), then you may love this commonly found plant.

Hedge mustard can pack quite a pungent, peppery punch, dependent on where it's found, and the time of year. Apothecary physicians regularly employed this plant as an official medicine during the 17th and 18th centuries, as its name - 'officinale' points to.

Getting to know hedge mustard

This particular brassica is an annual, although as these 'rules' aren't set in stone, it will often be seen acting as a biennial, overwintering as a rosette of leaves, before flowering the following year. Timing of germination will dictate matters to a large extent.

In keeping with many herbaceous plants, hedge mustard's leaves will appear different at the rosette stage, compared to during flowering. Alongside the obvious elongation of the stem as a plant grows higher and produces flowering organs, the leaf shape and form can also drastically alter during the metamorphosis from juvenile to adult.

The basal leaves are deeply pinnately-lobed and typically grow to around 15-20cm long, ending with a large terminal lobe. The whole plant feels somewhat coarse and hairy to the touch. Crushing or nibbling a leaf will instantly release the characteristic brassica flavour! During flowering, the alternately-spaced stem leaves reduce in size, and increasingly become more refined in shape, eventually looking like an arrowhead towards the top of the stem. A mature hedge mustard plant can typically grow to a height of around 60-70cm.

Read more: http://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/foraging-wild-food-and-medicinal-plants-hedge-mustard-plant-profile

How to forage for fresh food this autumn

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Autumn, or Fall as our American cousins call it mostly, is the season for fruits, nuts and fungi on the foraging list.

However, when it comes to fungi, that is to say, mushrooms and the foraging of them for food make sure that you really know what you are looking at and what you intend to pick. If not sure leave well alone. Even with a book or app for you smartphone still does not guarantee that you will be able to safely identify if you have not been taught well.
As one of the latest foodie trends, foraging has become a popular way to find delicious plants, berries and nuts growing wild.
Foraging not only gives access to fresh and seasonal healthy foods, it's also a great way to get outdoors to where our food really comes from – as opposed to the supermarket aisles and plastic packaging where it eventually ends up.

Berries, mushrooms and nuts are amongst the best foods to forage at this time of year, but make sure that you know, with everything, that what you pick is safe to eat. Blackberries and hazelnuts are quite obvious; other things may not be so obvious, such as mushrooms, as already mentioned.

Remember to get permission before foraging on private land and don’t over-forage: birds and animals rely on wild foods on their survival, so leave some for them too.

Please remember that Parks and Open Spaces also are private property and you theoretically need the owner's permission. There is no such thing as “public land” in the UK. The owner in this instance would be the local authority or similar.

Having said this in a large countryside park or open space the rangers or wardens will, more likely, no be concerned if you do a little foraging but remember the code as mentioned above. Only take for yourself and only as much as you need. Do not start commercial foraging as that will be regarded as theft and treated and prosecuted as such.

Ministry of Defense land is another kettle of fish and you do well to inquire first as to whether you may actually enter it and then as to whether foraging is permitted in any way.

When picking any wild food it has to be considered that it may have come into contact with animal feces and urine, such as fox, rats and others and thus everything needs to be thoroughly washed, aside from nuts and berries that are well above the level of reach of those animals.

In many old publicly-owned woods and along roadsides you may also find fruit trees, the ones along the roads often are so-called common trees, which were intended for use by the commoners, and amongst those there will be many old varieties of apples and pears and, even though, due too the age of trees, the fruit often is smaller than those of younger trees they often are much tastier.

When I was a child scrumping the common trees which in those days still were – pardon the pun – common along the roads of the countryside and it was everything old variety apples over pears to plums, including my favorite, the Damson. More than once I overate from those fruits and I suffered for it but, nevertheless, I would repeat that about every year.

The countryside is full of free foods for the taking and foraging was a common occupation for all that lived in the countryside or near it. And not just in autumn, though autumn appears to have been the time when more people would go out and gather wild foods than at any other time of the year.

Those that know what is edible out there for the taking – but we must remember to take not all of it – will always have to eat and it was for that reason that the country people lived better – aside from the fact that most had their gardens too – than did the people in the towns and cities during the Second World War in Britain, for instance.

© 2013

Renewed interest in wild edibles

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Wild edibles, also referred to as “hedgerow harvest”, were a good part of the diet of at least the country people and poor folks in general in year gone by. But the use and knowledge of wild edibles fell by the wayside in our recent decades of plenty.

The Great Recession and the austerity measures taken by the governments to, supposedly, reduce national debt, has led to a resurgence in the use of edible weeds and other wild edibles, especially in towns and cities, and has caused many to forage for them again. So much so, in fact, that the authorities in New York City, for instance, had to place a ban on foraging in Central Park fearing that trees and shrubs be stripped of leaves.

Foraging in the wilds needs to be done with care in order to allow enough for all and especially for regeneration of the plants.

In 2012 I saw the seed heads of Rumex acetosa (Common Sorrel) walk out of “my” park by the handfuls on a daily basis and it is surprising that the plants have actually been able to reproduce as bountiful as they did.

The majority of people who were abducting those seeds were of the Asian community in this country who use the leaves in their cuisine. I assume that they took the seeds in order to, like me, deliberately grow them in their gardens and on their allotments and sorrel is not the only edible weed which they grow in their kitchen gardens.

While removing seed heads in the quantities that they did is not something that I would ever encourage growing wild edibles for one's need in one's own garden or on one's allotment is a better choice than taking too much of it out of the wild. It is for that reason (and a couple of others) that I grow edible weeds deliberately in my kitchen garden also.

Foraging has, definitely, seen a resurgence everywhere due to the rising food costs caused by the Great Recession which is not, not even by a long shot, over as yet and food prices, no doubt, are going to rise for a long time to come still.

However, foraging should be done, like all things, in a sustainable manner and while the true foragers will do just that the new kind of forager is but interested to harvest as much as possible with as little effort as possible and without having to venture too far. This is not sustainable. The true forager lives and harvests by a code which this new kind of forager does not follow, alas.

While the gardener may take the entire harvest as, in most cases, he will start with newly bought seeds the next time Mother Nature does not garden in the same way and thus we need to leave a sustainable number of plants and especially seed in order to ensure new growth.

For that reason, when foraging in the wild we should only take a few leaves, or what-have-you, from an individual plant and then move on to the next one and not strip plants bare, as many of the new foragers do.

Leave enough so that the plants can regenerate and there will be enough for all.

© 2013

Please pass the weeds

Get even with weeds by eating them!

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Dandelion, chickweed, purslane and lamb's quarters are common greens that are used, and enjoyed in some regions of the USA, as well as in other countries. In fact, in some countries Sorrel and Lamb's Quarter, a cousin to the Quinoa, are purposely grown, such as on the Indian Sub-Continent.

When you use weeds, and I very much encourage you to do so, just make sure that, if you forage for them in the wild, they have not been sprayed with pesticides or herbicides.

Toss dandelion flowers into a green salad for a touch of color and flavor! Use the young leaves as you would rocket (arugula) or cook alder leaves into a spinach dish. And that is not even all that you can do with the humble dandelion.

The Greek have a dish called “horta” which often contains edible weeds rather than garden greens, mainly dandelion leaves and those of the stinging nettle, boiled like spinach. In fact, more or less, any edible weed can go into this dish.

The Asian community from the Indian Sub-Continent grow some plants that we would regard as (edible) weeds on purpose, including on their allotments in Britain such as goosefoot, aka lamb's quarter, and also sorrel.

Last year I saw many people taking the seed heads from the sorrel (Rumex acetosa) home from the park. So much so that there were no seed heads left on any of the plants that are growing in the pinetum of the park to be found afterward.

The majority of those that took those seed heads were from the Asian community and I am certain that they took them in order to sow sorrel in their gardens to grow for food. And I know that this is not the only wild plant that those folks will “cultivate” in their gardens for use in their diet. Should this not give us some food for thought?

Sorrel can be and is being used as spinach of the cut-and-come-again type; chickweed as a pot herb and also goes well with chopped egg as a substitute for salad cress in sandwich filling, when combined with a good mayonnaise.

Goosefoot (Lamb's Quarter or Fat Hen) can be used in a number of different ways: The leaves as a spinach substitute, the stems, especially when the plant, which can reach up to three feet in height, has grown well, steamed like asparagus, the flower head, before it goes to seed, as broccoli and the seeds themselves as quinoa.

And this is but a small list of edible weeds that can be used for and are good as food. Why waste a good resource and better still why throw them out of your garden when they are that good.

So, pass the weeds and don't pass up on the weeds.

© 2013