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Post by ceara on Apr 12, 2009 8:29:26 GMT -5
Anyone pick edible weeds?
If so, what are your favorites?
Some wild edibles I hope to find on the property this year are
Chickweed
Stinging Nettles
Black Elderberry
Highbush cranberry
Poor Man's Pepper
Mustard greens
Most of these I will have to hike a bit to find because I can't pick where my dogs potty near the house.
I will also be trying Dandelions - for root "coffee." Anyone here ever make that?
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marina
gopher
kitchen gardener, experimenting with permaculture
Posts: 7 
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Post by marina on Apr 12, 2009 19:20:25 GMT -5
My favorite edible are violets. They come up early and their blooms make salads special. I really like putting them in ice cubes (freeze tray with half water, put violets on top, until they stick to cubes, carefully pour water on top). They are beautiful in lemonade in the summer.
We made a great quiche from dandelion greens, and some super sweet dandelion wine from the petals. We tried the coffee-root thing, but it was a lot of work for a small amount of root... maybe we needed better tools for digging those things up. Other things we tried include a little wood sorrel in our salads, and a little ground ivy as a tea. Oh, and we had lots of lambs quarter for steamed greens.
This year, I hope to try the poke. Last year, we were specifically on a mission to test all the wild edibles in our yard and to make something good from them, but we were a little afraid of the poke, since it's poisonous after it grows a bit, and we were being super-cautious. But I think I am ready to take it on this year.
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Post by ceara on Apr 12, 2009 23:25:53 GMT -5
Yes I heard about poke. From what I did hear, if you get the shoots shorter than 6 inches or so, and only cut, never pull, then you should be OK. The root is the worst part.
They say the Fireweed is good when young shoots to cook/eat like asparagus. And Fireweed is EVERYWHERE around here. Although I do not see too many photos of the young shoots online.
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Post by stevil on Apr 13, 2009 6:05:49 GMT -5
Spring is moving in really quickly now and it was fantastic to harvest the years first perennial vegetables (weeds if you like!):  From top left and clockwise: Allium spp, Salsify, Rumex acetosa, Nettle, blanched Horseradish, Myrrhis odorata, Ground Elder, Bistort and Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) Used to make a green pasta sauce... |
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Post by ottawagardener on Apr 13, 2009 8:27:21 GMT -5
Chickweed, purslane, lamb's quarters are amoung my favourite 'weeds.' I like dandelion but my family finds it on the bitter side. Last year I tried forcing the roots like belgian endive and they were quite good according to me.
One I really like is the roots of Goat's Beard (looks like wild yellow salsify). They were sweet when I tasted them raw. Oh and thistle wasn't half bad either.
When it comes to wild fruits, I pretty much like them all.
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jason
gardener
Posts: 246
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Post by jason on Apr 13, 2009 14:41:03 GMT -5
I eat fireweed sometimes in the mountains. I think the entire plant is edible, and the flowers are supposed to make good tea.
I've been eating some dandelion and young red clover lately.
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Post by plantsnobin on Apr 13, 2009 16:37:51 GMT -5
I have raised fireweed from seed, and for me it doesn't spread. I was even afraid that I had lost it this year, but there is one plant coming up. I wish it would act a little more like a weed for me.
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Post by ceara on Apr 13, 2009 18:16:11 GMT -5
I looked at a distribution map and it seems your location is out of range of where fireweed normally grows. Maybe that's why. plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CHANA2Stevil that mix of greens looks really yummy! We just had another huge snowstorm so it's not really spring here yet. |
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Post by pugs on Apr 13, 2009 20:31:08 GMT -5
If you can ever get your hands on some real fireweed honey, it is excellent!
One of my favorites, but the beekeeper I was buying it from died, damn him. Of course, I don't think it was his idea, the dieing part that is.
Pugs
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Post by grunt on Apr 14, 2009 0:39:12 GMT -5
Karen, there's a reason it's called fireweed. If you have an area you use to burn things, take some of the ashes, charcoal and other debris left over from the burning, and turn it in around where your fireweed is supposed to grow.
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Post by stevil on Apr 14, 2009 6:58:18 GMT -5
I will also be trying Dandelions - for root "coffee." Anyone here ever make that? Yes, I did make Dandelion coffee once many years ago - for a harvest festival our local branch of the useful plants society. All who tasted it thoght it was fine. I'm now too addicted to coffea arabica.... |
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Post by bunkie on Apr 14, 2009 13:20:55 GMT -5
Karen, there's a reason it's called fireweed. If you have an area you use to burn things, take some of the ashes, charcoal and other debris left over from the burning, and turn it in around where your fireweed is supposed to grow. i was thinking the same thing dan. when we lived in Alaska, anywhere there had been a fire, one would find loads of fireweed. i see on the map it's here in Washigton, but i have not found any yet. i'd love to grow some. stevil, wonderful pics! made me drool with anticipation...snowed here last night and this morning... |
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Post by stevil on Apr 14, 2009 15:23:26 GMT -5
Re-Fireweed (or Rosebay Willowherb in UK or Geitrams here in Norway), this is just about the most invasive plant (in the sense of speed of spread) I've ever introduced to my garden - I regretted it as it took a long time to get rid of it. I had a couple of nice forms so they were relegated to pots. Here's a couple of shots of the white form (quite common in the wild) and a lovely form (my pictures doesn't do it justice) , Smalfjord. It was found by a Norwegian woman from Smalfjord in Northern Norway (way up north in Finnmark; see Google Earth) and that's the name I gave it. She told me it covered a large area and had a distinctive and different colour to the species. It has pink flowers, which are darker on the underneath of the petals.   Unfortunately they didn't like life in a pot and both died and Smalfjord is probably now lost to cultivation....the seed I collected (only two years old) wouldn't germinate - I thought these were long-lived seed.... It's a common plant here (on roadsides and clearfelled sites) and also used by foragers. I have a friend who ferments and dries it for tea (Russian tradition). Here's a shot of its habitat locally near where I live...  |
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Post by ceara on Apr 14, 2009 18:26:49 GMT -5
If you find some new emerging shoots, will you take some pictures for me?
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Post by canadamike on Apr 14, 2009 20:36:26 GMT -5
Your place sure looks like the Quebec countryside my friend.... when I see pics like that I missed my hometown... we had something like 100,000 lakes in the county...
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