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Post by billw on May 31, 2013 1:07:27 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure that this is a dumb question, but are the greens of turnip rooted chervil edible? I've got a bunch with vigorous tops and I thought I might cut some to use like regular chervil, but then it occurred to me that turnip rooted chervil isn't even in the same genus and that the greens might be very different, or even inedible.
I'll probably just try them anyway...
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Post by billw on May 31, 2013 11:00:56 GMT -5
Well, I tried some this morning and I am not dead yet.
They don't taste much like Chervil though - more like carrot greens.
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Post by davida on May 31, 2013 17:05:43 GMT -5
Well, I tried some this morning and I am not dead yet. They don't taste much like Chervil though - more like carrot greens. So glad that you are still in the land of the living.  J.L. Hudson gives the following description and does not mention eating the greens. 'TURNIP ROOTED CHERVIL'. Biennial or short-lived perennial to 3 - 5 feet, with deeply cut foliage. Europe. Zone 6. Grown for the sweet, aromatic, edible roots, which are like short, fat carrots, about 4 - 5" long, grey or black skinned, with yellow or white flesh. Seldom seen in this country, the boiled roots are highly esteemed in Europe. They have a distinctive aromatic flavor, and are sweet and floury. Needs deep rich soil and frequent waterings. Harvest roots when foliage dies back in summer, though they are said to improve in quality if left in the ground for a month. "The great value of this vegetable... is not only its deliciousness to the epicure but the earliness of its maturity, fully supplying the place of potatoes."—F. Webster. |
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Post by raymondo on May 31, 2013 17:29:51 GMT -5
The leaves don't get a mention in Cornucopia II either.
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Post by steev on May 31, 2013 18:36:17 GMT -5
I wouldn't eat carrot greens, either, but the coarse, "inedible" leaves of so many vegetables are valuable for flavoring the soup-pot, as well as adding their bit of vitamins and minerals.
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Post by Hristo on Jun 5, 2013 17:24:46 GMT -5
They are perfectly safe. The flowering stalks were used as a food here in the past - the stems are steamed, then their skin is peeled out, that way they are eaten. The smell is not so pleasant for all the people (including me), but the taste is actually good.
Usually C. bulbosum grows along with Conium maculatum which at the fist glance looks like C. bulbosum, but if you look closer they are very different. Conium maculatum is deadly poisonous and because of all that often people think (me too for some time in the past) that C. bulbosum is poisonous too. It's not... at all!
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Post by 12540dumont on Jun 7, 2013 17:39:24 GMT -5
Davida sent me some parsley rooted turnips. I think the parsley was a little coarser than my summer grown Italian Parsley....but hey even I don't have parsley in January. And these guys just kept right on a going. And....the gophers did not eat them. I'm going to let them go to seed so that I can spread them around. I really like these.
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Post by ottawagardener on Jun 13, 2013 11:00:54 GMT -5
I thought you weren't supposed to eat the leaves either. Hmmm...
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Post by ottawagardener on Jun 13, 2013 11:03:20 GMT -5
PS It's risk takers like Bill that furthered our culinary experiences...  I am not sure why but I remember seeing in multiple sources not to eat the greens. Not sure of the potential alkaloids etc... involved but carrot family relatives seem a bit tricky. |
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Post by ottawagardener on Jun 13, 2013 11:06:20 GMT -5
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Post by billw on Jun 13, 2013 12:03:19 GMT -5
They are perfectly safe. The flowering stalks were used as a food here in the past - the stems are steamed, then their skin is peeled out, that way they are eaten. The smell is not so pleasant for all the people (including me), but the taste is actually good. Thanks Hristo. My wife will be relieved. She hasn't been terribly trusting since I made a batch of syrup from false solomon's seal, which she gave away to family and later read was poisonous (no apparent ill effects though). A common refrain around our kitchen is "Why can't you just grow normal stuff?" |
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Post by khoomeizhi on Jun 13, 2013 17:01:21 GMT -5
my peterson guide to edible wild plants claims the berries of false solomon's seal are 'edible but mildly cathartic' (a nice way of saying laxative)...did people eat it, then? is there more story there?  |
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J.L. Hudson gives the following description and does not mention eating the greens.
I am not sure why but I remember seeing in multiple sources not to eat the greens. Not sure of the potential alkaloids etc... involved but carrot family relatives seem a bit tricky.
