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Post by reed on Oct 24, 2014 20:14:15 GMT -5
kyredneck, I know you can find about anything on the interwebs but in our brief association I think I trust your recommendations more than the Google's. Now I know just what I need, I don't have to weed through pages of search results and product reviews. THANKS!
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Post by kyredneck on Oct 25, 2014 6:37:32 GMT -5
"America groundnut is a leguminous vine that produced edible tubers. Think of it like a native version of jicama. Looks a little like a dinky version of wisteria or kudzu, except the flowers are rust red, not purple."
...blue, I remember reading about this and looking around a little for it now, but I have never seen it. I thought it interesting that it has been cultivated in Japan for over a century now. ....hmmm, got me some ramp seed at the seed swap, if I got me some hopniss seed I could have a ramp patch AND a groundnut patch..... hmmm
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Post by kyredneck on Oct 25, 2014 6:41:39 GMT -5
We harvest some wild things "in season". Field strawberries, highbush blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. We also occasionally get dandelion greens in the spring, but our absolute favorite is fiddleheads. We generally get a few grocery bags full just to blanch and freeze along with some to eat fresh. As of late, chaga tea has become popular with some in my family. It's a medicinal mushroom/growth that grows on trees in the birch family.
...jondear, are fiddleheads good to eat raw, like lettuce or in a salad? This is something else I've read of but have never seen.
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Post by kyredneck on Oct 25, 2014 6:52:32 GMT -5
I wish I knew more about the wild things. We have quite a lot I think but I stick mostly with more common things I know are safe. Raspberries, blackberries and dewberries, mulberries, wild plums and wild cherries, walnuts, hickory nuts and pecans. Pawpaws and persimmons. Some of our wild grapes are pretty good, maybe they are a cross of something left over from the Swiss settlers than came here in 1802 with dreams to make vineyards in the US. We have burdock, dandelions and wild mustard but I don't really know how to use them. Plenty of lambs quarters but it is such an awful weed here I don't encourage it and have only sampled it. If I remember right my Granny ate plantain. We have many, many kinds of mushrooms but I only eat morels. I remember my dad liked puff balls but I don't remember what they tasted like, maybe next time I see a nice white one I'll bring it home and try it. I like black locust flowers as well as morels and they are much easier to find. I'm way way behind on knowledge of plants useful for medicine or other things, that's on my list of things to learn. Those 'common things' you've mentioned also happen to be among the 'most palatable' things, that's why they're 'commonly known'.
I love to snack on wild grapes, even those super tart little ones.
Indiana is one of the better spots for morel mushrooms, I've seriously thought of venturing there in season to hunt them (have some in-laws around Noblesville); I bought a box of nice big yellow ones at a good price there many years ago. |
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Post by jondear on Oct 25, 2014 12:41:05 GMT -5
We harvest some wild things "in season". Field strawberries, highbush blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. We also occasionally get dandelion greens in the spring, but our absolute favorite is fiddleheads. We generally get a few grocery bags full just to blanch and freeze along with some to eat fresh. As of late, chaga tea has become popular with some in my family. It's a medicinal mushroom/growth that grows on trees in the birch family.
...jondear, are fiddleheads good to eat raw, like lettuce or in a salad? This is something else I've read of but have never seen.
The University of Maine recommends cooking them by boiling or steaming, due to the risk of food born illness. I think they have recipes for pickling them as well. |
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Post by kyredneck on Oct 25, 2014 13:17:26 GMT -5
".. risk of food born illness.."
...and what exactly would the 'food born illnes' be? Got any idees?
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Post by khoomeizhi on Oct 25, 2014 13:48:07 GMT -5
they don't specify: umaine.edu/publications/4198e/ sounds like they think it's viral or bacterial, though. i was under the impression that there were 'bad' compounds in them that cooking took care of...don't remember where i got it from. many sources do say 'don't eat lots of raw ones'... |
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Post by blueadzuki on Oct 25, 2014 14:54:48 GMT -5
There are. Fiddleheads are very high in oxalic acid (as are sorrel, and wood sorrel) which can cause kidney damage in large amounts. Some species also contain carcinogenic compounds. Both are reduced/destroyed by cooking (though in the case of the carcinogenic compounds a lot of sources recommend cooking in 3-4 changes of water just to be safe, like you do with pokeweed shoots.)
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Post by flowerweaver on Oct 25, 2014 16:49:03 GMT -5
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Post by kyredneck on Oct 26, 2014 6:23:02 GMT -5
they don't specify: umaine.edu/publications/4198e/ sounds like they think it's viral or bacterial, though. i was under the impression that there were 'bad' compounds in them that cooking took care of...don't remember where i got it from. many sources do say 'don't eat lots of raw ones'... "Potential Foodborne Illness
In 1994 there was a large outbreak of foodborne illness that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) determined was a result of eating raw or undercooked fiddleheads. Since then there have been several reported cases of foodborne illness related to fiddlehead consumption. Researchers have yet to determine what the origins of the illness are but, they do know that proper handling and cooking helps reduce your risk of foodborne illness related to the consumption of fiddleheads. Under no conditions should fiddleheads be consumed raw.
Symptoms of illness from eating improperly cooked fiddleheads
Health Canada and the CDC both have investigated a number of outbreaks of foodborne illness associated with the consumption of raw or lightly cooked fiddleheads. The described symptoms of this foodborne illness were diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and headaches. These symptoms generally occur within 30 minutes to 12 hours after eating raw or undercooked fiddleheads. This foodborne illness typically lasts less than 24 hours, but it was found that some cases could last up to three days.
If you experience symptoms after eating fiddleheads, you should seek the advice of a health care professional and contact your local public health unit to report this illness."
This is weird. According to this they've yet to actually determine the origins of the illness.
Oh well, if it's potential food born pathogens inherent to fiddleheads you could always just pickle them by fermenting:
"...U.S. Department of Agriculture research service microbiologist Fred Breidt says properly fermented vegetables are actually safer than raw vegetables, which might have been exposed to pathogens like E. coli on the farm.
"With fermented products there is no safety concern. I can flat-out say that. The reason is the lactic acid bacteria that carry out the fermentation are the world's best killers of other bacteria," says Breidt, who works at a lab at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, where scientists have been studying fermented and other pickled foods since the 1930s.
Breidt adds that fermented vegetables, for which there are no documented cases of food-borne illness, are safer for novices to make than canned vegetables. Pressurized canning creates an anaerobic environment that increases the risk of deadly botulism, particularly with low-acid foods...." www.sfgate.com/food/article/Cultivating-their-fascination-with-fermentation-3295948.php
[add]
....ahhh, in the words of Solomon, "nothing new under the sun":
"Fiddleheads
A traditional Quebec delicacy, preserved by lacto fermentation for extra health benefits.
Dazzling!"
caldwellbiofermentation.com/en/raw-cultured-vegetables.html
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Post by rowan on Oct 26, 2014 13:39:32 GMT -5
That sounds a bit like the reported illness some people get when eating undercooked hopniss. I wonder if, like with the hopniss, it is a sensitivity to that particular food for some individuals since they can't find the origin.
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Post by kyredneck on Oct 27, 2014 7:00:59 GMT -5
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Post by kyredneck on Oct 27, 2014 11:29:32 GMT -5
Lamb’s Quarter is called 'fathen' here, a common weed in my garden. ...ohhhh, FAT HEN! (you New Zealanders talk funny). |
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Post by richardw on Oct 27, 2014 12:51:39 GMT -5
I think it was a term used by the English settlers
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Post by reed on Nov 8, 2014 19:06:20 GMT -5
Has anyone ever tried tea made form blackberry leaves? I'v read that it is quite good if you use leaves that have their fall color. I have lots of nice reddish purple ones right now and was thinking of trying them out.
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