really old style living?

ceridwen

COOKED DANDELION ROOTS

Use young dandelion roots.

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- peel with a potato peeler
- slice thinly crosswise
- "boil in two waters with a pinch of soda" - (trans: I would say that means boil for a couple of minutes, then change water and boil again for a couple of minutes - dont know about adding any bicarbonate of soda though.....as we no longer add that to vegetables when we cook them...)
- season with salt, pepper and butter

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There ya' go - recipe for you. I've not actually tried it myself yet - will work my way round to it eventually....

maltesers_2

mardatha wrote: »

Has anybody tried cooking with dandelions or chickweed or things like that ?

I have roasted dandelion roots to make a coffee substitute and it was surprisingly good. It tastes just like coffee but doesn't have caffeine and does have quite a lot of nutrients.

Richard Mabey in food for free says the Japanese use the root as a vegetable.

Penelope_Penguin

ceridwen wrote: »

Chickweed - I'm still in process of trying to grow my own from seed - but havent actually used it yet...

You can buy seed? Chickweed grows in my garden like - a weed. I then feed it to the chicks - they love it :rotfl::rotfl:

I suspect it'll be good to eat - I'll try some later

ceridwen

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

You can buy seed? Chickweed grows in my garden like - a weed. I then feed it to the chicks - they love it :rotfl::rotfl:

I suspect it'll be good to eat - I'll try some later

Roundabouts my way - the only chickweed I've spotted is in "not very salubrious locations";) - hence the growing it.

Gotta do something to keep my mother happy - its taking her a lot of getting used to some of the things her daughter eats as it is...:rotfl:

mardatha

Dandelion is bitter but chickweed is sweet. I was thinking more of soups and added to stews.. very interesting about the coffee - I had forgotten all about that .

seasalt_2

Have got tons of chickweed and more dandelions (I love their cheerful golden flowers in spring even if they are a pernicious weed) and couchgrass is the bane of my life so if the root of that is edible we will be eating it! I usually lay the roots out on the wall to dry off before I compost them or incinerate them in the rayburn! They do give off a sweetish smell. Will have a nibble next time I pull some up. I quite often shove a flowerpot over YOUNG dandelion leaves to blanch them a bit if I'm short of things to pep up a salad - makes them less bitter. Have never tried the root or flowers although I did know about dandelion coffee - but don't like coffee much. I thought chickweed was very mild tasting and tbh a bit boring - it usually goes in the compost! Not weeds, but using other parts of plants, chive flowers (the little florets rather than whole heads), marigold petals and nasturtium flowers (pinch off the bitter white part at the bottom) also look pretty and taste OK in a salad. Can eat fat hen too. Tastes a bit like spinach. But in the summer, I usually have so much salad that some of it ends up going to seed as it is, without having to eat weeds as well. And then there is self seeded rocket, landcress, coriander, parsley etc....

Have also been told that when potatoes were scarce, whether famine or just late spring (after seed pots planted and before earlies ready) people here survived/supplemented their diet by eating silverweed roots - have got lots of that in my garden too. It was said that a man could survive on a square of ground his own length - doesn't seem very much - the roots are small. I don't think he would have got fat on it.

ceridwen

My books say re silverweed:

- leaves deemed to be edible - but may not be worth it tastewise.

- roots need boiling 20 minutes or roasted 30-40 minutes (in oil or butter).

Or - make flour by leaving the roots in a sunny spot for a few days till dry (I'd translate that as = put in my dehydrator then). Chopped finely, then blitzed in a blender.

So - who fancies trying them. I had my eye on a good patch and the darn Council has cleared the area:mad:

mardatha

Theres something else that grows up there Seasalt, that they used to eat in times gone by, but for the life of me I cant remember what it is...it will come! I will try chickweed first cos it looks nice

seasalt_2

Apart from seaweed and shellfish - also lifesavers - burdock maybe? Anyway, I take back everything I said about chickweed - have just been out to the garden to scrape together some greenery and as my lambs lettuce, mizuna and winterpurslane is still under net (with the brassicas) which is a faff to lift and replace in a hurry, my main "mild" ingredient to go with rocket, landcress and parsley, is erm, chickweed!

ceridwen

mardatha wrote: »

Theres something else that grows up there Seasalt, that they used to eat in times gone by, but for the life of me I cant remember what it is...it will come! I will try chickweed first cos it looks nice

Then in that case - according to my books:

- choose young chickweed (ie before it flowers) to use in salad

- if the chickweed has flowered it begins to get straggly and stalky and is better cooked

One recipe suggestion involves cooked rabbit with things like orange juice and redcurrant jelly to flavour it. Maybe you have access to rabbit - and the rest should suit your sweet tooth...