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Eating wild plants

CoquelicotCoquelicot Posts: 5
in Plants
I was looking up daisies and came across a discussion about eating dandelions and nettles (which I cannot find after having to redo my password ) anyway, I just want to point out some false ideas in the subject:
dandelion leaves are delicious as a salad with hard boiled eggs and chives plus a home made salad sauce- however they should be eaten when small and before the flower is formed . ´Honey' can also be made with the follow heads when in full bloom. 
As for nettles, these too, are delicious when cooked as spinach or as a substitute for basil in pesto (I do blanch them quickly first but not dandelions!) and again should be used when young and before flowering takes place. Both these wonderful plants are very nutritious .

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Interesting that your profile looks exactly the same as @vsleela2021
    Maybe you're very, very closely related?


    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    Not very adventurous with your "wild" diet are you @sue.faillettaz ?   
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    She really seems not to understand her subject. Dandelion plants should be blanched by excluding light (by placing a heavy terracotta pot upside down over the plant and blocking the hole with a piece of slate) just as you would to blanch an endive plant. 

    As for ‘follow heads’ … wotonearth?

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • CoquelicotCoquelicot Posts: 5
    ''She ' eats dandelion salad every Spring fresh and green!
    Blanching is a cooking process in which a food, usually a vegetable or fruit, is scalded in boiling water, removed after a brief, timed interval, and finally plunged into iced water or placed under cold running water (known as shocking or refreshing)[1

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Oh dear me … to blanch means to whiten (as in blanc, fem. blanche …. the French word for ‘white’ )


    It’s a traditional technique in gardening 

    “Endive needs to be blanched to remove the bitterness from the leaves and to achieve the traditional yellow / white colour. 

    Blanching is a technique used in vegetable growing. Young shoots of a plant are covered to exclude light to prevent photosynthesis and the production of chlorophyll, and thus remain pale in color.

    In order to keep the texture at its best for eating blanch them at about 12 weeks after sowing. This will keep the plant white and tender.” https://www.haxnicks.co.uk/blogs/grow-at-home/grow-at-home-endive#:~:text=Here%20are%203%20ways%20to%20blanch%20endive%3A-%201,black%20plastic%20pot%20with%20the%20drainage%20holes%20covered 


    As here http://www.kevinkossowan.com/blanched-dandelions/


    If you’ve been blanching your dandelion leaves in hot water you’ve misunderstood what you’ve been told/read  

    Blanching greens in boiling water is a process that prepares them for being frozen.

    Blanch your dandelion leaves properly … ie ‘whiten’ them  they’re absolutely delicious and remain crisp and fresh for your salad  





    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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