| | Obscure LeavesPage 1 of 1 | What kind of esoteric leaves can you eat prepared basically as a bi - product?
We have a Hawaiian chile pepper plant and I only recently ate the leaves
served up in a Filipino tail gate Chicken Papaya stew that was incredible. Not a strong taste, just enough to compliment
the rest of the soupy dish. Never heard of or tried it before but then again those balut lovers are always full of surprises.
Btw what do call a Filipino that does origami?
A Manila folder | |
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Posted: 7/4/2012 12:27:53 AM | Well now Blalah, leaves of any plant that is not poisonous are used in cooking in all Asian countries. Walk into an Asian Market, the produce isle is full of leaves you have probably never seen before, each with a unique flavor.
I have used maybe 20 of them and most I would have to sit and think of the name because I really don't know them well. Also, they have different names in different countries. Being exposed to so much Asian cooking, I am surprised you haven't run into more of them.
I know there is a Filipino Chicken and Green Papaya Soup called Manok Tinola that uses papaya leaves and leaves from chili plants.
A lot of Mexican cooking uses Avocado leaves. Of course you know about Kaffir lime leaves, and east Indians use Curry leaves (also called sweet neem) from a Curry Berry Tree (flowers, leaves and fruit are good to eat, but seed is poison). It has nothing to do with curry spice. They also use Methi (fenugreek) leaves as well as seeds and MANY others like Asians. They are just another herb like we use parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, etc...
In the south we use a lot of leaves that other places may not, like sassafras, lemon leaves, grape leaves (everyone uses), leaves from all of the berries like Blackberry, Raspberry, Barberry, Serviceberry, Hackberry, May Hawthorn, Dewberries, Madrone, Farkleberries, Argarita berry, Beautyberry. Not only are they flavorful for foods, but they make great healing teas!
There is also a common tree in Texas and I guess all over the south that has a small berry that looks like a tiny lime and tastes like a Szechuan Peppercorn. The leaves are less pungent. It is the Prickly Ash. And there are the beans from the Mesquite and other trees. Also the rhizomes and lowest past of the leaves of a cattail are edible and quite good.
I love the Origami joke!
SS :-) | |
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Posted: 7/4/2012 6:01:11 AM | | Lambs quarters, dandelion leaves, purslane, chicory, the greens from cruciferous plants, beet greens and stems(I'm SHOCKED by the amount of people who discard these) | |
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Posted: 7/4/2012 12:25:44 PM | Yes Serendipity! And radish leaves too. Chicory, one form, is actually growing wild in every yard and on the sides of the road, practically the world over, like dandelion. There is polk salad. So are many other edible greens and flowers. Speaking of flowers, the flowers form all of these plants are edible too.
Thistle and nettles are excellent and so are fiddle head ferns and greenbriar, which are much like asparagus, the sunflower plant is totally edible. The yam and potato leaves and most likely taro leaves too, make a fine meal. Of course seaweed/dulce are quite edible and one truly fine one for health is the sea buckthorn, which has the most luxurious orange oil that tastes really nice and unique. I love it on a bitter greens and sweet floral salad.
Sweet Gum leaves, bark and infertile seeds are literally a cure for flu and also a flavoring for tobacco and a main ingredient in tincture of benzoin, but literally to eat, only the sap is really a good idea or one can become over-medicated and toxic. The flavors of these are something like Angostura bitters in a drink.
The ingredients in Absinthe are a list of edible and medicinal leaves, primarily wormwood.
Waterlettuce, Duckweed Wolffia (the smallest and looks like green scum floating on water ponds, the other larger ones are not good to eat), wild onion, horsemint (bergamon), yaupon holly are all edible leaves.
Spiderwart, Turk's Cap (one of my favorite, I used to cultivate it like crazy as a child), nutsledge, Shepherds purse, sumac and my personal favorite since I was a small child and ate them constantly in spring the Henbit.
If you ask a question like this when you have naturists, wild foragers and herbalists around, you are going to get more answers than you wanted.
If you are truly interested there are two men very knowledgeable on the subject: A man named Merriwether who is a
research chemist and has a blog at intotheborderlands.blogspot.com but I think he is just about Texas and the Southwest. There is another man names Greene Deane and I think he has a book, but his site is eattheweeds.com
I grew up with a grandmother and a teacher that really went the extra 10 miles on teaching us this stuff. If it has to do with food, I got an abundance of education from all sides. Shouldn't I be able to make money with this? LOL
SS :-) | |
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Posted: 7/4/2012 7:15:19 PM | I was expecting dandelion leaves to be mentioned and I've never had the pleasure.
Avocado leaves? Will need to check that out. | |
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Posted: 7/4/2012 8:15:34 PM | | dandelion greens are good in salad...if you like endive you will probably like dandelion...pick young leaves tho...older ones are too bitter | |
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Posted: 7/5/2012 1:15:40 AM | | try dandilion flowers deep fried in batter.....pretty good mock oysters......just get rid of all the stem and green parts | |
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Posted: 7/5/2012 2:44:39 AM | | I love beautiful nasturtium flowers and love the leaves even more. Peppery like water cress, they are also purported to have antibiotic qualities. So delicious! | |
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Posted: 7/5/2012 7:32:26 AM | I put carrot greens in my smoothies.
My wife likes a flower from a certain kind of squash, it's used in Mexico (I'll ask her tonight what it is if anyone shows interest). Unlike with saffron, they use the entire flower.
My mom never used any lawn chemicals for the purpose of collecting lots of leaves in the summer time from the yard. There's a succulent but thorny one (thorns have to be picked off, of course) that was quite refreshing when refrigerated and eaten cold.
When I was in China it seemed like some seasonal "vegetable" (which they translated to me as vegetable was really some leaf or ditchweed type of thing) that was served raw or lightly steamed and salted. Never too much flavor, but there was probably some nutritional value. I just wish I could remember all the names/types I tried during my trips there.
My philosophical take is that as populations increase and food supplies tighten, we'll move more towards obscure foods like leaves and insects. They both probably provide lots of valuable nutrition that is yet to be discovered. | |
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Posted: 7/5/2012 11:03:03 AM | So true, Truths :-)
I grew up eating dandelions in a Greek fashion. The young leaves raw in salad and the older, larger, tougher leaves were mixed with a little grated onion and a little grated red beets, then add some apple cider or wine vinegar and leave 24 hours on the counter, loosely covered, to marinate. Next day for dinner, add a little olive oil, salt and pepper and eat as a side dish to roasted or grilled meats. They are especially good with lamb.
Squash Blossom is probably what you are talking about Truths, they are available in the US too. They are excellent filled with cheese or cheese and mushrooms, sauteed or battered and fried, so good.
I completely agree with Rax on the battered and fried dandelion flower and they are a bit like oysters in texture, very good stuff.
Nasturium Jojo mmmmmmmmmmm that is for sure. I love to eat roses and lavender. Lavender leaves are a great substitute for rosemary. They are very similar in taste and are actually in the same family. There are so many good leaves and plants. Sometimes I go wild foraging and it is amazing what you can get if you know what you are looking for. I can come home with food for a week sometimes.
As far as insects, it is shocking how so many actually taste good. I love grasshoppers, for instance and even though I know others that are good tasting and good for you, I just don't make a habit of them. Snails and grasshoppers are the only insects I eat regularly, except sea bugs.... I eat more than my share of sea bugs. When I lived back home in the south mud bugs were heavy in my diet too.
I know there has to be some southerners that ate a lot of Henbit, like I did. They may not know it by name, but here is a link to what it is, so sweet like nectar of the gods! Full bloom at the bottom of the page http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/lamam.htm
Ohhhhhhhhhhh and Honeysuckle! I ate more honeysuckle than I could ever account for.
Here is a picture of my other favorite, Turk's Cap, yummy and beautiful! http://www.fbmg.com/CommunityEducation/PerennialSales/Perennial2009/Big%20Momma%20Turks%20Cap.JPG
SS :-) | |
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Posted: 7/8/2012 11:48:54 PM | Snow Pea tips stir fried with garlic. One of my favorite leafy green veggies. They're kind of expensive ($3/lb) when bought from the Asian grocery store but if you have a garden, plant some snow peas and harvest the leaves when they're young and tender.  | |
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Posted: 7/9/2012 6:05:12 PM | | stinging nettle is one of the tastiest. kind of tricky to harvest, but excellent when lightly steamed. | |
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Posted: 7/9/2012 7:33:11 PM | | i almost forgot fiddle head ferns.....a very tasty springtime treat..........i usually harvest some when i'm morel hunting | |
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Posted: 7/10/2012 9:48:21 PM | | We ate a lot of Morning Glory while in Vietnam recently. Mostly it was sauteed in oil with lots of garlic. It tasted good but was generally quite a jaw work-out! We actually ate at a restaurant of the same name too, and in their blurb it said that it was a symbol of the perseverance and stamina of the Vietnamese people... it keeps on keeping on! Growing up in the UK it was a hated weed. Who would have thought?!! | |
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Posted: 7/11/2012 4:15:34 AM | Oh, I plant morning glories by my front porch every year to block the afternoon sun, funny your weed is one of my favorite flowers. Who would have thought to eat them, I sure didn't.
tb | |
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Posted: 7/11/2012 6:43:02 AM | I'm not much of a "greens" eater.....
but I do love poke stems cut up, battered and fried......tastes alot like okra.
(Have to harvest them before they are a foot tall or they get poisonous)
I just cooked up some stuffed yellow squash flowers last night........very tasty!
filling was made w/ feta cheese, cream cheese, garlic, oregano and crushed red pepper.
battered with a beer batter and fried up golden. Lightly salted when came out of the fryer. | |
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Posted: 7/13/2012 8:01:37 PM | jojoaus, morning glory is dreaded here too. Eating it sounds like great revenge for the plants it has killed and all the time spent attempting to control it.
Edit: Looked online and don't think it's the same plant. Will do more research. | |
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Posted: 7/13/2012 10:18:08 PM | | I've seen the local native take alder leafs and cove the BBQ grill with them and lay a whole salmon on them. Next they would smoother the coals with a large pile of leaves to smoke & roast the fish. | |
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