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May. 7, 2009
What if???
What would you do if your car refused to start on the day that you usually go to get your groceries?! You look all through your house, and there is nothing to eat. The pantry is empty, the fridge only has one pitiful bottle of salad dressing, and the cupboards are as bare as Old Mother Hubbard's!
"Oh No!" You wail, "We're going to starve!" ( )
But, if you live in the US (and it's late spring), you don't have to starve! Because God created a world full of wonderful edible plants to not only keep you alive, but keep you in the best of health.
Now, the good news for people like me is that some of the plants that I know very well are actually edible, so there is no danger of me mistaking them for something else. ;-)
Plants like this...
 Yes, that's right! Dandelions are edible! You can eat the leaves in a salad (Hint: the larger older leaves taste horrid, but the younger leaves are better) or boiled for a few minutes, you can boil the buds (the ones that are still in the 'rosette' of the leaves) for a few minutes until they're soft and serve them with butter and salt (assuming that you have butter and salt... you could also serve them as just plain boiled dandelion buds) *Note: for anyone who is in the know, you prepare these the same as Fiddleheads*, and you can make fritters with the open flowers (more on that later, since you couldn't do that with your cupboard as bare as a bone). (Oh, and make sure to pull the leaves down far enough to get the white part on the end... that's the best part) (leaves rich in Vitamin A)
And you can't possible mistake any poisonous plant for a dandelion unless you tried really hard.
 Violets are edible too! You can eat the leaves in a salad (more use for that pitiful bottle of salad dressing left in your fridge!) *Hint: The smaller leaves taste much better and are not tough. A good rule is that if they fit in the hollow of your hand they're going to taste pretty good*, or boiled for 10-15 minutes. You can eat the flowers plain or (if you happened to find an egg and some sugar) you could candy them by brushing them with slightly beaten egg white and covering them in sugar before letting them dry for a few hours. (They just taste like sugar, so don't bother unless you want them as a really pretty Tea Time garnish... but who's going to be having a tea party if they didn't have any food to go along with it?) (the Leaves are rich in Vitamins A and C
 Plantain! These can be eaten in a salad or boiled for five to ten minutes and served with butter and salt. Make sure that if you are using common plantain (pictured above) you eat the leaves while young (like in the picture) or else they get very stringy.
 Mustard... (In case you haven't noticed, I'm showing you the young leaves... the plant doesn't always look like this). You can boil these tender little leaves as a substitute for spinach (they loose bulk when you boil them so don't be surprised), or add them to a salad. :-) (Mustard is also rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, and C)
So there you go! You don't have to starve after all!
*As always, use your own judgement. I am not responsible if you make a mistake. For Further information, I recommend "Peterson Field Guides: Edible Wild Plants Eastern/Central North America". I got the vitamin information from that. :-) |
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Posted by Hannah E. 
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May. 8, 2009 - Untitled Comment