| Author | Content |
Dutchlady1
Naples, FL (Zone 10a)
June 7, 2009 2:17 PM Post #6653672
| How very interesting to read about all these unusual vegetables. The one I recognize is the 'christophene' from my Caribbean days. |
jjacques
LE TAMPON
Reunion (French)
June 7, 2009 3:32 PM Post #6653948
| I know people in the Caribean grow and eat the christophine but I do not think they use brédes as widely as we do here. |
pajaritomt
Los Alamos, NM (Zone 5a)
June 7, 2009 6:16 PM Post #6654564
| Yes, as a kid growing up in New Orleans I often grew mirliton -- the name there for christophine. But I never knew that the young shoots were edible.
Thanks for a fascinating article on cooking in a very different environment from my own. I love my greens. |
carrielamont
Euless, TX (Zone 8a)
June 7, 2009 6:48 PM Post #6654676
| So, Jean-Jacques, when are you bringing the food and cooking, too, chez moi? I will eat it all, my husband maybe not.
Ha ha ha, we went out to dinner the other night and split the entree, which came with a choice of two side dishes. We had to choose between two kinds of rice, baked potato, mashed potatoes, asparagus, broccoli, snap peas, and spinach. as I remember. My husband said I should choose and he would eat whatever I chose, and didn't the baked potato sound lovely. There's a whole bag of potatoes on our counter within easy reach of the microwave. Where's the excitement in a baked potato? I picked asparagus and spinach! Delicious. That's why when you come you will have to bring your own supplies! All we have on hand is potatoes and rice. |
jjacques
LE TAMPON
Reunion (French)
June 8, 2009 3:48 AM Post #6656971
| A mirliton! This is quite a funny name for the plant, it translates as 'party whistle', those small noisy things people stick in the mouth to make more noise! I sure have to go to New Orleans some day, I will love the patois there!
OK Carrie, when I drop by I make sure I carry my chef's hat, slicing knife and a bagfull of exotic ingredients, I could do by for some time on rice but only rice and potatoes, whatta diet! I soon would be unable to climb up trees! |
LynnBia
Mint Hill, NC (Zone 7b)
June 8, 2009 12:40 PM Post #6657819
| Would it be reasonable to assume that one could eat the greens of ANY edible fruit? I love beet greens, for instance, but I was especially wondering about pea tendrils and tender leaves, as I have about a million (or so) snow pea plants in my garden at the moment! |
LynnBia
Mint Hill, NC (Zone 7b)
June 8, 2009 12:43 PM Post #6657834
| Edible vegetable, I meant! :-0 |
carrielamont
Euless, TX (Zone 8a)
June 8, 2009 12:56 PM Post #6657877
| Makes sense to me! When I was in a CSA we got "greens" from every root vegetable and most others. I can't remember any specifics right now (it was, after all, last summer, and after 30 days my memory starts eroding) but there were very odd leafy things, like (this is an educational example only) zucchini greens. |
pajaritomt
Los Alamos, NM (Zone 5a)
June 8, 2009 1:57 PM Post #6658114
| I think you can eat most veggie greens if you cook them. I know carrot greens are popular in some cultures and radish greens are commonly eaten in Asia -- young ones. Snow pea tendrils are considered a major treat in Asian cultures and I have eaten them in restaurants. Yummy -- mild flavored like spinach. You were smart to plant a lot of snow peas -- for the tendrils. Only a few plants will give you tons of snow peas themselves. |
LynnBia
Mint Hill, NC (Zone 7b)
June 8, 2009 7:25 PM Post #6659728
| Hmmm, thanks everyone! I have carrot greens also, so I'll try those as well. I think I"ll pass on potato, eggplant, or tomato greens though, hahaha! I love zucch flowers, battered and fried with a bit of mozzarella in the bottom. My Pop is Italian, and I know when he was a kid they ate "weeds" as he calls them, literally field greens, dandelions and everything else. |
duchessdreams
Reno, NV
June 8, 2009 8:03 PM Post #6659868
| Wow. Love the veggies! |
jjacques
LE TAMPON
Reunion (French)
June 9, 2009 4:14 AM Post #6662057
| Hey leaves eater!
I am not sure about the carrots, some plants of the Umbellifer family are toxic...I always keep the radih leaves but do not eat them raw, make a fantastic soup. I guess there are a whole lot of things we could eat right away from the garden and wild from leaves to roots (I used to chew on some fern roots when young, they had licorice flavour) |
pajaritomt
Los Alamos, NM (Zone 5a)
June 9, 2009 4:49 AM Post #6662148
| Carrot tops are safe. I know people who eat them. Fennel is also a plant from the umbelliferae and it is delicious! As is parsley! |
jjacques
LE TAMPON
Reunion (French)
June 9, 2009 7:50 AM Post #6662321
| All right, it is just that I remembered from my old days in France the warnings regarding hemlock (Conium maculatum) which is another umbelliferae but rather deadly! |
pajaritomt
Los Alamos, NM (Zone 5a)
June 9, 2009 3:58 PM Post #6663657
| Yes, we had a lady who was poisoned by wild hemlock in the mountains here. She died. But as it turns out, it was determined to be a suicide -- I don't know how -- but she was an expert on local plants. But lots of our herbs and plants are in the umbelliferae family. Wild parsley root, osha, as it is called here, is the local cure for almost everything. The locals go out in the woods and collect it and we haven't lost anyone but the plant expert. Ironic, no? |
jjacques
LE TAMPON
Reunion (French)
June 9, 2009 5:26 PM Post #6664053
| For sure, you have to be a plant expert if you want to use them to die without suffering too long...I know there are many umbelliferae species in temperate areas and difficult to tell one from the other for most people. We have a very wide range of species and families here in the tropics, some temperate as well when you get high up towards the volcano, will check for wild carrots! |
pajaritomt
Los Alamos, NM (Zone 5a)
June 9, 2009 5:52 PM Post #6664165
| Do be careful. The people I know only eat the tops of tame carrots. Yes, you do have to be careful not to get wild hemlock. I would love to see the area where you live. I bet it is fascinating. We might get to the islands around Tahiti in 2010, but not to Reunion. |
carrielamont
Euless, TX (Zone 8a)
June 9, 2009 5:54 PM Post #6664171
| Daucus carota? Very interesting article here... by yours truly.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1459/ |
jjacques
LE TAMPON
Reunion (French)
June 10, 2009 3:57 AM Post #6666976
| Never been to Tahiti or anywhere in the Pacific, certainly worth it for sure! Reunion is pretty much out of track but if you ever make it here, even in 2027 welcome! |
huckleberry6
Eagle Point, OR (Zone 8a)
June 10, 2009 4:46 AM Post #6667129
| Thank you for taking me on a 5 minute trip. I am discovering new greens all the time. |
jjacques
LE TAMPON
Reunion (French)
June 10, 2009 11:15 AM Post #6667529
| Green is the only answer! |
sallyg
Anne Arundel,, MD (Zone 7a)
June 10, 2009 12:23 PM Post #6667728
| Some might be interested in this book I found at my library. The Oxford Book of Edible Plants --I don't have a bibliography entry handy but that must be close enough to the title. Anyway it has color illustrations and descriptions of hundreds of plants used for food worldwide, and detailed nutritional information. Really eye opening, to an American whose plant diet consists of about 20 species. Hm ,, wonder how many species I really do use. And how few plant families they fall into--Cucurbits, corn, brassica... |
pajaritomt
Los Alamos, NM (Zone 5a)
June 10, 2009 2:34 PM Post #6668157
| Good point, sallyg. The American plant diet is very limited and our health shows it. |
sallyg
Anne Arundel,, MD (Zone 7a)
June 10, 2009 2:44 PM Post #6668223
| pajaritomt=if you haven't read Omnivore's Dilemma, you would find it interesting. |
pajaritomt
Los Alamos, NM (Zone 5a)
June 10, 2009 3:09 PM Post #6668348
| I haven't read it, but am aware of it. I will get to it sooner or later. I have been reading a great deal in nutrition lately. It is on my list. |
LynnBia
Mint Hill, NC (Zone 7b)
June 14, 2009 8:15 PM Post #6686885
| Tried the baby carrot greens. Not so yummy; would need a LOT of butter and salt (counterproductive), as well as herbs to be palatable to me. Pretty "grassy", but of course it's an acquired taste, I suppose! I love bitter greens, dandelions, arugula, the chicories, both cooked and in salads, but I grew up eating them. My husband does not like them; he grew up eating iceburg lettuce!!! HAHA!! The pea tendrils were pretty good, thought!! |
carrielamont
Euless, TX (Zone 8a)
June 14, 2009 8:26 PM Post #6686905
| Very dashing and daring Lynn! Bravo! (My husband is an iceberg lettuce person too - he grew up eating no lettuce at all.) |
pajaritomt
Los Alamos, NM (Zone 5a)
June 14, 2009 8:26 PM Post #6686907
| I love pea tendrils and haven't tried carrot tops. I just have heard of people eating them. I grew up eating bitter greens, too and so did my husband but bitter is an acquired taste. But once you acquire it, its yummy. I thought pea tendrils had quite a mild flavor. |
