Wild Harvest Soup

Let me tell you about the soup that I made after Harvest Day. Okay, that was about a month ago. I didn't wait a month to make the soup, I only waited a month to tell you about it.

At the time I harvested several gallons of various plants. I made a soup from about 6 cups of chickweed, a cup of violet leaves and a few dandelion leaves.

I made the soup by sautéing some onion, carrot and celery for a few minutes. I don't know why, but onion seems to taste so much better if you sauté it before you boil it. Another thing that I like to sauté a bit is fresh cracked black pepper. I've never been a big pepper fan, but frying gives it a rich, mellow taste.

To the vegetables. I added the chopped greens and wilted them. Then I added some chicken broth to deglaze the pan and transferred the whole thing into a stock pot.

After that, I just added a little more chicken broth, water, and a can of diced tomatoes. I seasoned the soup with salt and garlic, then a big handful of fresh sage from my garden, and some dried herbs like basil and thyme. I added some leftover rice and let it simmer for maybe 20 minutes (cooking the rice that long made it open up like a butterfly).



We had the soup garnished with some dillweed. It was good! A little weird, since the chickweed stems had a different texture than most "store bought" vegetables. They were crunchy and tender though, and mild. In the soup they looked like little green noodles.

Stephanie has a post on Lady's Thumb in her garden (and out of her garden). This is a wild edible that I haven't tried much yet! Check it out.

Harvest Day in the Yard

The wild plants are in peril of being mown down, so I harvested a lot of greens from the yard today. The bowl in the picture is about 16" across, so I got a pretty good amount, don't you think?

The plantain was big and healthy. Still no sign of a flower spike, so it should still be nice and tender.


Plantain, Chickweed and Violet leaves

I separated the plantain leaves from the rest of the harvest. I'm going to cook these by themselves in some new and exciting way. I'll let you know how it goes. There were enough to fill a quart zipper bag.

There was also a good amount of violet leaves. I probably got about a cup.

Most of the dandelions have gone to seed, but there were a few that hadn't flowered yet. I picked about 10 leaves.

I also picked about a gallon of lanky chickweed. There was a lot of plant material but not a lot of leaves. the stems are still tender and crunchy though, so I'll see how they work out in a soup with the violet and the dandelion.

Pokeweed - the Fountain of Youth?

Pokeweed has a folk reputation as a youth restorative. It is also said to be toxic. So, is it okay to eat pokeweed or not? It depends on who you listen to.

There's no doubt that pokeweed contains toxins. Our ancestors boiled the shoots in several changes of water to remove the toxins and make the greens safe to eat. People still cook pokeweed this way. Only you can decide whether to eat pokeweed or not. If you're pregnant though or are nursing a baby, you shouldn't eat it. And don't give it to very young children.

Pokeroot is very toxic. If you do harvest pokeweed, be very careful not to get any root. Fortunately that's easy to avoid, since you'll be harvesting the tips of the young shoots.

Traditionally, pokeweed is used as a spring tonic. My grandma used to cook up pokeweed every spring. She'd boil it in three changes of water to remove any toxins. Her mother taught her to cook it this way, just like generations before her. A lot of mountain folks attribute their longevity to having their spring kettle of pokeweed.

And it doesn't have to be only in the spring. You can enjoy pokeweed all year if you decide to can or freeze some. Poke's abundance makes this easy. Most of the shoots come up in a two week period or so. If you find a big patch, you could get a bushel of greens without too much trouble. And even though you boil it for a long time, it doesn't shrink a whole lot.

When you harvest poke shoots, only take the tender tips. In the kitchen, cut out the stems and discard. You want to have young leaves only with little or no purple (yes, purple!).

Wash the leaves and boil for about 20 minutes in plenty of water. Pour through a colander and boil again in fresh water for about 10 minutes. Drain it a second time and put it in the third water to boil. This time, add any seasonings like onions and garlic, spices, salt, etc. You could also add a ham bone or something if you'd like.

Cook at for at least 10 minutes or as long as you need to cook the other ingredients Voilà! You've got a lip smackin' mess of poke grandma would be proud of.

And what does it taste like? Even after all that boiling, poke tastes strong. It has a bold, acrid flavor. Some people love it, while it's a little strong for others. Serve it with cornbread, whose natural sweetness complements the hearty flavor.

Poke plants are striking, 5 or 6 feet tall and up to 5 feet wide. They are a handsome yard addition and birds love the berries too, according to Severson Dells Nature Center. There's a nice description of the poke plant here as well.

There's an interesting post on poisonous plants in the garden over at the Garden Rant blog. Some fine ranting indeed.

Nettles, Eggs and Chicken Legs

Nettles and scrambled eggs go great together. I think it's even better than spinach, because the nettles don't impose their flavor on the eggs. The two tastes are more complementary.


A Mess of Greens

There really weren't enough nettles to make a decent stir-fry last night so this morning I picked some nettles and daylily shoots with a few little tender tops of chickweed. I also picked four or five young dandelion leaves and a few sage leaves from my garden.

I sliced the dandelion and sage leaves fine because they're both pretty strong flavored. The other greens got sliced into 5/8" long pieces (the chickweed was so small it didn't need to be sliced).

The greens were sautéed in olive oil for a few minutes then I added the eggs. Since there were only three eggs (whoops), I added the meat of half a chicken leg and melted in a slice of cream cheese. Seasoned with salt, garlic and dill, it was perfect for Saturday morning brunch with toast and potatoes.

I did get a nettle sting. I only had a glove on my left hand, and was using the scissors with my unprotected right. Inevitably, I slid my knuckles across some small unnoticed nettle plants. I rubbed on a dock leaf, but it took about 15 minutes for the irritation to go away.

Hey I just noticed what day it is. For me, planting potatoes on St. Patrick's Day is a family tradition. Around this time we also planted cabbage and broccoli plants, as well as sowing lettuce and radish seeds.

We won't be planting an early garden this year because we're moving our raised beds. Guess I'll just have to enjoy the wild greens.