Tulip Tree

January 30, 2012

Not every edible plant has to be a nutritional powerhouse. Some are “edible” by the barest of means. A good example is the Tulip Tree, Liriodendron tulipifera, said leer-ee-oh-DEN-drawn too-lih-PIFF-er-uh. What if you read that a native plant was “used to make honey.”  What would you think? Probably that the plant was cultivated for bees [...]

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Edible Flowers: Part Thirteen

January 25, 2012

Sesbania Grandifolia, Lemon Verbena, Szechaun Buttons, Horseradish, Tea Olive, Tiger Lily, Currants, Honewort, Thyme, Indian Paint Brush Sesbania grandifolia, also called the Vegetable Hummingbird Tree and the Scarlet Wisteria, has managed to work its way into warmer areas of the world. If you have a frost you might be able to pot it but you [...]

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Giant Taro

January 24, 2012

One can ignore large leaves for only so long, and the Alocasia macrorrhiza has big leaves, up to four feet long. As one might suspect, it also has a large root, up to a foot long and half a foot through. The Giant Taro is native to India and Sri Lanka. Polynesian explorers took the [...]

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Wild Flours

January 18, 2012

A wild flour is different than a starchy root. The Spurge Nettle has a starchy root that tastes like pasta but it does not lend itself to being processed into flour or starch. Below are many sources of flour or starch in five large categories… okay, six categories. Material you can bake by itself is [...]

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Wild Rice

January 17, 2012

Love and marriage, horse and carriage, Zizania and canoe… not exactly lyrical but you get the idea. If you want Wild Rice you have to go where the Wild Rice is, and that’s in water, not greatly deep water, but water nonetheless. Emergent is the word. Truth be known Wild Rice, Zizania aquatica, is not [...]

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Edible Flowers: Part Twelve

January 15, 2012

Forget-Me-Nots, Calamint, Mimosa Silk Tree, Clary Sage, Petunia x hybrid, Balloon Flower, Yarrow, Corn Poppy, Daisy, Sweet Alyssum The story I heard from my mother, not the best source of romantic literature, was that he was in Alaska and braved rushing waters to get some wild flowers she requested. He got the flowers but was [...]

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Edible Flowers: Part Eleven

January 11, 2012

Coral Vine, Citron Melon, Milkweed Vine, Dayflower, Evening Primrose, Kudzu, Stock, Dame’s Rocket, Freesia, Dendrobium phalaenopsis The Coral Vine has dozens of names, not only as a cultivated blossom but an escapee on the most noxious list. Botanically it is Antigonon leptopus. A native of Mexico it has edible roots, leaves and for this series, flowers. [...]

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Edible Flowers: Part Ten

January 3, 2012

Alliums, Oregano, Pinks, Peas, Okra, Galium, Ginger, Scented Geraniums, Primrose, Mustard/Radish The author of “Florida’s Incredible Wild Edibles” Dick Deuerling, now in his 90s, taught me decades ago: If it looks like a garlic and smells like a garlic it is a garlic and you can eat it. If it looks like an onion and [...]

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Canna Confusion

January 3, 2012

How many species of Canna are there? Used to be perhaps 100 but now there are 20 or so, plus one Scottish island with a …ah.. population problem. And don’t misspell it Cana with one ‘N’ or you will get a cremation society. I lived with a Taiwanese family for a while, perhaps that’s where [...]

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Guinea Pigs, Cavy, Cuy

January 2, 2012

Peruvians eat more than 65 million guinea pigs every year. That should answer any question about edibility. Sixty-five million guinea pigs (a 2005 figure) is more than two rodents for every every man, woman, and child in that county. Peruvians have been consuming the pseudo-porcines for some four thousands years. The furry piglets… (figlets?) …reportedly [...]

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Edible Flowers: Part Nine

December 29, 2011

Mahoe, Moringa, Pineapple Sage, Plum, Hawthorn, Cattail, Papaya, Purslane, Tuberose, Wisteria Mahoe’s Blossoms Change Color One of the more fascinating flowers found in warm climates is that of the Mahoe, or the Sea Hibiscus. In the morning the blossom is yellow but by late afternoon it is red. The working theory is the shrub changes [...]

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Nutria, Coypu

December 29, 2011

I have a close friend who’s Cajun. He said his family was so poor growing up in the bayou that if it moved they cooked it and threw it on rice. That included Nutria, or as a good portion of the world calls it Coypu. You can think of the Nutria as a large rat [...]

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Dahlia Pinnata

December 27, 2011

Here’s the good news: At least one species of Dalhia has edible roots. Here’s the bad news, there are some 20,000 cultivars, maybe even thousands more. A short botany lesson to make things easier to understand: The genus is like a family. Species are like brothers and sisters. With humans the breakdown stops there but [...]

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Common Reed

December 26, 2011

Some 20 years ago I pondered upon the identity of what appeared to be a very tall grass in a former marlpit in Port Orange, a few miles south of Daytona beach. One would think there can’t be that many tall grasses locally but you would be surprised in a state with virtually thousands of [...]

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Mugwort

December 24, 2011

Like some other plants with famous relatives Mugwort gets lost in the negative publicity. Mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris, is completely over shadowed by Artemisia absinthium, the original narcotic ingredient in the liquor Absinthe. I have had the liquorice-like real Absinthe several times in Greece and I have no idea how 1) anyone could like it let [...]

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Carpetweed

December 22, 2011

When it comes to Carpetweed you need to know only two things: It grows nearly everywhere, or will. And the plant above ground is edible. To quote Cornucopia II, page 153: “The entire plant can be cooked and eaten as a potherb, or added to vegetable soups during the last minutes of cooking.” Yes, I [...]

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Edible Flowers: Part Eight

December 19, 2011

Society Garlic, Anise Hyssop, Black Locust, Gardenia, Fragrant Water Lily, Strawberry, Marsh Mallow, Maypops, Milkweed, Hollyhocks It’s clearly not wild. It’s clearly a planted ornamental. But I get asked about it all the time. Is Society Garlic edible? The short answer is yes. The blossoms smell and taste far more like a vegetable than a [...]

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Ignite of the Iguana

December 19, 2011

The cookbook’s title says it all. South Florida, parts of Texas and Hawaii have iguana issues. While teaching a class in West Palm Beach last fall I could not help but think of Iguana a la Carte when a 30-inch one slithered into a pond next to me. No, they don’t taste quite like chicken, [...]

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Yacon

December 16, 2011

Is it a Polymnia or a Smallanthus? Botanists took some 70 years to make up their minds. Let’s call it Yacon like the natives. In publications before 2000, particularly the Journal for Economic Botany in 1991 and Cornucopia II 1998, it’s Polymnia sonchifolia, poh-LIM-nee-uh son-khi-FOH-ll-uh. Polymnia is Latin for the Greek goddess of sacred poetry, [...]

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Spanish Moss

December 14, 2011

Spanish Moss is not edible. Well, barely an edible. The bottom of the growing tips (pictured above) provide about one eight of an inch of almost tasteless green. It probably takes twenty or thirty calories to get that little green tip which probably only provides less than a calorie of energy. It’s really not food. [...]

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