Back in the early 70’s our family used to go on float trips and do some hiking. One of our hobbies during that time was searching out edible plants.
I remember eating yucca and spring beauties specifucally and it seemed we identified all the native plants, but memory being what it is (use it or lose it), I don’t remember a lot of it.
So I went to the bookshelves at home: “Stalking the wild Asparagus” by Gibbons. “The Weed Cookbook” by Crowhurst, and “The Flower Cookbook” by Crowhurst are the ones I can remember. Haven’t found the Gibbons book yet, but I did find the other two.
The weed cookbook is organized from A to Z, and starts with the mighty acorn for example. Acorns are a good source of protein, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus and have been used as a staple in the diets of Duropeans and many tribes of the American Indian.
Boiling and roasting is necessary to get rid of the tannins which give an astringent/bitter taste. Then they can be eaten whole, rolled in honey, or ground into flour.
ACORN BREAD RECIPE
2 cups milk or stock 2 Tbls dry yeast
2 Tbls oil or butter 1/3 cup lukewarm water
1/3 cup honey 4&2/3 cup acorn flour
2 tsp salt
Basically follow the same method for bread making found in any cookbook-letting the mixture rise, punching down and seperating into 2 loaf pans to rise again. Bake for 40 minutes @ 375 degree oven. Brush top with melted butter.
We have more Oak trees here than any other tree. So I plan to collect enough acorns this fall to give it a try. It should be interesting.
I was so happy to think of these books. At zero cost today, that’s a real find.LOL
Turns out you can eat the succulent tips. I didn't know that, but I'm not Cambodian either.
I tried one, and it's not bad.
Something else for the larder, and Lord knows I've been trying to kill the briars out, but they keep coming back.
/johnny
Duropeans = Europeans