When I visited the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh (RBGE) in September 2016 I was pleased to find an exhibition of portraits of Nepalese plants, many of which were edible and information was even provided on food and other uses of the plants shown! The exhibition celebrates the 200th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Britain and Nepal and the even longer botanical relationship of the gardens with Nepal (see http://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/21610).
The exhibition features drawings made by a group of 6 RBGE artists that visited Nepal in 2015 as well as a Nepalese artist. See also http://www.mdhardingtravelphotography.com/single-post/2016/08/13/Bicentenary-UK—Nepal
My album of pictures show the edible and fibre plants on display!
Gaultheria fragrantissima has aromatic leaves and edible fruits eaten fresh and distilled into an alcoholic drink
The national flower of Nepal, Rhododendron arboreum…although not mentioned at the exhibition, the flower petals are eaten and in some areas the petals are pickled by simply mixing with salt and chili!! One day :)
Myrica esculenta, the Kafal tree, a relative of a common plant found in bogs here, bog myrtle (pors) has “delicious” fruits
Bauhinia purpurea, Korailo is a leguem with multiple food uses: flower buds and young fruits are cooked as a vegetable or pickled and its seeds are also fried and eaten
Leucosceptrum canum, Bhusure is used as an insecticide, ripe fruits are eaten by children and the flowers yield a yellow food colouring
Thysolaena latifolia (Tiger grass) is an important fibre plant
Midway through the exhibition was a short film from the visit of the RBGE artists
Herbarium specimen of a nettle species (Urtica)
This is one that I’ve tried unsuccessfully in Malvik. Allo or Girardinia diversifolia is known as the Himalayan Nettle and is an important fibre plant..
Articles made with Himalayan Nettle
A backstrap loom used to weave Himalayan Nettle
The paper on which this portrait is painted is made from this plant, Daphne bholua (Lokta paper)
Mahonia napaulensis (Jamane mandro) berries are eaten fresh or dried.
Yucca filamentosa is at the top of my list of plants that I’ve grown and never expected would survive one winter let alone over 10 and finally flower, as it did in 2008…..sadly, it used up all its energy in flowering and died that winter..
My title? Needle and Thread salad, doesn’t sound very appetising, does it? Well, two of the common names of this North American plant are Adam’s needle and Eve’s thread, with reference to the needle like inflorescence and the thread-like leaf edge filaments that help separate this species from other Yuccas! It is, for obvious reasons, also known as Spanish Bayonet and Desert Candle.
Although other parts of this plant and other Yuccas were used by Native Americans, it’s the flowers you will want to try in your garden, unless you have the pollinating Yucca moth (Tegeticula yuccasella) in your area, in which case you may even get to taste the edible fruit (I haven’t)..
Knowing that this is a plant that grows on sandy soils in the wild, I planted it initially right next to the south facing wall of my house back in the mid-1990s. To my surprise, it came back year after year, but grew slowly. I then moved it next to my small home made greenhouse on the east facing side of my house in 2001. It grew slowly but steadily and then to my amazement I discovered a flowering stem and it flowered late August 2008 (see the pictures below, including the salad I made with the flowers). The flowers are delicious and I didn’t detect any bitterness as noted by some people!
This species is one of the best edimentals where it thrives, but there are a number of even more ornamental varieties worth trying including: ‘Bright Edge’, a dwarf cultivar with creamy leaf margins (awarded the UK Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit), Golden Sword’ which is similar to ‘Bright Edge’, but larger; ‘Ivory Tower’ has creamy white flowers tinged with green; ‘Color Guard’ with broad yellow stripes all year and red stripes in the winter.
A variegated cultivar photographed in the Århus Botanical Garden in Denmark some years ago!
Other uses include fibre extracted from the leaves and soap from the saponin-rich roots.
…and just last month Yucca filamentosa flowers were featured in a salad I made at my walk and talk at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh
See http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=6873
Last week, I blogged about the opening of an exhibition in Trondheim by a photographer Terje Visnes who must have taken thousands of pictures for the local newspaper Adresseavisen over the years. He had taken pictures of one of my salads two years ago:
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=7849
I was chuffed then that he should choose one of the pictures taken that day for the exhibition and, naturally, had to go along and see it for myself! I visited unnanounced today and, to my surprise, Terje had also popped in, so there was an opportunity for a photo and a chat…and it turned out that Ingrid who runs the gallery knows my artist daughter….
The exhibition was nicely put together and the key to the salad ingredient picture (see the following link: https://www.thinglink.com/scene/536181539210264576) was made available to visitors and was apparently quite popular – you can look at the picture and guess what the vegetables are and check afterwards their identity! And of course there are several other great pictures that Terje has taken over the years on show!!
That photo shoot in my garden turned out to be an expensive day…as I just had to have one of the few copies that are being sold :) If you’re into vegetable diversity art, you’ll have to be quick to get one of the remaining pictures!! Perfect for better restaurants!
Terje Visnes and his great photo of my salad ingredients! The frame and the use of the Enviromesh netting was a spur of the moment decision! He found both just lying around in my garden!Ingrid Oliv Olava Sørgjerd who runs RAMM gallery and picture frame workshop in Trondheim, where Terje Visnes’ exhibition is running to the end of November!
A couple of weeks ago, I finally got round to inviting botanist Kamal Acharya and his wife Sharmila Phuyal to see my garden!! They were amazed to see so many plants that they were familiar with from home and I blogged about this here:
They asked (begged?) couldn’t we come and make you a Nepalese meal with plants from your garden! I just had to find time for this and I’m very glad I did as it was a fantstic meal. Yes, I’m a very lucky man!!
Sharmila about to prepare fresh Jimmu for the very first time. Living in the lowlands, they can only get it dried…
Sharmila gets acquainted with the Nepalese onion in Malvik…still a bit in disbelief that this is really happening!
Another plant my new friends recognised was taro (karkalo) or Colocasia esculenta. I’ve grown this as a pot plant for several years for a couple of tubers a year, inside in winter and outside for most of the summer. Even in our cold climate it grows outside in summer! However, I’d never used the leaves as I thought one had to use special low-oxalate varieties (oxalate in the leaves can scratch your throat). They assured me I could eat it!
Sharmila can’t get karkalo leaf in Trondheim and , so it was amazing for them to meet someone up in the north actually growing it! They will now grow it themselves!
Meanwhile, Britt-Arnhild and helper made the salad (NB! Salads aren’t very common in Nepal, perhaps cooking to sterilise).
What a lucky man I am!!!
Britt-Arnild’s picture from the kitchen
A quick fry of the Jimmu (Allium wallichii) before adding to the black lentils/dal..
The karkalo leaf stems were first split lengthwise
The taro leaf was rolled up before cooking…Sharmila and Kamal had different ways of doing this from their different villages.
A Nepalese spice colelction including cumin and fenugreek
Cutting the taro leaf
The next generation of edimental salad makers! She decorated it herself!!
“We use the broad bean pods too” Kamal told me!!! What? Really? Isn’t it very fibrous?
Preparing the broad beans for cooking
The red coloured variety is Karmazyn
The Nepalese pressure cooker was frequently used!
Ghee (clarified butter) is important in Nepalese cooking as it is in India. They sometimes make their own, but this was bought..
Kamal showing one of the spices used…Zanthoxylum armatum, a new species for my life list!!
Cooking the taro leaf
WOW, are you jealous? The Allium wallichii flowers was a last minute finishing touch…I sacrificed my only dark flowered Jimmu for this picture! The broad beans were a bit fibrous but very tasty…. I will certainly be using the pods of broad beans in future. As Kamal said ” what’s a bit of fibre…it’s good for us!”
Nepal in Malvik edimentalised with the flowers of two varieties of Allium wallichii from high elevations in Nepal, but feeling quite at home in the lowlands of Malvik! The cooked taro was delicious and I will have to start growing more pots of taro as it makes an excellent winter house plant green! I couldn’t sense any silicates in my throat either!
3 years ago, I was at a LETS Trondheim meeting at Manuela Panzacchi’s place. I had forgotten, but we had been asked to bring some food and I took a flowery salad along. One of the other participants, Svanhild Anita Vågsvær, contacted me a few weks back as she was getting married, remembered the salad and wanted something similar at her wedding! Would I sell her some tasty edible flowers? Of course she could have some! Late the evening before the wedding, groom Christian Berg arrived and we picked a good selection! The pictures show the salad put together by their chef with goat cheese, caper vinaigrette and foccacia! Congratulations!
My favourite Himalayan onion is now coming into flower in the garden. This is what I call Sherpa onion (Allium wallichii), it’s a beauty and the bees and hoverflies also love it! The other two pictures are of Norrland onion which has been in bloom for a while now. Both are described in my book Around the World in 80 plants!
The last day of the Danish permaveggies course in Malvik and we ended mixing and decorating a 191 ingredient salad, probably the 4th largest of all time :)
Noticed this rather attractive purple throated Giant Bellflower, reminiscent of Codonopsis! This patch came from AGS (Alpine Garden Society) seed, received as a cultivar “Gloaming” although pictures of that one all seem to show a purple flowered variety…
Campanula latifolia is one of top favourite edimentals as anyone who has read my book will realise!
Normal white throat
A closer look shows that Purple throat also has a little purple in the petals ..A closer look shows that Purple throat also has a little purple in the petals ..
My latest garden helper is Daina Binde from Latvia (recently: UK) and has impressed me by her plant knowledge! Like my last helper Lorna Marie O’Lynn, she was recommended to me by Mount Stewart’s (Northern Ireland) wonderful Mr Neil Porteous!! Anyone recommended by Neil can stay here :)
She was joined by Martina who discovered permaculture through working for 6 months on farms in New Zealand. The girls decorated tonight’s permadiversity salad!
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
