Here’s yesterday’s fresh produce* from the garden….the joy of perennial vegetables! However, snow overnight will make harvest more difficult the next few days! Here’s today’s list: Aegopodium podograria (ground elder / skvallerkål) Allium hymennorhizum Allium sativum (garlic / hvitløk) Allium cernuum (noddding onion/ prærieløk) Allium victorialis (victory onion / seiersløk) Rumex acetosa “Arkhangelsk” (sorrel / engsyre) Hemerocallis middendorfii (day lily / daglije) Brassica oleracea (various perennial kales / flerårige kål) Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde) Myrrhis odorata (sweet cicely / spansk kjørvel) Ficaria verna (lesser celandine / vårkål) Taraxacum officinale ” Moss-leaved” (dandelion / løvetann) Angelica archangelica “Vossakvann Markusteigen” (kvann) Used in a green pasta sauce. * “Produce” they aren’t as most produce themselves without little input from me: Self-produce is a better word!
We seem to be at least a month ahead of normal this year. I don’t normally see new shoots of ground elder (Aegopodium) until the middle of April but this year they are popping up all over the place. Today’s veggies are a bit different from yesterday as it depends which part of the garden I harvest from. They are: Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach; stjernemelde) Aegopodium podograria (ground elder; skvallerkål) Rumex acetosa (non-flowering) (sorrel; engsyre) Rumex patientia (patience dock; hagesyre) Taraxacum officinale (dandelion; løvetann) Allium fistulosum (welsh onion; pipeløk) Allium paradoxum Allium x proliferum (Egyptian onion; luftløk) Myrrhis odorata (sweet cicely; spansk kjørvel) Allium cernuum (nodding onion; prærieløk) Hemerocallis (day lily shoots; daglilje) These were used in a delicious vegetable pea soup!
Sweet cicely (spansk kjørvel) is considered to be one of the worst invasive plants here and is now banned for sale and we don’t offer it through the Norwegian Seed Savers catalogue / yearbook. However, it’s one of the best edible perennials. It’s never spread in my garden as I’ve always eaten it, the best way to stop it spreading. In particular, eating the delicious flowers (in salads) and immature seeds (the best candy for kids) and collecting the mature seeds for winter sprouting, the best sprouts for winter stir-fries (sweet anise taste and a good size). This year, I sowed the large seeds in a large pot and stratified outside for a couple of months before moving into the cellar where the temperature is warmer than usual this winter and there was mass germination a couple of weeks ago. A few will be used in a chinese style stir-fry tonight! Eat your invasives!
A much warmer winter than normal and I returned home to well developed blanched dandelion shoots in the cellar together with horseradish shoots and the sweet cicely shoots (Myrrhis odorata) had also germinated en masse! This post shows the dandelion roots being dug and planted at the end of November: http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=23997
I spent a couple of hours in Muséhagen (the old botanical garden) in the centre of Bergen before taking the train to Oslo on Sunday and spent the time edimentals spotting amongst all the sun-worshippers, a strange experience in a town best known for its rain…
Sweet cicely (spansk kjørvel) is a “noxious weed ” (svartelistet), but also one of the best edible introductions to our flora, only invasive as we eat too little of it ;)
Hostas
My favourite formal part of Muséhagen is this bed with Hostas and Gunnera tinctoria from South America, both in my book Around the World in 80 plants!
One of Norway’s tallest Ginkgo trees, but alone it will have a hard job producing ginkgo nuts!
A splendid clump of Allium victorialis (victory onion / seiersløk)
A splendid clump of Allium victorialis (victory onion / seiersløk) towering over Egyptian onion to the left
Camassia cusickii
Camassia cusickii
A large clump of hybrid Trillium
Hemerocallis dumortieri is an early flowering species
A hybrid day lily to the left with much smaller Hemerocallis dumortieri to the right
Marshmallow (legestokkrose)
Asparagus, asparges
Gaultheria shallon
Rudbeckia (a vegetable used by native americans)
Tropaeolum polyphyllum
Darmera peltata
Hosta planted with conifers
An area with Myrrhis odorata, sweet cicely
Invasive claytonia sibirica
Hostas
Hostas
Hostas
Hostas
Pignut / jordnøtt was also growing wild in the garden
After 11 days of mostly fast food, it was good to get home this evening to a jungle of slow food….
Ingredients: Hablitzia, Rumex acetosa, Rumex patientia, Myrrhis (young seeds), Hemerocallis middendorfii and H. lilioasphodelus (daylily buds), Crambe maritima (broccolis), Crambe cordifolia (broccolis), Nettle, 2* Origanum, Tragopogon pratensis (flower stems and buds), Allium senescens, Campanula latifolia, Asparagus trichophyllus, Chives (flower buds), Peltaria alliacea, garlic, chili and chicory (2 types)
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Last night (8th March 2017) was the first of two events I had been asked to take part in celebrating the diversity of vegetables that our area has on offer (or could have on offer) even in winter! The Trondheim Kosmorama international film festival are showing two films related to food. Last night, the film “NOMA: My perfect storm” was shown and around 40 people also bought tickets to a fantastic 10-15 course, 4 hour meal (I lost count) at Trondheim’s NOMA: Credo!
I supplied a number of vegetables for the dinner and these are shown here, several being served for the first time in Norway :)
All the veggies including Primula elatior (oxlip / hagenøkleblom flowers)
Blanched dandelions (løvetann)
Oca, ulluco, Hablitzia shoots (stjernemelde) and Chicago onio
Blanched horseradish (top left) with blanched wild dandelion, Aleksandra garlic bulbil sprouts, Chicago onion (Allium cernuum), different types of Oca (Oxalis tuberosa) and Ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus – green tubers)
Sweet cicely / spansk kjørvel seed sprouts at the top with blanched horseradish shoots at bottom and blanched wild dandelion on the right
April 2014 and Yngvil (aka Ms. Saladdy) was helping out in my garden, her practical experience for her education to become a gardener! I’ll let her tell her own story of the wonderful diverse tempura we made together on that day using perennial veggies!
