Last night we made a green pea soup and apart from the Hablitzia (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde), I used perennial vegetables growing in a wild part of the garden. With little or no help from me there’s a bounty of wild edibles in this area under wild hazels (Corylus avellana) and this made for a delicious pea soup with masses of greens. Campanula latifolia is documented as used in spring soups in the 16th century in my area in Norway and Heracleum shoots are also a tradional soup ingredient, in particular Russian borsch now thought of as a beetroot soup was originally made with hogweed shoots.
Campanula latifolia (giant bellflower) and Urtica dioica (stinging nettle)….in a dry shady area under trees, the productivity here is equal to my annual vegetables!
Campanula latifolia (giant bellflower) has almost outcompeted ground elder / skvalelrkål (Aegopodium podograria)
Hablitzia tamnoides in front of the wild greens
Heracleum (hogweed / bjørnekjeks) stems
Ramsons (right) were also used from an increasing patch naturalised in the shade of the north side of the house!
To celebrate my 65th we made indian pakora with 65 (or so) different perennial vegetables. Going for a new title, this time EPM (Extreme Pakora Man)! Any better? The whole list is under the pictures! Just wish I’d had broad / fava bean (bondebønner) flour available for the pakoras rather than gram flour (chick peas)…next time I hope :)
Falafels can be home grown over most of Norway and if we are serious about climate change should become standar fare in kitchens, restaurants and supermarkets throughout the country. Dig for VICTORY against climate change! The ingredients: Broad beans / fava beans (bondebønner); grown in Malvik and stored dried Victory onion (seiersløk) grows particularly well in the arctic (or replace with garlic or ramsons) Golpar (spice from ground seed of any member of the Heracleum genus, including invasive Tromsøpalme, Heracleum persicum) Barley flour (bygg) – I used100% whole grain Eggs to bind Fry in oil (sorry, I used imported olive oil) (Optional: house grown chilis) Decoration: Oxalis triangularis
Victory onion or seiersløk (Allium victorialis) in Norwegian has one of the most widespread geographic distributions in the Allium genus from the Pyrenees to the Far East. In Norway, it’s naturalised in the Lofoten Islands, a few places in Nordland county and one location in Hardanger (Granvin). There is evidence to believe that it was originally introduced to Norway by the Vikings. I have plants from different parts of its range in my garden and there is a large difference between them as to when they begin to shoot in the spring, the ones deriving from Japan leafing out a few weeks earlier than the ones from Europe and Norway, although a plant received as Allium ochotense (nowadays considered by most as a synonym of A. victorialis), which originated in the Tromsø botanical garden, is probably from the Russian Far East and is also a late variety. Below are pictures of most of my plants taken on 19th and 20th April 2020. I have about 5 other accessions, two not big enough to photograph, one from the Kola peninsular has not grown well and will be moved to a new location, 3 more were planted this spring. two donated by the Oslo botanical garden and one a variegated form from Japan: Allium victorialis subsp. platyphyllum ‘Chiri Fu’.
1) From a seed trade with Iku Kubota in Japan in 2002. 2) From Tei Kobayashi in Japan in 2016 (subsp. platyphyllum or broad-leaved victory onion) has a flower bud extending 3) From seed from the Reykjavik botanical garden in 2009, originatin from the Sakhalin in the Russian Far East. This one also has a flower bud and has broadish leaves. 4) Received from the Tromsø botanical garden in 2002 5) From Granvin in Norway in 2012 6) From Merete in Lofoten in 2003 7) From Anja Angelsen. Krogtoft, Vestvågøy, Lofoten, Norway (2009) 8) From Massif Central in the French Alps (kindly sent to me by the Haut-Chitelet alpine garden in 2013) 9) From naturalised plants in Hopen, Nordland, Norway in 201310) Probably Allium victorialis Cantabrica AMH 7827 (collected by Antoine Michael Hoog, the son of one of the founders from Van Tubergen); I received it as Cantabria in 2008.
I’ve been selecting caraway (Carum carvi) through 4 generations now for larger roots. I plan to have a larger number of plants from next year at our community garden (Væres Venner). I selected 5 plants for seed yesterday and they were quite a decent size. The remainder with the greens were used in a delicious karvekaalsuppe (caraway soup) yesterday with sand leek / bendelløk (Allium scorodoprasum). I plan to offer seed from this selection in KVANN’s (Norwegian Seed Savers) autumn catalogue!
The largest roots!
Replanted the largest roots
Allium scorodoprasum from the Sea Kale bed where it grows well in seaweed! mulch
Allium scorodoprasum
Karvekaalsuppe (Caraway soup)
Karvekaalsuppe with spelt wholegrain pasta and the traditional egg!
English: This is the Norwegian version of the story I published in my book Around the World in 80 plants about a wild onion (Allium oleraceum) that was taken to Iceland and returned almost 1,000 years later). Dette er historien om en viltvoksende løk, som kanskje er utgangspunkt for det engelske ordet garlic, som ble tatt til Island for snart 1000 år siden av en engelsk biskop og kom tilbake til Trøndelag til en annen engelskmann som jobbet med løk! Idag er denne løken å finne i den nye løkhagen på NTNU Ringve Botaniske Hagen i Trondheim ved siden av kanskje samme løk som ikke vandret til Island. Denne historien fortalte jeg om i min bok Around the World in 80 plants (se https://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=30). En norsk artikkel er dessverre ikke lenge tilgjengelig på nettet. Artikkelen som kan leses nedenfor er tatt fra en større intern rapport fra en flerårig prosjekt “Innsamling og kartlegging av gamle matløk” som undertegnede gjennomførte, finansiert av Genressurssenteret.
Several Alliums are extremely hardy and can stand green all winter even when exposed to temperatures under -20C. Similarly, young leaves of species that start to sprout in early spring as soon as the frost disappears near the surface have no problem with snow and frosts. Here are a few after yesterday’s snowfall!
Woke up to a new fall of snow which will continue for a couple of days when spring will arrive we’re told!
Alliums aren’t at all bothered by snow
Allium victorialis
Allium victorialis
Allium carinatum pulchellum
Allium stipitatum, persian shallots
Allium jesdianum
Allium pskemense
Allium victorialis
Allium nutans hybrid
New Alliums waiting for a place in the garden or in the Allium garden at the botanical gardens
Allium victorialis earlier this week in the garden. I harvested half of these shoots. This is an accession I received seed from Iku Kubota in Japan in December 2002.
10) Probably Allium victorialis Cantabrica AMH 7827 (collected by Antoine Michael Hoog, the son of one of the founders from Van Tubergen); I received it as Cantabria in 2008.
