Forgot to harvest my tuberous thistles, Cirsium tuberosum…managed to find a couple now…
See also an older blog about them here
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=2461
Category Archives: Root crops
Late or early?
Wild Japanese Katakuri #1
My trip to Japan in early spring 2016 was perfectly timed to witness one of the wonders of the Japanese spring, the mass flowering of katakuri (Erythronium japonicum; Japanese: 片栗), a pink-flowered species trout lily or dog’s tooth violet. Thanks to Kevin Cameron for inviting us along on a hike with a local walking club out of Nagoya! The bulbs were in the past used as a source of starch, the leaves and flowers also being eaten (but shouldn’t be wild harvested nowadays as some sources consider it as endangered). I’ve never seen so many people out flower watching, so many cameras trained at the flowers…a bit like twitchers watching some rare bird….we could call them flitters perhaps!
We took the train from Nagoya to Kanigawa station in Kani city on the edge of Nagoya’s urban sprawl, then walked to Yunohana hot springs spa and market on the river, popped in to one of the walking group’s friend’s house for tea, snack and a garden wander before walking to the katakuri area in a nature reserve area. Finally, we followed a trail up on to the hill where there was a distant view of Japan’s second highest volcano Mt. Ontake. We followed Kevin and daughter back to the spa for a hot bath, while the rest of the group carried on the trail to take the train back from a different station.
I’ve had a katakuri in my garden for several years but it doesn’t get much larger and seems to be self-sterile (pictures of my plants can be seen in the gallery on this page: http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=9442
First a gallery of pictures of the katakuri woods followed by 4 videos! This is followed by two more galleries of pictures from this wonderful day! Enjoy…
..and now 4 videos of the katakuri area:
Next, an album of pictures taken on the way from the station to the market and spa and lunch at a Japanese house.
…and finally a gallery of pictures of other plants including a number of edibles on the walk up to the viewpoint with the walking group!
Skirret-chufa stir-fry
Tonight’s dinner, skirret-chufa stir-fry.
Pepper-root
“Pepperrot” is the Norwegian name, also known as common man’s wasabi, it’s horseradish, Armoracia rusticana, a multipurpose, perennial, high yield, very hardy vegetable used not only for the roots but also the spring shoots and delicious edible flowers….Here’s a few pictures of today’s cold harvest!
Jack-go-to-bed-by-noon/Chorogi/Madeira vine tuber harvest
Harvested roots of Jack-go-to-bed-by-noon (Tragopogon pratensis), an introduced weed in my garden. It is related to salsify and scorzonera – I eat the roots and force a few for early spring greens; Madeira vine is in the Basellaceae and isn’t everybody’s cup-of-tea as they are rather mucilaginous – they can also be forced in winter for the equally mucilaginous greens! I LIKE THEM, but always mixed with other veg. Finally, I harvested my long neglected chorogi which were surprisingly good yielding despite the fact that they were completely overgrown by weeds..
All are now stored in the cellar.
Greater pignut
Greater pignut or earth chestnut (Bunium bulbocastanum) is an interesting perennial hardy root vegetable in the carrot family (Apiaceae) that I had in my garden for 10-15 years. The seeds didn’t often mature, so it didn’t spread at all (unlike common pignut, Conopodium majus). It is like a outsized pignut in appearance. However, I can’t eat either of these raw as I get a burning aftertaste at the back of my throat after a while, after an initial mild nutty flavour….and yield needs to be improved dramatically before it will be widely grown..
Often greater pignut received as seed is actually Oenanthe pimpinelloides which also is reported to have edible tubers (plants received as O. pimpinelloides have never survived the winter here). As discussed in the pictures, I believe mine was the true Bunium.