I was going to post an album of pictures showing off all the late flowers in the garden this record-breaking mild autumn still without any frost, but as they’re all edible I made a salad instead!
There were 33 different edible flowers (see the list below the pictures) plus 30-40 greens and a whopper carrot which I decided to keep whole as a feature! It was cut up when the salad was tossed afterwards. It has a story too as it is one of the Danish accessions rematriated from Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) in the US last winter. I took a few seed before sending the rest on to Danish Seed Savers (Dansk Frøsamlerne). It’s called Kämpe which means Giant in Swedish/Danish (I call it Whopper as it’s probably the biggest/thickest carrot I¨’ve grown here). It’s not a very old variety and SSE informed that it was a cultivated variety originally from the Swedish seed company Weibulls. Anyone know more about it?
Salad flowers, all harvested from the garden
Salvia (blackcurrant sage / solbærsalvie)
Fuchsia magellanica
Hemerocallis “Stella de Oro”
Taraxacum spp. (dandelion / løvetann)
Rubus fruticosus (blackberry / bjørnebær)
Papaver somniferum (opium poppy / opium valmue)
Viola altaicum
Campanula persicifolia (peach-leaf bellflower / fagerklokke)
Sonchus oleraceus (common sow-thistle / haredylle)
Glebionis coronaria (chopsuey greens / kronkrage) (3 varieties)
Daucus carota (carrot / gulrot) (unopened flower umbel)
Geranium sanguineum (bloody cranesbill / blodstorkenebb)
Brassica oleracea (kale / grønnkål)
Oenothera biennis (evening primrose / nattlys)
Begonia
Malva moschata (musk mallow / moskuskattost) (white and pink flowered)
Malva alcea (hollyhock mallow / rosekattost)
Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot / rørhestemynte)
Monarda “Elsie Lavender”
Calendula officinalis (pot marigold / ringblomst (2 varieties)
Campanula trachelium (nettle-leaved bellflower / nesleklokke)
Calamintha nepeta (lesser calamint / liten kalamint)
Tropaeolum majus (nasturtium / vanlig blomkarse) (2 varieties)
Pisum sativum (garden pea / ert)
Origanum spp. (wild marjoram / bergmynte) (2 varieties)
Campanula lactiflora
Alcea rosea (hollyhock / stokkrose)
Tragopogon pratensis (Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon / geitskjegg)
Tag Archives: Extreme salad man
Salad for HGB and HvB
My dad Harald George Barstow (HGB) sadly passed away on 7th June at 97. A few days later on 11th June I’d scheduled a long-awaited visit from my friend Helene von Bothmer, the Koster Islands Permaculture Queen accompanied by participants on a one day permaculture course on Katy Chada’s farm (I had twice visited Koster but this was Helene’s first Malvik visit). They had asked if I could make a salad for lunch that day, so with my Dad’s loving memory in focus, the salad became a tribute to Dad as well as a welcome to Helene, Katy and the participants. It had exactly 97 ingredients <3 (a list can be found at the bottom of this page) There’s an H in there (sort of!)
Now some pictures taken during a lovely visit! I hope it isn’t long before our ways cross again Helene!
…and a few pictures taken by Helene:
THANKS FOR THE MEMORABLE VISIT!
The ingredients:
1-2. Oxalis triangularis
3. Claytonia perfoliata
4. Gynostemma
5. Physalis “Indian Strain” fruits
6. Begonia heracleifolia (flowers)
7. – 11. Lettuce (salat) – 5 varieties
12. Dill
13. Chopsuey greens (kronkrage)
14. – 15. Celery (selleri) – 2 varieties (Green Utah and Red Stem)
16. Allium “Purple Sensation” flowers
17. Allium ursinum (ramsons / ramsløk) flowers
18. Allium stipitatum “Album” flowers
19. Allium victorialis (seiersløk) flower stems
20. – 21. Allium fistulosum (Welsh onion / pipeløk) – 2 varieties
22. Myrrhis odorata (sweet cicely / Spansk kjørvel) flowers
23. Allium karataviense flowers
24. – 25. Polygonum viviparum (alpine bistort / harerug) bulbils (2 varieties – light brown and purple)
26. – 27. Viola cornuta “Alba” (flowers and leaves)
28. – 29. Crambe maritima (broccolis and flowers)
30. Anthriscus sylvestris (cow parsley / hundekjeks)
31. – 40. 10 different Hosta cultivars and species
41. Alliaria petiolata (hedge garlic / løkurt)
42. Sorbus (rowan / rogn) leaves
43. Campanula trachelium (nettle-leaved bellflower / nesleklokke)
44. Allium oleraceum
45. Stellaria media (chickweed / vassarve)
46. Meum athamaticum
47. Nasturtium (blomkarse)
48. Hablitzia tamnoides
49. – 50. Humulus lupulus (hops / humle) – 2 varieties
51. Basil
52. Aster scaber
53. Allium spp.
54. – 55. Lepidium sativum (cress / karse) – leaves and flowers
56. Rosebay willowherb / geitrams
57. Ground elder / skvallerkål
58. Allium macleanii – flowers
59. Lepidium latifolium
60. Origanum “Aureum”
61. Scorzonera hispanica (flower stems and buds)
62. Cichorium intybus (chicory / sikkori)
63. Cryptotaenia japonica “Atropurpurea”
64. Allium nutans x senescens
65. Sonchus oleraceus (sow thistle / haredylle)
66. Oxeye daisy / prestekrage
67. – 68. Rumex scutatus – 2 varieties
69. Tragopogon pratensis (Jack-go-to-bed-by-noon / geitskjegg)
70. – 72. Allium schoenoprasum (chives / gressløk) – 3 varieties including Black Isle Blush
73. Campanula latifolia (giant bellflower / storklokke)
74. Campanula punctata
75. Allium scorodoprasum (sand leek / bendelløk)
76. Rumex crispus (curly dock / krushøymole)
77. Phyteuma nigra (black rampion / svartvadderot)
78. Viola arborescens
79. Allium cernuum (nodding onion / prærieløk)
80. Kale / grønnkål – “Ragged Jack”
81. Lamb’s lettuce / vårsalat
82. Diplotaxis tenuifolia (perennial rocket / flerårig rucola)
83. – 84. Perennial kale / grønnkål – 2 varieties
85. Oxalis spp. (red leaved)
86. Plantago major “Atropurpurea”
87. Alchemilla spp. (lady’s mantle / marikåpe)
88. Fragaria vesca (wild strawberry / markjordbær) – flowers
89. Allium x proliferum (walking onion / luftløk)
90.- 91. Brassica juncea (mustard greens / sennepsalat) – 2 varieties
92. Chervil / hagekjørvel
93. Malva alcea
94. Ligularia fischeri (gomchwi)
95. Pisum sativum (garden pea / hageert) – top shoots
96. – 97. Malva moschata (musk mallow / moskuskattost); pink and white flower forms
The first 2022 outside salad
Sorry for the silence here on the Edimentals blog. I’ve been busy preparing to produce signs and plant labels for the Allium garden and the World Garden as well as working on various KVANN (Norwegian Seed Savers) projects. However, I had to share the joy of making the first salad where all (25) plants were collected outside in the garden (we’ve been making salads from cellar ingredients all winter). The snow is now gone from most of the garden and the temperature rose to above 5C today which has stimulated a lot of early shooting edibles. No complete plant list, but the salad included various Alliums, Rumex, Dystaenia, Taraxacum, Arabis, Hablitzia etc.
The first outside edible flower of 2022 was a Primula veris subsp. macrocalyx.
Extreme 66 ingredient November Salad
The Extreme Salad Man has been quiet recently. He was inspired to make this 5th November salad by a 10 year old Facebook memory of a salad he made (last picture below). Like 10 years ago, we¨’d had a very mild autumn (we may have the first frost this weekend). By chance the number of ingredients equalled the number of years I’ve been on this beautiful planet (66). For the recipe with the full list of ingredients (many are perennials), see the bottom of this post. It took less than an hour to forage around my garden and put together!
THE RECIPE or how to make this at home?
Harvested first around the living room a few Basella alba leaves, lemony flowers of two Begonias, leaves of the Okinawan spinach (Gynura bicolor), a couple of flowers of blackcurrant sage / solbærsalvie (Salvia microphylla v. grahamii), Ragged jack kale (grønnkål) leaves, leaves of chopsuey greens / kronkrage (Glebionis coronaria), four different perennial kales / flerårige kåls (Brassica oleracea), leaf shoots of Egyptian onion / luftløk (Allium x proliferum), a few leaves of common sow thistle / haredylle (Sonchus oleraceus), perennial rocket / flerårige rucola (Diplotaxis tenuifolia), parsley / persille leaves (Petroselinum crispum), leaves of Chicory / sikkori variety “Catalogna gigante di Chioggia” (Cichorium intybus), berries of black chokeberry / svartsurbær (Aronia melanocarpa), flowers of hollyhock mallow / rosekattost (Malva alcea), flowers of two varieties of hollyhock / stokkrose (Alcea rosea) – black and pink, hedge mustard / løkurt (Alliaria petiolata), mouse garlic (Allium carinatum), two varieties of dandelion / løvetann (Taraxacum spp.) including moss-leaved, flowers of Japan thistle (Cirsium japonicum), leaves of Allium senescens, a few of the last blackberries / bjørnebær (Rubus fruticosus), berries of black nightshade / svartsøtvier (Solanum nigrum), flowers of Allium mairei, flowers and leaves of anise hyssop / anisisop (Agastache foeniculum), flowers of two varieties of hardy Fuchsia / Magellan-tåre (Fuchsia magellanica) “Alba”og “Tricolor”, Autumn olive / Japansk sølvbusk (Elaeagnus umbellata) berries, radish / reddik (Raphanus sativus)flowers and unripe seed pods, flowers and flower buds of mustard greens / sennepsalat (Brassica juncea), a flower of marigold / ringblomst (Calendula officinalis), new shoots of curled dock / krushøymol (Rumex crispus), leaves and bulb of nodding onion / prærieløk (Allium cernuum), flowers of two varieties of nasturtium / blomkarse (Tropaeolum officinale), two varieties of spring onions / vårløk (Allium cepa), a few leaves of two varieties of sorrel / engsyre (Rumex acetosa), flower buds and flowers of chives / gressløk (Allium schoenoprasum), two leaves of chicory / sikkori variety “Rossa de Treviso” (Cichorium intybus) on the edge of the salad bowl, leaves of perennial chicory (Cichorium intybus), leaves of horned violet / hornfiol (Viola cornuta “Alba”), leaves of Rumex scutatus “Silver Shield” (buckler-leaved sorrel / Fransksyre), a flower of a reflowering variety of strawberry / jordbær (Fragaria x ananassa), flower shoot of scorzonera / scorsonnerot (Scorzonera hispanica), seen in the centre of the salad, a flower of Begonia “Double White, a Dahlia (georginer) flower, oca leaves (Oxalis tuberosa), tomato / tomat “Ida’s Gold” (Lycopersicon esculentum), berries of Physalis “Indian Strain”, two varieties of celery / selleri (Apium graveolens), berries of Ribes divaricatum “Worcesterberry”, carrot / gulrot, turnip / nepe and garlic / hvitløk!
Put the flowers and other colourful ingredients to one side for the topping, wash, cut (I use scissors) and mix everything else for the main body of the salad, add the salad dressing (olive oil, salt, pepper and vinegar with crushed garlic) and mix, then use the artist in you to decorate the salad!
20 years of Extreme Salads
20 years ago on 19th August 2001, the Extreme Salad (Man) was born when I made my first (of two) world record salads with 363 different plants and 382 ingredients (i.e., including flowers and leaves from the same variety). During last night’s garden tour, the occasion was marked by a 120 plant salad (1/3 the number of the 2001 salad)….and it was tasted by the participants! Although far from the world record, it was probably the fastest made extreme salad as I only had 30 minutes to collect the ingredients and 30 minutes to put it together before the participants arrived! The second picture below shows the only known picture of the original extreme salad!

5 years ago…on the 15th anniversary, I made this salad with my garden helper Josefine Marie Dichmann:
Other related links:
Link to the 2001 salad recipe :)
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=206
Rejection letter from Guinness :)
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=462
Stephen’s salad: a six part series following me around the garden collecting plants for a springtime extreme salad in mid-May, also fully indexed by plant names in the film description:
Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvSB5cb_FXI
Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUiS0cOhASA
Part 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKmEJhSgp7g
Part 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5mXiVd5u4A
Part 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqYDlKqHEbs
Part 6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BZGXsUR6hA
Celebration 40 genera salad
40 years ago this month I came to Norway to find a place for us to live as I was to start work at Institutt for kontinentalsokkelundersøkelser (IKU; Continental Shelf Institute) in Trondheim in October 1981. The flat I found was here in Malvik kommune (Torp).
To celebrate 40 years in Malvik I made a salad with 40 different genera. The names of the genera are below the pictures!
The 40 genera:
- Begonia
- Anethum
- Salvia
- Lactuca
- Chrysanthemum
- Raphanus
- Apium
- Coriandrum
- Oxalis
- Tilia
- Tropaeolum
- Hablitzia
- Hosta
- Stellaria
- Alliaria
- Phyteuma
- Melissa
- Malva
- Lavatera
- Allium
- Lunaria
- Arabis
- Alchemilla
- Scorzonera
- Tragopogon
- Sanguisorba
- Campanula
- Primula
- Taraxacum
- Rumex
- Viola
- Lepidium
- Claytonia
- Ligularia
- Fragaria
- Osmorhiza
- Barbarea
- Hemerocallis
- Crambe
- Myrrhis
May 2021 Extreme Salad
The Extreme Salad Man was asked last night to make a salad…..but he only managed 55 in total. He blames the fact that he was only given an hour. Nevertheless, all were pleased with the result. He hopes you like it too! A full list of plants can be found at the bottom below the pictures.
Cowslip / marinøkleblom (Primula veris) hybrids (red and yellow flowers)
Himalayan water creeper (Houttuynia cordata)
Hosta sieboldiana (blanched shoots)
Allium humile (white flowered Chinese species)
Crow garlic (Allium zebdanense)
American land cress (Barbarea verna); flowers
Pink flowered dandelion / rosablomstret løvetann (Taraxacum pseudoroseum)
White flowered dandelion / Hvirblomstret løvetann (Taraxacum leucanthum)
Sea kale / strandkål (Crambe maritima); flower heads
Prairie bluebells (Mertensia lanceolata)
Tall bluebells (Mertensia paniculata)
Perennial kale / flerårige kål (Brassica oleracea); white flowered
Perennial kale / flerårige kål (Brassica oleracea); yellow flowered
Orpine / smørbukk (Hylotelephium)
Bistort / ormerot (Polygonum bistorta)
Curled dock / krushøymole (Rumex crispa)
Patience dock / hagesyre (Rumex patientia)
Sorrel / engsyre (Rumex acetosa) “Abundance” and “Belleville”
Egyptian onion / luftløk (Allium x proliferum)
Fragaria “Lipstick”
Great waterleaf (Hydrophyllum appendiculatum)
French sorrel (Rumex scutatus) “Silver Shield”
Ramsons / ramsløk (Allium ursinum)
Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde (Hablitzia tamnoides)
Cress / karse (Lepidium sativum)
Spiked rampion / vadderot (Phyteuma sativum)
Lady’s mantle / marikåpe (Alchemilla spp.)
Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)
Sweet cicely / spansk kjørvel (Myrrhis odorata)
Douglas’ onion / Douglas-løk (Allium douglasii)
Perennial honesty / månefiol (Lunaria rediviva)
Few-flowered leek (Allium paradoxum var normale); flowers
Chicory / sikkori (Cichorium intybus)
Jack-go-to-bed-by-noon / geitskjegg (Tragopogon pratensis)
Korean Ligularia / koreanøkketunge (Ligularia fischeri)
Common wintercress / vinterkarse (Barbarea vulgaris)
Moss-leaved dandelion / mosebladet løvetann (Taraxacum sublaciniosum “Delikatess”)
Garlic mustard / løkurt (Alliaria petiolata)
Mustard greens / sennepsalat (Brassica juncea) “Giant Red”
Ground elder / skvallerkål (Aegopodium podograria)
Garden orach / hagemelde (Atriplex hortensis)
Allium karataviense; flower shoot and bud
Chives / gressløk (Allium schoenoprasum) “Black-Isle Blush”
Large-flowered wakerobin / stortreblad (Trillium grandiflorum)
Anise-root (Osmorhiza)
Sea sandwort / sandarve (Honckenya peploides)
Mints (Mentha); 3 varieties
Allium nutans
Hosta spp.
Wild marjoram / bergmynte (Origanum vulgare)
Honesty / judaspenge (Lunaria annua)
Edimentals at the Southeastern Plant Symposium
Extreme salad man strikes again
The first 100 plant salad for 2020:
The year’s first extreme salad
Half an hour “foraging” in the garden and half an hour in the kitchen and I can present the year’s first multi-species salad….54 different plants! Notable additions were dark-leaved sea kale (strandkål) and Hydrophyllum virginianum (at the bottom), moss-leaved dandelion and Hablitzia tamnoides (centre). Edible flowers included two begonias and Oxalis triangularis (grown inside) and the first oxlips and hybrids (hagenøkleblom)