A few pictures of seed I cleaned and packed for trading, offering to Norwegian Seed Savers and using in the kitchen today!
131116: Added a few more that I was sorting today!
151116:…and a few more today
161216:…and a few more today
Udo, Aralia cordata
Iranian golpar (Heracleum) to be used as a spice in the kitchen
Iranian golpar (Heracleum)
Iranian golpar (Heracleum)
Iranian golpar (Heracleum)
This is a vigorous Angelica that I received as Angelica atropurpurea, but I’m not sure that is the right ID. Whatever, I sometimes use it ground as a spice in cooking!
Angelica atropurpurea
Angelica atropurpurea
The seed pods of some forms of Allium wallichii (Sherpa onion) are inky, like this one, from Nepal, harvested today
I pulled these clusters of Aralia elata seeds down from my oldest tree today! (Devil’s Walking Stick, Norw: Fandens spaserst\okk; Jap: tara-no-ki; Kor: dureup namu
Rumex acetosa “Russian Giant” (sorrel / engsyre)
Rumex acetosa “Russian Giant” (sorrel / engsyre)
Coriander “Confetti” / koriander
Tradescantia ohiensis
Caucalis (small bur parsley / klengekjeks)
Sonchus oleraceus “Giant from Oregon” (thanks, Pamela Melcher :)
Buckwheat / bokhvete
Ligularia fischeri – I have PLENTY of seed of this one!!
Aralia elata
Elsholtzia ciliata, Vietnamese Balm…love the smell of these!
Elsholtzia ciliata, Vietnamese Balm…love the smell of these!
Rubus occidentalis “Black Hawk”, Black raspberry…plenty of seed this year…will clean better if anyone is interested in them..
Tigridia pavoniana….could have the tastiest bulbs in the world!
Tigridia pavoniana…..for more, see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=5470
Seed from an accession of Hablitzia tamnoides from Tampere in Finland!
The first time I’ve managed to grow Perilla to seed (pot grown and brought inside to mature). I hadn’t noticed before but they have a fine netting around them..
Harvested some of my bedside Basella greens tonight for a stir-fry with garlic, chili, chicory, parsley, dried chantarelle, broad beans and perilla…. served with soba (organic buckwheat noodles). Basella is perennial but I’ve never managed to overwinter it…
Each day on the trip to Japan had been equally amazing as the day before with new plant and food discoveries all the way!! The venue for my talk in Tokyo was the art/photography studio belonging to a guy called Ken Takewaki. It turned out he’d spent a lot of time in the UK working on organic farms and knew the owner of Poyntzfield Nursery in Scotland well and I’d already planned to try to visit Poyntzfield on my Scotland trip in September! Knowing that I was heading for the mountains after Tokyo, Ken kindly invited me to visit his mountain home! What a place and the food was out of this world! Ken and his lady Masami had made a special effort to feed me sansai!
The next morning it was as if I’d been transported home in my dreams as there was new snow on the ground at the Ken’s home at 1300m. The day before it has been over 20C at 600m! Thanks so much to Tei, who I got to know through Caroline Ho Bich-Tuyen Dang, a member of Norwegian Seed Savers, for showing me so much of her village near Besshou (Ueda) in Nagano Prefecture and sharing all the amazing sansai and sake and for taking me to Ken’s place! More on Besshou later when I get time!Thank you so much too Ken and Masami for your hospitality!
Knowing of my interest, Ken and Masami had picked sansai for dinner…here are the horsetails, tsukushi, Equisetum arvense flower buds
..and fuki (Petasites japonica) flower buds
…and I brought the shidoke (シドケ / Parasenecio delphiniifolia). I’d bought it in a supermarket. See here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154213988935860.1073742705.655215859&type=1&l=eb0bc1fced
Shop bought blanched Hosta shoots served as a salad with a dip!
Shop bought blanched Hosta shoots served as a salad with a dip!
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Ken Takewaki talks sake!
With Perilla
Taro (Colocasia esculenta)
Making the tempura batter…ice for cold water is important!
Fuki tempura
Fuki tempura
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Shidoke tempura (Parasenecio delphiniifolia).
Shidoke tempura (Parasenecio delphiniifolia).
Shidoke and tsukushi (Equisetum) tempura
Tsukushi tempura
Ken spent some time in the UK working on organic farms and wrote this book of his experiences
Inside the book cover is this map…I will hopefully visit Poyntzfield nursery next month. Owner Duncan Ross and Ken are friends and have visited each other!
I hadn’t expected to be playing billiards :)
Tei in action!
The English connection…
Dried Daikon radish for breakfast
In the morning, the view from the living room and snow had arrived during the night or had I been transported back home?
Sasa (a bamboo) in snow
Fuki, Petasites japonica in snow, a veg I must have eaten 10 or more times during this trip…delicious
Misteltoe
Tei wasn’t prepared for the weather and had to borrow some clothes :)
Masami, Ken and Tei
With Ken and Masami
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden