Tag Archives: Urtica dioica

Food, Perennial vegetables

Veggie rich pie

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AROUND THE WORLD IN THE EDIBLE GARDEN; Part 3 – Southern Europe and the Mediterranean countries
Inviting you to the third in a series of dinners from Malvik’s Edible Garden where we “forage” from different parts of the world!
If you’ve visited countries in south east Europe you will no doubt have eaten the delicious vegetable pies like Greek spanakopoita, Turkish börek, Italian Torta pasqualina, Bulgarian banitsa and others. Inspired by these and not wanting to make the time consuming to make filo pastry, we made a 100% wholegrain rye/barley quiche like dish with large quantities of the following perennial greens:

From left to right (from top left) :
Allium ursinum (ramsons; ramsløk)
Rumex patientia (patience dock; hagesyre)
Urtica dioica (stinging nettle; brennesle)
Silene vulgaris (bladder campion; engsmelle)
Rumex scutatus (Buckler-leaved sorrel;  Fransksyre)
Rumex acetosa (sorrel; engsyre)
Myrrhis odorata (sweet cicely; Spansk kjørvel)
Malva alcea (hollyhock mallow;  rosekattost)
Melissa officinalis (lemon balm; sitronmelisse)
Scorzonera hispanica (Scorzonera; scorsonnerot, svartrot)
Asparagus officinalis (asparagus; asparges)
Humulus lupulus (hops; humle)
Tragopogon pratensis (Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon; geitskjegg)
Taraxacum “Moss-leaved dandelion”
Campanula trachelium (nettle-leaved bellflower;  nesleklokke)
Brassica oleracea “Daubenton variegated” (perennial kale; flerårige kål)
Allium zebdanense (white flowers) from Lebanon
(with garlic and chili and imported olives)





Food, Onions, Perennial vegetables

Garden wild green soup

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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shoots are also a tradional soup ingredient, in particular Russian borsch now thought of as a beetroot soup was originally made with hogweed shoots. 

Food, Perennial vegetables

Cherokee Pizza

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AROUND THE WORLD IN THE EDIBLE GARDEN; Part 1 – The Cherokee lands of Eastern North America
The first in a series of dinners from Malvik’s Edible Garden where we “forage” from different parts of the world!

Cherokee Pizza is of course better known as Cherokizza…go on, look it up :). This is the classic Native American Italian dish and it was made in Norway today!   All you need is a good selection of Cherokee wild vegetables:
Appalachian greens / kyss-meg-over-gjerde (Rudbeckia laciniata); see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=22018
Nodding onion / prærieløk (Allium cernuum)
Stinging nettle / brennesle (Urtica dioica)
Virginia waterleaf / Indian salad (Hydrophyllum virginianum)
Dandelion / løvetann (Taraxacum spp.) (a giant individual, as you will see from the pictures, growing on seaweed on the sea kale bed)
Cow parsnip (Heracleum maximum)

I used a thick 100% whole grain rye sourdough base for the pizza, so a bit of Denmark in there too!




Food, Foraging, Perennial vegetables

Wild domesticated edibles and 65 habby days

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Tonight’s omelette had more or less only wild edible perennial plants from my area in it, although all grow in my garden, managed in some way…with one exception which has been in every evening meal for 65 days now, the first in this list:
Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde)
Taraxacum officinale (dandleion / løvetann)
Allium ursinum (ramsons / ramsløk)
Campanula latifolia (giant bellflower / storklokke)
Alchemilla spp. (lady’s mantle / marikåpe)
Urtica dioica (stinging nettle / brennesle)
Aegopodium podograria (ground elder / skvallerkål)

 

Food

Quinoa greens

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Tonight’s 22 greens from the garden with yacon used in a quinoa stir-fry (with garlic and chili in addition):
Brassica oleracea (perennial kale / flerårig kål)
Hydrophyllum virginianum (waterleaf, indian salad)
Tragopogon pratensis (Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon / geitskjegg)
Angelica spp. (kvann)
Allium carinatum
Allium ursinum (ramsons / ramsløk) 
Primula elatior (oxlip / hagenøkleblom)
Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde)
Carum carvi (caraway / karve)
Myrrhis odorata (sweet cicely / spansk kjørvel)
Polymnia edulis (yacon)
Urtica dioica ( stinging nettle / brennesle)
Campanula latifolia (giant bellflower / storklokke)
Ficaria verna (lesser celandine / vårkål)
Rumex acetosa (sorrel / engsyre)
Dystaenia takesimana (giant Ulleung celery)
Hemerocallis spp. (day lily / daglilje)
Taraxacum spp. (dandelion / løvetann)
Rheum ribes
Armoracia rusticana (horseradish / pepperrot)
Allium nutans
Aegopodium podograria (ground elder / skvallerkål)



Food

More perennial vegetables for dinner!

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A new collection of perennial vegetables from the garden on 25th April 2020, now back to cool, overcast weather. All are managed in some way.

Carum carvi (caraway / karve) greens
Urtica dioica (nettle / nesle)
Aegopodium podograria (ground elder / skvallerkål)
Allium fistulosum (Welsh onion /pipeløk)
Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde)
Campanula latifolia (giant bellflower / storklokke)
Myrrhis odorata (sweet cicely / spansk kjørvel)
Allium ursinum (ramsons / ramsløk)
Taraxacum spp. (dandelion / løvetann) 


Food, Perennial vegetables

Today’s perennial catch

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23rd April 2020 perennial greens used in a delicious quiche (eggepai):
Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde)
Myrrhis odorata (sweet cicely / spansk kjørvel)
Rumex acetosa  (sorrel / engsyre) 
Campanula latifolia (giant bellflower / storklokke)
Urtica dioica (stinging nettle / brennesle)
Allium senescens
Heracleum sphondylium (common hogweed /  kystbjørnekjeks)
Aegopodium podograria (ground elder / skvallerkål)



Fibre plant, Medicinal plants, Perennial vegetables

Slender nettle

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Urtica gracilis (often classified as a subspecies of stinging nettle,Urtica dioica subsp. gracilis) is a widespread nettle species in North America including Canada and Alaska. It has many local names including slender nettle, California nettle and American nettle. This year, my tallest nettle is currently over 2.9m high!

It was (and is) an important plant of the first peoples throughout the continent from Vermont to Alaska,used as a vegetable, medicinally and, most importantly as a fibre plant, including fishing nets!.
One native use I noted was “Rubbed on the bodies of sealers to keep them awake at night” :) (Moerman’s Native American Ethnobotany has a long list of uses)
My slender nettle has almost no stinging hairs, and, in general, has much less than stinginess
than the introduced Urtica dioica subsp. dioica (Stinging Nettle) and Laportea canadensis (Wood Nettle; see my book Around the World in 80 plants).
It is unisexual ( I seem to have just one sex as it doesn’t produce seeds…)

Added 300917: The friend in Granville, Ohio who sent me the seed of this nettle writes: “I collected the Urtica gracilis along the back of my property, near an old railroad (now a bike trail). It’s a common plant in “waste places”. I’ve never seen the plants grow that large here. Could your additional sunlight be to blame?”

Onions, Perennial vegetables

Geirlauk

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Sand leek (rocambole) or Allium scorodoprasum gives bigger yields here than leeks, so it’s not surprising to learn that this perennial onion was probably cultivated by the Vikings (it is found naturalised near many old Viking settlements in Scandinavia) and I believe it is the original “geirlauk” (meaning spear onion) and the root of the word garlic in English… See also pages 215-217 in my book!
I hadn’t noticed the red base to the stems seen in these pictures before…
I used it in a quick scrambled egg dish together with Amish onion (Allium x proliferum), sorrel flower shoots, ground elder (Aegopodium), nettle (Urtica dioica),  Hydrophyllum virginianum (water leaf) with golpar spice.
These pictures can also be seen on my 700 plus album of Allium pictures on Facebook here….http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=11254
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P1730104 Sorrel (Rumex acetosa) flowering stems

 

 

 

 

Food, Perennial vegetables

2nd May Abundance

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The change from winter to spring abundance happens very quickly…here’s last nights haul for a very green pasta sauce (it took about 30 mins from garden to table, fast slow food), including the following stars of spring:
Hablitzia
Allium nutans
Allium sativum (garlic)
Rumex acetosa (sorrel)
Campanula latifolia (giant bellflower)
Aegopodium (ground elder)
Alliaria (hedge mustard)
Angelica archangelica
Heracleum (hogweed greens and seed spice)
Urtica dioica (nettle)
Taraxacum (dandelion)
Carum carvi (caraway greens)
Tragopogon pratensis greens (Jack-go-to-bed-by-noon)
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