The first veggie food I ate was macaroni cheese and chips at Edwin Jones (now Debenhams) in Southampton, a treat when we Mum took us shopping back in the 60s…
Most years since I’ve followed this tradition on or near my birthday, no chips this year as the potatoes have run out and nowadays the macaroni cheese is mixed with masses of green stuff both from the garden and, yesterday, fiddleheads harvested on the Homla walk. This is more or less the only time in the year I have dessert and the only time I eat sugar…in rhubarb crumble, also with family roots back to the 60s :)
Macaroni green cheese and ground elder (skvallerkål)
Some other random ingredients…blanched Hablitzia
Blanched moss-leaved dandelion
Blanched moss-leaved dandelion
Top left and left to right: Hosta Frances Williams, ramsons (ramsløk), blanched moss-leaved dandelion, blanched lovage aka spring celery (løpstikke eller vårselleri), blanched sweet cicely (spansk kjørvel), blanched Hablitzia (stjernemelde), sea kale (strandkål) broccolis and ostrich fern fiddleheads (strutseving)
Ostrich fern fiddleheads (strutseving)
Top left and left to right: Hosta Frances Williams, ramsons (ramsløk), blanched moss-leaved dandelion, blanched lovage aka spring celery (løpstikke eller vårselleri), blanched sweet cicely (spansk kjørvel), blanched Hablitzia (stjernemelde), sea kale (strandkål) broccolis
Rhubarb crumble (early variety from the island Træna)
rhubarb crumble, also with family roots back to the 60s :)
It’s difficult to believe that the spring foraging season has come so far here in Hampshire, UK whilst on the other side of the North Sea there are meter high banks of snow in the south!
Nettles (nesle), Urtica dioica with ramsons (ramsløk), Allium ursinum and field garlic (strandløk), Allium vineale
Cardamine hirsuta (Hairy Bittercress; Rosettkarse) in Mum and Dad’s garden
My second unsuccessful attempt to find ramsons (ramsløk) at its northernmost natural site at Ramslia in Nord Trøndelag (on the other side of Trondheimsfjord from my place). Neverthless, it was a great day out with one of my ex-OCEANOR work colleagues Jarle Tronstad who owns an old mountain farm in the area!
Starting from an old farm by the road
Walking up from the road there were masses of ostrich fern (strutseving), here with Alpine sow thistle / turt (Cicerbita alpina)
Alpine sow thistle / turt (Cicerbita alpina)
Insectivorous Butterbur / Tettegras (Pinguicula), traditionally used to curdle milk
Wood anemone (hvitveis)
Rumex acetosa (sorrel / engsyre) with ostrich fern (strutseving)
Wood sorrel / gjøksyre
Valeriana sambucifolia
Ostrich fern stands could be spotted from afar on unstable openings in the woods
Distant view of Storvatnet
Bilberry
Bog myrtle / pors in flower
Cloudberry / molte
Viola
Stachys sylvatica
Fjellgeit Jarle Tronstad with roseroot (Rhodiola rosea)
Big surprise to find these in the garden today…one of the few deadly plants in my garden…they’ve been here for years, but I’ve never seen them in flower this late (or is it early?). Autumn crocus (tidløs) is a confusion species for ramsons (ramsløk)…
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
