Falafels can be home grown over most of Norway and if we are serious about climate change should become standar fare in kitchens, restaurants and supermarkets throughout the country. Dig for VICTORY against climate change!
The ingredients:
Broad beans / fava beans (bondebønner); grown in Malvik and stored dried
Victory onion (seiersløk) grows particularly well in the arctic (or replace with garlic or ramsons)
Golpar (spice from ground seed of any member of the Heracleum genus, including invasive Tromsøpalme, Heracleum persicum)
Barley flour (bygg) – I used100% whole grain
Eggs to bind
Fry in oil (sorry, I used imported olive oil)
(Optional: house grown chilis)
Decoration: Oxalis triangularis
Tag Archives: Victory Onion
Mass Victory Onion Germination
Mass germination around one of my victory onions /seiersløk (Allium victorialis). I’m not sure where this accession originates.
9th April veggies
Lots of Hablitzia (stjernemelde), ground elder (skvallerkål), Svenskelauk (a form of Allium fistulosum), sweet cicely (spansk kjørvel), dandelion (løvetann), day lily shoots (daglilje), blanched horseradish shoots (pepperrot) and a variety of Allium victorialis (victory onion, seiersløk) which is the earliest form I grow along with one from the Kola peninsular in northern Russia; other varieties have hardly grown yet!
Status of the Granvin victory onion location
In late October 2014, there was a major flood in western Norway (https://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oktoberflaumen_i_2014) which caused a lot of damage including in Granvin. Over 200mm rain was recorded over 3 days in several places and up to 330mm! Although not a record, it had already rained a lot for most of October and the ground was already saturated when the worst rain happened…leading to a totally unexpected extreme event.
I heard rumours that the victory onion location had been severely impacted by this event, so when we drove past Granvin on the way back from the Nordic Permaculture Festival in Jondal, I took the opportunity to visit the location! This confirmed that the site is much reduced and there is visible signs of erosion including a dried up channel through the middle of the wooded island where the onion is found (the river was very low due to the drought). In addition, I was surprised to find that a path had been constructed between the river and the school. This is part of a major civil engineering work in Granvin to protect the low lying inhabited areas from flooding (see https://www.nve.no/nytt-fra-nve/nyheter-skred-og-vassdrag/granvin-har-fatt-betre-tryggleik-mot-flaum )
A video showing the completed works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Keg-BSrAi94 shows aerial views of “victory onion island” between 0:56 – 1:24!
These works may lead to further erosion and destruction of the island….
Seeds were actually already ripe due to the hot summer and I therefore collected seed to safeguard the Granvin onion to be offered to Norwegian Seed Savers (KVANN) through our autumn catalogue which will be produced in October!
From my friend Geir Flatabø: “Jaunssen Gjestgjevarstad (Jaunssen Guest House) in Granvin has begun to harvest / use the onion, and makes pesto served to guests, with good feedback.”
Other relevant articles:
Hagetidend (Norwegian gardening magazine) profile http://www.edimentals.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/6_Seiersl%C3%B8k_fra_Vestv%C3%A5g%C3%B8y.pdf
A report from my 2009 “onion safari” to Lofoten, Tromsø and Granvin can be found here (in Norwegian with English comments) http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=18527 (some of this material ended up in my book Around the World in 80 plants))
Norwegian report on my 2009 Victory Onion safari to North Norway and Granvin!
See also:
Artikler om grønnsaksarven fra Hagetidend
English: In 2011, I wrote a series of one page articles about Norwegian heirloom vegetables in Norsk Hagetidend (the magazine of the Norwegian Horticultural Society) in Norwegian. The complete series can be found below.
- Fjellmandel og takløk (Mandel potato and the roof onions of Gudbrandsdal)
2. Aleksandra hvitløk (Garlic Aleksandra)
3. Hagemelde “Backlund-Bly” fra USA (Garden orach Backlund-Bly from Seed Savers Exchange i USA)
4. Stjernemelde (Caucasian spinach, Hablitzia tamnoides)
5. Vossakvann (Voss Angelica)
6. Seiersløk fra Lofoten (Victory onion, Allium victorialis from Lofoten)
7. Luftløk fra Udøy (Walking onion, Allium x proliferum from the island Udøy and Catawissa onion)
8. Jordskokk fra Ontario (Jerusalem artichoke from Ontario that travelled the world)
9. Maries høje ært (Marie’s pea…from Norway to Denmark and back)
10. Tante Cis tomat (Tante Cis or Ansofs Gule tomat)
Naturalised Allium victorialis in Hardanger, Norway
Lofoten Victory Onions
Follow the link to the original FB album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152404571040860.1073742080.655215859&type=1&l=b45f8fdd13