“CONSIDER THE LIMES OF THE FIELD . .
Flowers & Weeds lor Food
Although they traditionally kad a
carefree existence, refusing to spin or
otherwise toil, the wild
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and
other plants will do many a favor for
us if we can only discover their in¬
dividual talents.
The uses of wild plants form a lore
rather difficult to come by in these
mechanized days. Our government, for
example, is generous with data on how
to get rid of weeds, but it keeps silent
on how to use them! The gypsies are
said to be proficient in the knowledge
of herb», perhaps chiefly for food and
other household needs, but also for
common remedies. When I was a child
in Baltimore, I remember the gypsies
every spring asking permission to dig
up our dandelions. As I recall, theie
was never any hesitation in giving the
privilege! Early medicine in every
country depended on natural drugs,
and jbe- Chinatown drugstore still
hangs full of dried herbs. But, although
many of our medicines come from
vegetable sources, much refuted, we
have as a people forgotten the use of
simple household concoctions made
from these "lilies of the field.” The
corner drugstore is too convenient.
First let us look at weeds useful as
food, no doubt their earliest use by
man, through trial and costly error. If
you are wondering what to have for
dinner tonight, perhaps a look outside
will suggest that something different.
The exercise will do you good too.
It is early spring, and your palate
longs for something fresh after the long
succession of winter vegetables; look
for the youngest briar sprouts, tender
and sueeuknt, and stew them as
greens. Wander over near the swamp
and see if the skunk cabbage is up;
more euphoniously called yellow arum,
it makes a tasty boiled green. Others
are chick weed with its dainty little
leaves and tempting greenness, which
can be eaten raw as salad or boiled;
dandelion greens, which everyone
knows, but which must be young and
mild; broadleaf plantain, also called
wild lettuce, as a cooked vegetable of
the leafy kind, and lamb's quarter used
the same way. Wild mustard greens arc
rather widely known if not used. Even
the savage nettle, if caught young and
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iwitis ii. ii.iwsi;
innocent, yields a tender boikd green
from its young tops. Also fraught with
an element of danger is the pokeberry,
whose leaves up to about ten inches
long make a good boiled green, but
which is poisonous if eaten raw. The
sow-thistle, not a thisik but so named
for its thisrk-like leaves, is used for
greens in Europe, so why not here?
Sheepsorrel, called sourgrass by every
child, can he eaten raw, while sour-
doek and whitclop arc cooking greens.
Out of this offering we should be abk
to supplant the hated spinach and the
expensive lettuce with green leafy
vegetables equally rich in minerals and
vitamins.
However, il, like the author, you
look on boiled greens with a cold eye,
there arc other vegetabk possibilities,
since the meat-and-potato diet is
frowned upon. How would you like
some nice boikd jack-in-thc-pulpit
roots with your chop, if you can afford
the chop? Or take clusters of berries
or small leaves from the elderberry,
dip in batter, and fry. The skunk
cabbage roots arc grsxl baked like
potatoes. For dessert there arc many
edible berries, such as juneberry
(shadberry), parlndgcbcrry, black¬
berry, raspberry, huckleberry, cither
as is or in pies or puddings. Or if you
prefer bread and Jam, preserves may
be made from wild as well as from
civilized fruits. Besides the better-
known berries above, try barberry
Jelly or pickle, cbokecherry jelly (it has
no pectin), wild cherry preserves,
elderberry Jelly (no pectin), poke-
berries for Jam or pie, and rose-haws,
the berries kft after the bloom. These
can be used in pics or preserves, and
the syrup is very rich in Vitamins A.
С.
P; it is now on the market as a
source of these vitamins.
Suppose you want something to
drink with your meal. We insist on
making tea only from the expensive
imported leaf of that name, whereas a
tea. or infusion may be brewed from a
large variety of herbs, and was so made
in the exigent years of 1861-65. All
sorts of brews are still used in Europe
for simple upsets or for good digestion.
Just in case. At least one of the com¬
mercial herb farms in the north has
done much research on herb leas, und
both serves and recommends them for
various purposes.
Blackberry roots make a tea, as do
calamus and sassafras roots, but the
dried leaves are used in the case of cat¬
nip, currant, holly, mullein, nettk
(young tops again), peach, senna,
sage, spearmint. (This last has a
pointed leaf, while peppermint has a
round one and is found less often
wild.) On the coast, yopon (or yau-
pon) offers leaves lor tea. As far as I
can find out, the ordinary method is
used, that of boiling water poured over
the dry kaves, the amount of the latter
to be determined by taste and effects)
Usually the roots arc boikd in water to
the desired strength.
Perhaps you think tea is a thin drink.
Here also arc alternatives; wine may
he made Irom dandelions and beer
from young nettk tops, but here 1 can¬
not predict the technique. Elderberry
wine is well known for its flavor, or
was in the past. Cherry bounce was
made from skinned wild fruit, mashed
and soaked in brandy. Here someone
will say why go to all the trouble if
you have the brandy anyway, but evi¬
dently the results were worth the
trouble, as the drink is often mentioned
in older books.
Flavorings for foods must not be
neglected. A good substitute for vanillu
has been made from peach leaves,
while a combination of peach and
cherry leaves tastes like almond.
Everyone knows that sage is a fine all¬
round seasoning for meats and
vegetables and combinations thereof.
Othere common cooking herbs may be
found growing wild, but there is always
i he question as to whether they are
really wild or just strays from gardens
The same query may be made as to
many of our "wild” plants, but most of
them have been wild so long that it is
safe enough to call them that.
During the War Between the States,
many ingenious substitutes were used
Of necessity, of no use to us now, but
always of historical interest. For ex-
( Continued on page 16)
14
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STATE.
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CM 12, 1956
