[aelf]

I wonder what other leaves I could eat .......

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nettle tops are good this time of year, cook like spinache (heat kills the sting). Lurvley!

[Brambles]

Back to da beetroot tops   Yummy... wash in cold water, drain a little and put in dry pan and bring to boil for just few minutes with lid on...  exactly like spinach should be cooked  

[MoreWhisky]

I might try that tomorrow Brambles )

[Paul Plots]

My grandparents had an allotment plot during the 1930s depression - this helped feed the family and some of their friends. Their neighbour (a Greek lady) was furious with my grandparents (so I am told) as she found beetroot leaves in the dustbin. She fished them out, took them indoors and cooked them for dinner.

So it seems eating beetroot leaves has been known about for quite some time.

I've never tried them - but might   

[Yabba]

At this rate there'll be no leaves on my veg .... or weeds

I'll have to try nettles as we have the odd few dotted around the edges of the field

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[celjaci]

Anybody tried carrot leaves?

I remember seeing a variety had been bred without the little hairs on the leaf and was advertised for salad leaf production. Seems to have sunk without trace

[Oliver]

I wonder what other leaves I could eat .......
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nettle tops are good this time of year, cook like spinache (heat kills the sting). Lurvley!

Swiss chard - we grow lots of this, one of the plants went to seed so we left it and hundreds of little swiss chards have hatched on the plot.  We have been eating the seedlings like salad, but now they are getting a little bigger, so we cook them like spinach:
pull them up, roots and all, trim off the roots, wash and shake dry.
chop some garlic finely and slice a small onion and fry then for a minute in some butter and olive oil, then add the wet chard and some salt and pepper (no more water needed). Toss to mix with the flavourings in the pot, cover and cook in the resulting steam for about 4 minutes. Eat. Yum yum
(You can also make it in to a spannokopitta). Use mature leaves in the same way
Oliver

[Yabba]

spannokopitta

I bet you win when you play scrabble! :roll:

Garlic and onions fried in butter ( or olive oil ) ... always a winner


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[Bozwell]

Some one told me once you can eat very young leaves of a hawthorn, so I did.
They tasted realy bitter. Extremely random comment I know, but thought I'd share the experience all the same.

[Paul Plots]

I think there are all sorts of wild-flower, leaf and root that can be eaten. My grandfather had quite a good knowledge of this as he was a country-lad... shame my memory is not good enough to remember which was which... 

I guess many of the edible things that we do not eat tend not to taste so great... and I don't think it's worth taking the risk of finding out which is which! 

[Brambles]

There is a book "Food for Free" by Richard Mabey (1972)  it has lots of 'weeds' and wild edible food in it.. I am sure that there are other books with useful info on the subject... What about a new up-to-date book Jon?

[celjaci]

In the same vein - can I put in a vote for 'Jack by the Hedge' as a salad leaf - hint of garlic andan after taste of mustard. Grows profusely on our site - least it did til some committee member went round with the sprayer

[aelf]

there are lots of hedgerow and field plants that make a good meal but also some that are poisenous so be careful! Also several good books on the subject. Ray Mears published one last year. Wild garlic is lovely this time of year and easy to spot.

but don't eat the little brown mushrooms!   

[sunshineband]

Some one told me once you can eat very young leaves of a hawthorn, so I did.
They tasted realy bitter. Extremely random comment I know, but thought I'd share the experience all the same.

 They used to be eaten in bread and butter as a sandwich, with cheese if you couls afford it 

[Yabba]

I'm really glad I asked the question now

There's so many things that you can eat that I'm clueless about, I'm going have to rectify that

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