A Matter Of Tasteless

Day 307: You've heard it said that some things are a matter of taste. In the case of Red-Flowering Currant fruits, I'd amend that to being a matter of tasteless. A certain friend will no doubt argue the point with me, but I find these purportedly edible berries to be insipid with an afternote which can only be described as "dusty." Consequently, I have never gathered enough of them to try making jam or muffins, unwilling to waste the effort on something I feel is beyond all help. It just goes to demonstrate a maxim I have often repeated: "edible" and "desirable as food" are two entirely different things. Cardboard is "edible," but you wouldn't want a serving of it on your dinner plate.

Claytonia Sibirica

Day 184: It used to be Montia, and it used to be Miner's Lettuce, but as has occurred with so many other things in the world, our perception of this little plant has changed thanks to scientific advances, and now it's Claytonia sibirica or Western Spring Beauty. Honestly, I'm having a hard time keeping up! It is fairly abundant here in the Pacific Northwest, and if you're a hunter-gatherer type, the foliage makes a tangy addition to a garden salad, but caution should be exercised when consuming it because of the presence of oxalic acid in its tissues. Accumulations of oxalic acid can lead to kidney stones. That said, I occasionally nibble a leaf or two, finding them a bit tart and lemony.

Sourgrass, Sheep Sorrel, Rumex Acetosella

Day 229: Okay, who remembers eating Sourgrass when they were a kid? I certainly did, and even today, I will pick the occasional leaf to chew while I'm pulling great handfuls of it from my garden and yard. The tangy flavour is quite refreshing, and although the plant contains oxalic acid, it does not occur in sufficient quantities that you should be concerned for your kidneys. You'd burn out on Sourgrass salads before that occurred. Known scientifically as Rumex, acetosella, Sourgrass is related to buckwheat and is sometimes called Sheep Sorrel. Unfortunately, it is an aggressive weed when it gets a toehold, and flourishes in the acidic soils common to western Washington. It propagates via an extensive system of rhizomes which, from personal experience, I can attest may extend ten feet or more from the parent plant. In fact, when I'm weeding, I sometimes see how far I can follow the network without breaking the rhizomatous threads. I'm usually defeated when sunken flower pots, fence posts or the sidewalk bring the experiment to an untimely end.

Swamp Gooseberry, Ribes Lacustre

Day 215: Field guides sometimes refer to the edibility of specific plants. Some may even describe how certain parts of a plant were prepared by indigenous populations. An important thing to bear in mind is that the term "edible" does not necessarily equate with "tasty," a fact to which your correspondent will most strongly attest in the case of Ribes lacustre, also known as Black Gooseberry or Swamp Gooseberry. This thorny member of the currant family produces a small, round black berry lacking in any gastronomic appeal. While not specifically unpleasant, its insipid taste and somewhat dry texture do not recommend it to the palate. Despite its gustatory failings, it is often listed as "edible." Yes, and so are organically-produced paper products, although they're better suited to use under your breakfast fare than in it.

Miner's Lettuce

Day 228: Today I bring you a rather mundane little plant which is often seen in lowland forests in the Pacific Northwest: Claytonia perfoliata, formerly known as Montia perfoliata. The second half of the binomial name is especially descriptive of the species. "Perfoliata" means "perforated leaf." The stem of this plant arises from the center of what appears to be a single fleshy leaf, but in fact it is two joined leaves as can be seen by observation of the two pointed tips. As the common name suggests, Miner's Lettuce is edible. It has a rather tangy taste, a little on the sour side. I wouldn't want to make a whole salad from it, but like nasturtium leaves, it would add a little extra zest to lettuce or romaine. Consumption of large amounts of Miner's Lettuce is not recommended because it contains oxalic acid which can lead to development of kidney stones, but snacking on a few vitamin-C rich leaves while you're out hiking might even be beneficial.

Purple Akebia

Day 206: The purple Akebia now has a few blossoms open and hundreds more to come, each one about the size of the pink of my thumbnail. For the first time, I detected the scent, although I had to put my nose in a cluster to get a good whiff. I would not describe it as chocolaty; rather, it reminded me of something tropical like frangipani or plumeria. That said, the weather has been cool and flowers are at the peak of their fragrance in warmer temperatures. The next few days are forecast to be warm and may initiate a full olfactory experience. I have also gained a greater appreciation of Akebia's vigour. In just a week, the stems of the white vine have put on a foot or more of new growth, now reaching beyond the top of the trellis. As I mentioned in my post three days ago, Five-leaf Akebia produces a tasty fruit, but does so rarely in our climate due to the fact that it flowers in May before the pollinators have emerged. The next phase of this horticultural experiment will see me out there with my little paintbrush, gathering pollen from one vine and transferring it to the other.

White Akebia

Day 203: Last year, I visited my favourite nursery hoping to find a shade-tolerant vine to crawl up the side of my garage. After a long discussion with the horticulturist, I settled on Five-Leaf Akebia, aka "Chocolate Vine," so called for the scent of the species' flowers. Akebia also produces a 5-inch long edible fruit, but is not self-fertile; therefore I needed two varieties. I bought a white and a purple. What the horticulturist neglected to mention is that Akebia is very prone to powdery mildew, and unbeknownst to me, one of the plants was already infected. By the time I realized the blackening of the leaves was something more serious than transplant shock, the problem was well-established. Some quick research on line told me what I needed to treat it, and I began applying a copper-based fungicide almost immediately.

From looking at the foliage, you might assume that this vine is deciduous. It is not, at least not in our climate. Both plants held most of their leaves through the winter, and about two weeks ago, I noticed tiny little clusters of buds on both vines...hundreds of them! Yes, the copper treatment worked and the Akebias are not only healthy, they show evidence of being very happy in their new situation. Today, the white one has a few open flowers; the purple one is in a more shady location, and therefore is coming into flower a little more slowly. Akebia can go rogue and become invasive if not monitored, but it is easy to control with pruning. I do hope I get some fruit, but even if I don't, the flowers are enchanting.

Gaultheria Ovatifolia, Western Teaberry

Day 273: This is not the first time I've made the assertion that I'd rather be mildly embarrassed by correction than to continue in ignorance. I am grateful to Mark Turner for stepping up to the plate (or maybe that should be "bearding the lion") with the true identity of this plant. I was fooled by a taste-test, and felt that it could not possibly belong with the Wintergreens since the berry was sweet and juicy with no hint of wintergreen flavour. I was wrong.

Gaultheria ovatifolia is indeed a Wintergreen, although I think I'll refer to it commonly as "Western Teaberry" rather than "Oregon Wintergreen" based on its fruity flavour. The berries are eminently edible, and good enough that I might be tempted to collect them by the handful for nibbling while hiking, an adjunct to the tiny alpine strawberries which come into delectable ripeness at the same time. Taken together, I might have been able to pick enough to fill a coffee mug over the distance of a mile, neither fruit exactly thick on the ground, but worth this gatherer's efforts for a treat.

Penny Perspectives: Shepherd's Purse

Day 11: Here's another plant most everyone will recognize, although if asked to name it, they would scratch their heads and say, "I don't think I've ever heard what it's called." It's Shepherd's Purse, so named for the heart-shaped, mildly peppery seed pods which many of us ate as children. In fact, it makes a pleasant garnish for a green salad. A member of the Mustard family, it carries a hefty chunk of Latin for all of its diminutive size: Capsella bursa-pastoris, and its distribution is almost world-wide, giving it a reputation as a "weed," if not a particularly invasive one. You will find it growing on disturbed land (this specimen is in my driveway).

Incredible Edible Tropaeolum Majus

 
Day 293: Yes, that's right! You can eat almost any portion of a Nasturtium, and many people find them quite tasty! As children, many of us delighted in biting the tip off the spur on the back of the flower so that we could suck out the sweet nectar, but the whole blossom can be dipped in tempura batter and deep-fried for a tangy treat. Young leaves add a kick to salads, imparting a peppery zing among more boring greens. The seeds may be pickled and used as a recipe substitute for capers. To date, I've not heard of a use for the stems or roots, but this plant goes way beyond being an old-fashioned garden staple when it enters the kitchen.