| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| mrsnesbitt |
Can you identify this please?When I pulled up a bunch of this I noticed a strong garlic smell.....is it edible? Anybody know what it is? |
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| mrsnesbitt |
slightly better focus here | ||||
| Bugs |
Hurray, one I know!
Jack by the hedge, or garlic mustard, by the sound and look of it, but I would wait for some more confirmation before you start grazing. Glossary (not flowering in this pic) http://www.downsizer.net/option,com_glossary/func,display/catid,115/search,jack/ In Cab's Wild Foods for March: http://www.downsizer.net/Projects/Wild_Food/Top_Ten_Wild_Foods_in_March/ |
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| mrsnesbitt |
Cheers Bugs.notice he mentioned it in March..wonder what it will be like on May 13th? any ideas? | ||||
| ButteryHOLsomeness |
oh, i hope it is garlic mustard as we have a lot of that around here 
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| Bernie66 |
Am almost certain its garlic mustard as well, not often i can identify wild plants with much authority but in this instance i am 99% sure | ||||
| wellington womble |
Oh good - we've got some of that too! I thought it was some kind of wild relation to honesty 
Can you put the leaves in salad, or would they be too strong? |
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| cab |
Looks like garlic mustard to me.
By the time it's flowering like that, the leaves will be rather bitter, to say the least, but don't despair. There will be seedlings around that haven't flowered, more and more of them in later summer and early autumn, and they're really good eating. It's a really common wild brassica, and a handy wild plant to know. When it's older like that, try stripping leaves and chopping with sorrel, cow parsley and nettles, and adding that to bread dough for a wild herb bread. |
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| tahir |
I tried some the other day and I reckon it'd be very good in saag, give it a little bit of punch. | ||||
| sally |
I'd agree with the identification. its very nice chopped into a goose egg omelette...mmmm | ||||
| ButteryHOLsomeness |
what's saag? i thought saag meant spinach... 
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| wellington womble |
I think tahir is a little more flexible in his cooking - he makes saag out of all sorts of green stuff! | ||||
| Bugs |
I think I've seen my first tiny patch of this this year, on the path where it grows apparently out of the concrete, but this little patch of leaves were on a soil patch on a bit that is more sunny and possibly also more sheltered being not in a wind tunnel  the smell seemed faint and the small leaves were quite round but I'm fairly confident it was the stuff.
All academic though as that area might well come pre-dressed if you know what I mean
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| tahir |
Saag is basically any green, you use whatever greens are seasonally available, it's never 100% spinach although if it's in season it's a must. Apart from leaf greens leeks, whole lentils, carrots and a lot more can be included in saag without affecting (probably enhancing) authenticity. That's the joy of it too, you never get the same combination twice (if you're doing it right) Other possible additions: any brassica leaf (radish, turnip, kale, cabbage etc...) radish pods french beans carrot leaves (not too many) coriander fenugreek fat hen (excellent) orach peas chick pea greens just give anything a try really. |
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| cab |
I got a mate of mine (Pakistani family, so a bloke brought up on that diet, and as Brummy as a very Brummy thing, perhaps evern Brummier, even a Birmingham City fan) to make some saag when I had him round for curry a while back. I've been playing with it ever since, there are endless variations.
The only thing he was adamang on was that it had to be based on tomatoes and potatoes, and that plenty of coriander and chilli is vital. I suspect that strict rules on what goes in vary very much between families, as they do in all good traditional foods 
Plenty of garlic mustard around at the moment, it tends to germinate in autumn and overwinter as little leafy crowns before springing into action some time around March. Lovely stuff at this time of year. |
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| tahir |
Never let a tom or spud near your saag 
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| cab |
My mate Abid insisted thats how it had to be made 
How variable IS saag? Does it very much regionally, or is it a person to person thing? |