Eat the Weeds Newsletter 19 April 2016

by Green Deane

Chamba Surinam Cherries are bright red; Lolita Surinam Cherries are dark purple to black. Photo by Green Deane

Surinam cherries are not local natives. They are escaped landscape shrubs/trees though there once was an attempt to a make them a commercial crop here in Florida. Given the disease plight of citrus perhaps Surinam Cherries and related products will make a comeback. They are native Surinam to Brazil thus calling “Florida Cherries” or even “cherries” is out of line but who knows what marketers might do. Most commentators these days dismiss the fruit as incidental snacks only kids eat. I think those writers need to revisit their prejudices.There are two distinct types and maybe three varieties of the fruit gone wild. One of them definitely prefers the southern end of the state but that might just be by chance. Interestingly the less trimmed they are the more they produce and can be trained to be a tree. Locally they fruit around March-April through May-June. Be looking for them now.

Turning Surinam Cherries into juice. Photo by Sarah Regan Palm

We saw and ate two varieties in my foraging class this past weekend in Port Charlotte. There were sweet red ones, probably the variety Chamba, and sweet dark red ones sometimes called black. That variety is “Lolita.” As with all Surinam Cherries pick only the ones that drop into your hand when you barely touch them. If you have to “pick” them rather than them dropping into your hand they will be resinous. If you de-seed them and chill for two or three hours, the piney one can be rendered less resinous.Incidentally Sarah Regan Palm posted on the EatTheWeedsfacebook page that she was making Surinam Cherry juice. The goal: Refine the recipe and bring some to the ForageFest this weekend in Arcadia (see my class schedule below.)

The entire Crepis japonica. Photo by Green Deane

Speaking of recipes, it’s timefor a little bit of “I didn’t know that.” In the newsletter last week, I ran a picture taken by NerminaKreneta. She and her husband Ogie have come to some of my classes. She mentioned she eats the roots of the Crepisjaponca, aka False Hawk’s Beard. I suspected they were much like Dandelion roots but have never read anything about them being eaten. It would not be surprising if like Dandelion roots they will get tougher as they age and are diuretic. I suspect Nermina will be experimenting more and providing wild recipes in the future.

Use of the Yellow Anise is controversial. Photo by Green Deane

On the cautious side a reader wrote to tell me he has been using the Yellow Anise, Illiciumparviflorum,as a flavoring. As some of you may recall it is somewhat controversial. Dick Deuerling told me more than 20 years ago I could use the leaves for tea. I didn’t get around to trying it and now all references say they are toxic, same with the seed pod. Dick read a lot of Native American reports and was a stickler for taxonomy. He was not the kind of person who would get a species wrong. So I often wondered if he knew something useable about the species that didn’t make it into common literature. Thus it was interesting when Richard wrote to me about the Yellow Anise saying: “I thought this was an edible and have been drying it and cooking with it as an herb—most successfully when baking cauliflower or eggplant. I’m going to stop because I can’t find anyone that says it’s definitely healthy and it’s not worth it to risk…though having a full hedge of “free herbs” will be missed. But just FYI, I used it to cook intermittently over the course of the last year and I have yet to die. Cheers, and keep up the good work.” Thank you Richard. Maybe it is not as toxic as reported and can have some use.

A wild food dish for sure. Photo by Tina Delzotti

I also heard from Tina Delzotti. She wrote to tell me she eats our local CutleafEvening Primrose, Oenotheralaciniata. I didn’t try it because Dick Deuerling told me way back when that he didn’t eat them. I later wondered if that was because he just didn’t try them or because they have a bit of a hairy texture. I know I have long pondered if the blossoms were edible. Tina not only says yes but included a recipe and picture. Note she has several wild edibles in this dishHeavenly Angel Hair Pasta with Spring Blooms. Makes me hungry just to read it.

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

Sauté separately:
– 2-3 bunches of spiderwort cut into 1/2 pieces ( I use younger shoots of the stems attached with the leaves and spent blooms)
– 1/4 cup Pellitory
– 1/2 cup or several stems of young Dandelion leaves
– 1-2 leaves of Kale
– 1-2 cloves crushed garlic
– Olive oil and a dash of red pepper flakes
Set aside

Boil together:
– 1/2 pound Angel hair pasta
– 6 blades of Lemon Grass (I tie one blade around the bunch to keep it separating)
– 1 small plant of Evening primrose root with stems & leaves
– dash of sea salt
Drain and remove roots and stems of primrose leaving lemon grass until serving. Coat pasta with a few drops of White Truffle oil

Toss all ingredients in a large skillet over low heat with more Truffle oil if needed and fresh Evening Primrose blooms.

The blossom is edible, too, but knock the bees out first. Photo by Green Deane

There are a couple of other edibles worth mentioning now. Heartwing Sorrel is perhaps at its seasonal zenith, large and easy to spot. Some fields are often covered with them giving the acreage a pink cast about a foot off the ground. Tart and tasty it has many uses. I also saw this week some Nopales and Opuntias with ripening tunas. The inner pulp is sweet and similar to raspberry in flavor. The seeds, however, are very hard. They either have to be ground into a buttery paste to be eaten or roasted. Enjoy.

Chickweed has five petals but they look like ten. Photo by Green Deane

This will be a good time to mention Chickweed in that it is making its appearance in more northern states now and is nearly out of season here. That said one of the surprises of the class this weekend was to find Chickweed still alive and identifiable in Port Charlotte which is in southwest Florida. That’s definitely in the lower quarter of the state and late in the season at that. It’s the farthest south I have ever seen it. Often in colder climates Chickweed germinates under the snow and is ready to go as soon as the spring melt gets on. It coincides with muddy roads and melting frost heaves. If you don’t know what “frost heaves” are consider yourself lucky.