In the lush and plenty lands of southeastern Pennsylvania, foraging for wild eats tempts my adventurous tongue; not too long ago many people not only grew more of what landed on the dinner table, they also knew uses for items which didn’t require rototillers, compost and weeding. Encouraged by neighborly accounts of poke weed greens, I enthusiastically chopped some just as they were beginning to grow . . . identifying the plant correctly, or so I thought, by proximity to last year’s stems (great big fibrous stalks) and a drawing from a book on edible plants.
After cutting off the leaves and peeling the stalks, a quick bite told me that cooking may help out the taste. Into the sauce pan with some butter and salt they went. Simple as it gets. Then, the first bite: HORRID!!! A taste so bad I had to immediately spit it out and eat something else. I think I chose cheese (always a good chaser). The taste indicated poison; extremely similar to fava beans with their skin layer left on – bitterness to the extreme.
Erlene the neighbor identified the error; Phlox it was! Not actually Poke Weed. So, I’ll do a bit more deduction next time, and stick to puff ball mushrooms for now.
This post contains some updated photos of garden-bed digging. Soil tromped by horses lacks in air, but is strong on acid and good compost. Sifting is in order, and adding some handfuls of lime as well, to sweeten the dirt and make veggie roots happy. A soil test would be best right about now . . . if I can get out of the field long enough for a trip to the garden store.
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