Foraging with Kids by Adele Nozedar

Author:Adele Nozedar
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Publisher: Watkins Media

...........................................................

If you bear in mind that each plant can produce up to 20,000 tiny seeds, you can begin to understand why it can be found just about everywhere!

Although it is native to Northern Europe and parts of Asia, Greater Plantain has spread, in the way described above, all over the world. It’s for this reason that Native American tribes called it “White Mens’ Footsteps”. It was also at one time called “Cart Track Plant”.

This plant positively thrives from harsh treatment, and loves to colonise disturbed ground anywhere.

What to do with Greater Plantain

Greater Plantain leaves are edible and incredibly nutritious, containing calcium as well as vitamins A, C and K, but (tragically) they are not the most delicious (or easy) plant to eat. The young leaves, soft and tender, are OK and can be included with other young leaves in a salad, but the older leaves are extremely tough and need to be cooked. Arguably, this is a survival food rather than something which would be eaten for pleasure. However, there are a couple of quirky things that this plant does that you need to know about.

Here’s something for you to try out:

A: The Smell Test

Greater Plantain leaves can add a very distinctive fragrance to cooking. I’m not going to tell you what that fragrance is... See if you can guess by following the instructions below!

1 On a dry day, find 3 or 4 Greater Plantain leaves that are not too muddy.

2 Scrumple them up in your hands.

3 Start to rub the leaves between your hands, first slowly, then faster, as you get used to the sensation. Rub them vigorously together for at least 2 minutes. The reason you’re doing this is to heat up the plant so that it releases its oils – it’s these oils which produce the scent and the flavour.

4 Stop rubbing and sniff the pulpy leaves. Are they giving off an aroma that is familiar?

Not everyone is able to give a name to a scent without any clues, so I’ll tell you that the slightly soggy leaves in your hands smell like mushrooms and/or truffle oil (truffle oil is very rare and expensive and is often used in Italian cooking). Lots of people like the flavour of mushrooms, but not the texture, so a good way to use Greater Plantain leaves in cooking is to use them to create mushroomy flavours. Make a risotto (I’ve given you a recipe for this on p.106).

B: The Moisturizer

For now, drop those leaves and see what your hands feel like. They’ll be damp at first but, as they dry, you will find that the juice from the leaves will make your hands feel super soft.

C: The Healer

Although I haven’t included a lot of medicinal uses for plants in this book, Greater Plantain is exceptionally effective at (and was once in common use for) treating stings, bites, cuts, scrapes and bleeding. The leaves are both antiinflammatory and antibacterial. To use, simply squish up the leaves (see above) to release the juices, and apply to the wound for as long as necessary.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.