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Wales, United Kingdom
Documenting one couple's attempts to live a more self-sufficient life.

Friday 15 February 2013

Foraged Food Friday: Navelwort

Thanks to Hazel for introducing this one to me last year. I've long been familiar with this plant (though mainly from holidays in Cornwall - I wonder if it grows mainly in the West?) but didn't know that it was edible.


Navelwort (Umbilicus rupestris) in what appears to be its natural habitat,
i.e. clinging to a rock.

This has been around for several weeks, if not all winter. I saw some encased in icicles a few weeks ago. In summer it puts out spectacular spiralling turrets for its flowers (I don't remember whether the flowers were interesting or not). Although this is available in the heart of winter, it's essentially a salad leaf, being crisp and somewhat lettuce-like in flavour (you may disagree with that description), and I don't tend to eat salad in the middle of winter. However, I did have some in a sandwich the other day, and very nice it was too.


Navelwort leaves in a chicken sandwich, with mayonnaise.


Also harvesting this week:
Bay leaves for chicken stock and tomato/bacon sauce and bolognese
Ground elder to go with leftover pasta and in chicken stock
Oregano; Bittercress; Lemon thyme: bolognese
Leeks to go with chicken risotto

Also drinking this week:
Dandelion wine
Sloe wine
Dandelion tea

Foraged food challenge summary page here.

4 comments:

  1. I have this and didn't know it was edible! Will have to (1) check for sure and then (2) have a nibble. :-)

    Good having you as our guinea pig ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, definitely check! I always seek reassurance from a few knowledgeable sources before trying anything new, and I'd recommend that approach to anyone. Don't just take my word for it.

      Delete
  2. 4 times I had to prove I'm not a robot because the text was in the equivalent to Chinese! I don't have half the characters these things come up with!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ugh, these things are getting worse, aren't they? I'm tempted to remove the check, but I get enough spam from actual humans trying to use my blog as a billboard. I fear that if I took the robot check off, I'd spend my whole time cleaning up the comments.

      Delete

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