Forgotten vegetables
It sounds a bit weird but many vegetables are forgotten. Sometimes its because they are just not that tasty but most of the time it's because they are not profitable. Vegetables that are hard to grow, transport or take a long time to cook went down in popularity. We want easy and fast vegetables like lettuce and tomato. This is sad because you also miss out on allot of flavours. Vegetables like Jerusalem artichokes, Broccoli raab, Winter purslane and Parsnip are very tasty. Unknown vegetables can also make a dish more interesting for guests.
- Jerusalem artichokes
The artichokes are also called sunroot or earth apples. It's a plant that grows very easily and in many climates. It's forgotten because you can't store it for very long. Most tubers can be stored much longer. The good thing is that you can harvest it year round as long as the ground isn't frozen. The tuber taste a bit nutty and sweet. It can be eaten raw, fermented or cooked. If you get digestive issues from the plant than cook the tuber and let it stand for 24 hours . refreshen the water and cook it again.
- Poor-man's aspargus(Blitum bonus-henricus)
You won't see this vegetables in the store. It taste a bit like fresh spinach but looks like very thin aspargus. Nowadays it's a ironically a very expensive vegetable to buy. The plant is a bit rare but can be found around nitrogen rich area's or next to the sea. You need to use it fresh because it spoils quite fast.
- Great pignut( Bunium bulbocastanum L.)
The plant is mostly planted to collect the black cumin seeds related to the normal cumin. The tuber is also very tasty and has a similar taste to sweet chestnut. Can be eaten raw and cooked.
- Parsnip
The root and the leaves are very tasty. Used allot in soups. It grows quite easily and is native to most of Europe. It even grows in the wild. You can harvest it the whole winter and can also be fried instead of potato!
In the old times many (poor) people ate not only allot of vegetables but also allot of wild plants. It was very normal to collect wild plants to eat. There are many books about foraging and I highly recommend you learn this skill. You will eat much healthier and it's a relaxing thing to do. Start with the easy things like nettle, nuts, cress, dandelion, young beech leaves.
So let's make your cooking more interesting than always the same vegetables from the supermarket!
Fried parsnip, that sounds delicious, i'm gonna try it.
I've heard of those forgotten veggies but never tasted any. If I see them, I will now.
We have just gotten into foraging and love it. There are few things as satisfying as just going outside and finding food! The mushroom, berries and nuts are my favorite but we find all kinds of greens too. So much to learn.
Awesome not all greens are tasty but ok.
awesome list. what is the poor man's asparagus' latin name? also the the latin of the great pignut? thanks for sharing!
will add tomorrow!
Blitum bonus-henricus (aspargus) and Bunium bulbocastanum L.(pignut)
So true about vegetables that are forgotten. Often even among vegetables we know like carrots, we expect them to be orange with an even taper. There are so many more varieties that are multi-hued and oddly shaped and often get rejected simply because they look different. Great list you've compiled here. I haven't had the opportunity to taste everything on this list, but will keep an eye out for them.