Forgotten Veg

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My husband adores salsify. BUT it has only a very, very short season here in the UK. We've picked it on beaches in Cornwall and cooked it up with just a couple of freshly laid eggs from a local farm which have been poached until just set.
 
For forgotton leafy veggies, cowslips, fiddlehead ferns, cattails, dandylion, nasturtium (extra yummy in tossed salads, tried for the first time this year), rose petals, pumpkin and squash blossoms, to name a few. And they are all yummy and nutritious, and normaly unavailable unless you find them wild, or grow them.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
 
Actually, I'm lucky around here, as several markets carry Fiddleheads while they're in season in early spring. Ramps & Dandelion leaves too. Farmers markets around here carry squash blossoms (pumpkin is a squash too), & I've harvested my own rose petals for salads & making rose petal jam. And of course, Nasturtiums are easy to grow & make a lovely addition to salads; the flowers are also lovely & tasty stuffed with creamy herbed cheese mixtures.

Cowslips are not only not very appetizing, in my opinion (too bitter), but these days are considered more of a medicinal herb than a soup/salad ingredient, & there are many differing opinions about it.
 
Chard. Rainbow or ruby chard is so beautiful, and although it tastes unrelentingly of "green vegetable" sometimes tht is so fresh and wholesome that its needed.

I think we are also getting very lazy about the "other bits" of veg. Field next to me is full of broad beans and we have had "bean tops" those tender green leaves, most hot meals this summer.

I love celeriac...my favourite use is mashed, with chickpeas over spiced lamb mince to make a sort of middle eastern interpretation of shepards pie. But grated for slaed too. Raw beets are delicious, I adore beetroot. Thats why I am amazed that soup leaves me cold. I made it through winter and my husband (who had never had such quantities of beets) did not expect the after effects and went to A & E thinking he was very ill, LOL
 
lemongrass
bok choy
napa cabbage
ruhbarb
ruddabaga(sp?)
Lotus root
mhung beans
fava beans
lima beans
micro greens
patty pans
sunburst squash...
 
I LOVE Swiss Chard, & use it quite a bit. I like the Rainbow or "Bright Lights" types the best, as I find the stalks much more tender & quicker cooking than the regular white & ruby-stalked types.

Pre-blanched & then sauteed in extra-virgin olive oil, chopped garlic, & a dash of crushed red pepper flakes, chard makes an excellent accompaniment or "bed" for sauteed or grilled chicken or fish. It's a really nice change from my more common favorite - spinach.
 
Sweet potato cheescake, oh sorry. Let's see, hummmm. uno...WAIT!!! I know!!!

Black eyed peas and hominy with lots of pepper oh and hot peppers(considered aphrodisiacs)

On the other end of the spectrum would be okra, ew, ew, triple ew
 
I adore the word adore but I especially adore butternut squash and black walnuts, is that a veggie ? It's vegetable matter at least.

Curly kale ??? My oldest sister Karen loves the stuff.
 
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