I'm going to try to write about (and illustrate) a different wild food plant/fungi/seaweed/thing each week for a year.
Week 1 - Navelwort (Umbilicus rupestris)
Also known as Pennywort. According to Roger Phillips it's commonly found growing on old walls in the Westcountry - which is exactly where I discovered it! I recognised it straight away (because I'm a geek and I have lots of wild food books).
The penny-sized leaves are succulent and juicy and make a good addition to salads. The flavour is of.. erm.. green. Quite pleasant, not exciting in a culinary sense but I was very happy to try something new :)
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Hmm this is the problem with a lot of the more obscure food items we don't touch these days. They taste "green" or in the case of tropical fruit, especially those from cacti, "refreshing".
ReplyDeleteBe careful if you decide to investigate fungi.
Have some cooking chorizo from a delicatessen in Muswell hill so might try the Hugh Furry Whittingstall pheasant recipe again though it takes two days to eat. Also found that Waitrose (near my parents house, only their warehouse near Coalville) stock Giant Couscous so might try the stuff with feta and chilli oil as sold by Sainsburys and Marks and Spencers though if I use too much chilli oil this could be er interesting.
Good luck with the experiment.