What's Up? Dock!

This year, for some reason, we have a bumper crop of curly dock (Rumex crispus) on-site. Curly dock is another of those pernicious invasive species (it's listed as a noxious weed in 46 states by the U.S. Department of Agriculture), much like its Polygonaceous relative, Japanese knotweed. Like knotweed, it's delicious.

While the young leaves can be eaten raw, the older leaves are best parboiled before consumption in order to reduce the oxalate levels. This sucker has a date with my stewpot:

Later in the year, the curly dock plants will produce edible seeds which can be ground into a flour, much like the seeds of dock's relative, buckwheat.

Like redbud, this is a plant that keeps on giving... and by taking, I'm helping to reduce its spread.

Edit: I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the juice of the curly dock is commonly considered the "antidote" to the sting of the nettle. I haven't put this to use because I have a pretty high pain threshold (I'm a fighter, so it's a necessity), and the burn of the nettle isn't all that bad.

Dock, a Second Opinion

In the Spring, I wrote a post about curly dock, an invasive weed, related to buckwheat and knotweed, that happens to produce delicious, slightly tangy leaves in the Spring. Now that Summer is in full swing, the plants produce a plethora of rust-colored seeds:

The seeds are easy enough to harvest, just grab a stem and run it between your fingers to loosen the seeds and their accompanying tubercules:

You can eat the seeds out of hand for a quick trailside snack (they are good, but the husk-to-seed ratio is not in your favor ). I imagine they are much better hulled and ground into a substitute for buckwheat flour, something I haven't tried yet, but I'll do it before week's end. I figure I'll place the seeds in a sack and beat them with a stick, sort of like a quick-and-dirty substitute for a threshing flail, then winnow them and grind them up to make pancakes. There are tons of dock seeds available, I just have to get the preparation down pat.

You see, if civilization ends, you don't need buckets of overpriced crap sold by racist grifters, you just need to know your delicious weeds.

The Affliction and the Cure: Both Delicious

Walking across the property this evening, I ran across a storied plant combination:

In the foreground, on the left, one can see some of my beloved stinging nettles, while the spindly plant with the narrow leaves is curly dock. The plants are known to grow together frequently, and crushed dock leaves are reputed to take out the sting of the nettle... though this may be B.S. At any rate, the dock/nettle combination is one that you should familiarize yourself with, so you won't face situations like this:





Pity Mr Bishop didn't know that he could have had that entire weed patch for dinner. For the record, the broad leaved plant in the background is burdock (Genus Arctium), which is known for its edible roots.

I Don't Worry, I've Got Slurry

There are few things more delicious than a fine green curry, but that's not the subject of today's post. Rather than writing about green curry, today's topic is a green slurry, composed of foraged greens, that makes up a large component of my Spring diet:

This particular slurry contains about fifty percent stinging nettle, and about forty percent garlic mustard, with the remaining mix being curly dock, dandelion greens, and a wild Allium that grows all over the place. While the slurry doesn't look auspicious or delicious, it has a fine flavor. I've already used it as the base for croquettes (adding eggs and bread crumbs), and for a pasta sauce (adding a roux, some milk, and pecorino Romano cheese). The latest use for the slurry is a batch of hortopita, rolled up "cigar style" for ease of snacking:

If I had to guess, I'd bet that the butter/olive oil mix that I brushed the filo dough with has more calories than the rest of the ingredients put together

As the season progesses, the composition of the "slurry" will change. I'm planning on freezing some nettles to tide me over when the plants flower and develop phytoliths, but the main base for the slurry will shift to chenopods and garlic mustard. The current batch of foraged greens is about 50% nettles, 40% garlic mustard, with ten percent a mix of dandelion, dock, alliums, and a hint of plaintain (an herb I'd previously used only as a topic itch reliever).

A spoonful of slurry will cure what ails you!

An entire summer's worth of slurry, and I'll be unstoppable.