Tag Archives: Rumex acetosella

National Herbs and Spices Day

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SOURCE: https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/national-herbs-and-spices-day/

“Herbs are the friends of physicians and the praise of cooks.”

— Emperor Charlemagne (742–814 A.D.)

Today is all about celebrating those plants who bring taste and flavor to the food we eat. Both herbs and spices come from plants, but herbs are typically the fresh part of the plant while spice is generally one or more dried parts of the plant:  root, stalk, or fruit. An herb is any plant part used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume. Popular herbs include sage, lavender, basil, and rosemary. A spice is an aromatic or pungent plant part used for flavoring, coloring, or preserving food. They include cinnamon, anise, nutmeg, and cloves.  As if that distinction isn’t already blurred enough, sometimes a plant can be both an herb and a spice, such as cilantro or coriander.

Curious factoids and folklore to share with others today:

  • The first recorded use of spice dates back to 3000 BC in ancient Sumer.
  • The world’s top ten producers of spices and herbs are India, Bangladesh, Turkey, China, Pakistan, Iran, Nepal, Colombia, Ethiopia, and Sri Lanka.
  • The three most popular spices in the world are pepper, cumin, and mustard.
  • Stored properly, whole or unground spices can last up to four years.
  • Salt is the most important seasoning ingredient.
  • During the Black Death, people believed that nutmeg would grant them immunity to the plague.
  • A symbol of marriage and fertility, if a woman put rosemary under her pillow, she would dream of her future husband.
  • Due to its numbing properties, people believed that chewing tarragon could cure toothaches.
  • Ancient Romans believed that wearing or bathing in thyme would protect them from being poisoned.

Suggestions for what to do today:

  • Increase your knowledge and improve your health by researching the numerous health benefits of certain herbs and spices (starting with the ones listed in this post), and then try to incorporate some into your diet.
  • Plant an herb garden and start using them as your own supply of herbs and spices. Some great plants to start with include basil, cilantro, dill, fennel, sage, and thyme.  (NOTE:  Or, you could forage for the near equivalent of some of these herbs and spices – read on below.)
  • Check on the potency of your dried herbs and spices. Crush or rub some into the palm of your hand and take a sniff. If the fragrance is still pungent, then the quality is still there.  If not, replace it.  What are The 10 Essential Herbs for Cooking at Home?  What are The 10 Essential Spices for Stocking Your Pantry?
  • Explore a new cuisine.  Visit a new local restaurant or challenge your culinary prowess with a new recipe featuring herbs and spices – perhaps select one from those listed below.  For a thorough review of herbs and spices and how to cook with them, read this.
  • Infuse drinks with herbs and spices. Brew an herbal tea using fresh or dried herbs like mint, chamomile, or lavender. Or make a spiced cocktail featuring cinnamon, cloves, ginger, or nutmeg.
  • Forage for a variety of herbs, spices, and seasonings.  How?  Read on!

Herbs:

Great Angelica (Angelica atropurpurea) – dried seeds may be used as a substitute for anise seeds or fennel seeds; Pick the seeds from the flower heads, remove any small pieces of stem, then dry in a dehydrator and store in an air-tight container; they will keep for years.

Read about foraging for angelica.

Recipes for your consideration:

Large Thyme (Thymus pulegioides) – leaves may be used as a substitute for fresh or dried thyme

Read about Foraging for Wild Thyme.

Recipes for your consideration:

Meadowsweet (Spirea alba) – fresh leaves may be used in soups; dried flowers may be used as a substitute for mild almond flavoring and may also be used in any recipe that calls for dried flowers of Common Elderberry (Sambucus nigra ssp. canadensis)

Read about foraging for Meadowsweet.

A recipe for your consideration:

Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) – dried leaves may be used as a substitute for dried sage, but do so sparingly

Read about foraging for Tansy.

Recipes for your consideration:

Wild Basil (Clinopodium vulgare) – leaves may be used as a substitute for fresh or dried cilantro (NOT basil!)

View how to identify Wild Basil.

Recipes for your consideration:

Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) – tastes like oregano crossed with thyme and may be used as a substitute for either

Read about Foraging for Wild Bergamot.

Recipes for your consideration:

Spices:

Bayberry (Morella caroliniensis) – Use these leaves in any recipe that calls for bay leaf (Laurus nobilis), but the flavor of the leaves of this plant is less strong, so use twice as many leaves.

Read about foraging for bayberry.

A recipe for your consideration:

Common Juniper (Juniperus communis) and Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) – dried berries aren’t juicy, but they are spicy; fresh or dry, juniper berries have a strong flavor, so use them in moderation

Read about foraging for juniper berries.

Recipes for your consideration:

Horseweed (Erigeron canadensis var. canadensis) – dried young leaves are best used as a substitute for dried tarragon

View how to identify Horseweed.

A recipe for your consideration:

Norway Spruce (Picea abies) – If the tips of the branches are light green, soft, and flexible, they’re at the right stage for eating. Young spruce tips can be harvested from the time they emerge until they begin to stiffen.

Read about foraging for spruce tips.

Recipes for consideration:

Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) – use ripened berries in fresh, frozen or dehydrated form

Read about Foraging for Spicebush Berries.

Recipes for your consideration:

Sumacs:  Sumac gets its lemony taste from a combination of acids that coat the fruit. These acids are washed away by rain, so gather your sumac as soon as possible after the berries ripen. Hot, dry weather intensifies the sourness of sumac fruit.

Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra)

Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina)

Read about foraging for sumac berries.

Recipes for your consideration using sumac berries as a spice:

Sweet Clovers:  Use fresh or dried leaves and flowers to impart its vanilla-like flavor, which is intensified by drying. To dry them, either strip them from the stems and dry them in a dehydrator at 95°F., or hang a bundle of clipped stems upside down to thoroughly air dry and then strip the leaves and flowers from the stems.

                White Sweet Clover (Melilotus albus)

                Yellow Sweet Clover (Melilotus officinalis)

View how to identify White Sweet Clover and Yellow Sweet Clover.

Recipes for your consideration:

Sweetfern (Comptonia peregrina) – fresh or dried leaves and seeds can be used in cooking

Read about foraging for Sweetfern.

Recipes for your consideration:

Sweet-scented Bedstraw (Galium triflorum) and Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum) – use dried leaves, stems and flowers to create an extract as a substitute for vanilla flavoring

Read about foraging for bedstraw.

A recipe for your consideration:

Wild Garlic (Allium canadense) and Field Garlic (Allium vineale) – Use the greens of either whenever you would use chives.

View how to identify Field Garlic.

Recipes for your consideration:

Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) – CAUTION!  Be sure to harvest ONLY brown, fully ripened seeds as they (and the stems of the seed clusters) will no longer contain any sap that would otherwise lead to phytophotodermatitis.

Dried seeds may be ground (whether in a mortar or spice mill) and used as a substitute for golpar.

Read about foraging for Wild Parsnip.

Recipes for your consideration:

Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) – Gather fresh leaves and berries throughout the year from which you create an extract for use in recipes.

Read about foraging for Wintergreen.

Recipes for your consideration:

Seasonings:

“Salty” –

Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) – Use the ashes of dried and burned leaves as a salt substitute; bundle of 3-4 leaves will yield about one tablespoon of ash, which when powdered yields ~1/4 teaspoon of salt. Harvest leaves at any time during the growing season and let them air dry until crispy.  Then place the leaves in a tin or similar container with a small hole in its lid and place it in or suspended over an open fire until its contents stop smoking.

View how to identify Coltsfoot.

A recipe for your consideration:

“Tart” –

Sheep’s Sorrel (Rumex  acetosella ssp. pyrenaicus) – CAUTION!  Like all the sorrels, Sheep’s Sorrel contains a high amount of oxalic acid, a compound also found in rhubarb, spinach and chard. If you’ve had a history of kidney stones, your doctor may advise you to avoid sorrel and other high oxalate ingredients.  On a related note, if you cook any Rumex species, it is best to use a glass or ceramic pot rather than any metallic pot.

Basal rosette leaves are best harvested in the spring when they are the most tender and best for eating.  Use fresh or dried leaves.  Read about Foraging for Sheep’s Sorrel.

For recipes to consider, please view Foraging for Sheep’s Sorrel.

Sumacs:  Sumac gets its lemony taste from a combination of acids that coat the fruit. These acids are washed away by rain, so gather your sumac as soon as possible after the berries ripen. Hot, dry weather intensifies the sourness of sumac fruit.

Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra)

Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina)

Read about foraging for Staghorn Sumac.

Recipes for your consideration using sumac berries for their tartness:

“Hot” –

Field Peppergrass (Lepidium campestre) and Wild Peppergrass (Lepidium virginicum) – Use unripened seed pods, but don’t use them whole in recipes – it’s best to grind them.

Read about foraging for peppergrass.

Recipes for your consideration:

Mustards:  Wait until the seeds are dark and the seed pods are brown or red or yellowish – they are fully mature at that time and will be simple to process.

Black Mustard (Brassica nigra)

Field Mustard (Brassica rapa)

Hedge Mustard (Sisymbrium officinale)

Indian Mustard (Brassica juncea)

Tower-mustard (Turritis glabra)

Tumble Mustard (Sisymbrium altissimum)

Wormseed Mustard (Erysimum cheiranthoides)

Read about foraging for wild mustard.

Recipes for your consideration:

Northern Prickly Ash (Zanthoxylum americanum) – Related to Szechuan peppercorns, these fruit may be foraged in late summer and fall. May use either green berries or dried ripened berries.

View Foraging for Wild Edibles:  Our “Sichuan Peppercorn”.

Recipes for your consideration:

Water Pepper (Persicaria hydropiper) – Flowers and leaves have an intense, spicy flavor similar to wasabi.

View how to identify Water Pepper.

Recipes for your consideration:

Wishing you all an adventuresome day of flavor!

Foraging for Sheep’s Sorrel

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Photo Credit: https://foragerchef.com/sheep-sorrel/

Sheep’s Sorrel (Rumex acetosella), which may also be called Field Sorrel, Red Sorrel, or Sour Weed, has a sharp citrus taste, which makes it great for use in soups, sauces and garnishes. Its leaves and flowers are used raw in salads, or its leaves can be used to replace lemon or lime in dishes requiring an acidic zing. It can also be used in any recipe that calls for cultivated French Sorrel (Rumex scutatus).

The basal rosette leaves are best harvested in the spring when they are the most tender and best for eating. Leaves are roughly ¾ to 2 ½ inches long and up to ¾ inches wide and typically have flares at the bottom, giving them an arrowhead shape. Simply clip them off with garden scissors. When gathering, look for plants that haven’t started to grow a flower stalk yet and where most of the leaves crowd out from its basal rosette. Bigger leaves are easier to harvest and often more tender. Also, it is well worth the effort to remove the leaf blades from their long and fibrous leafstalks.

After harvesting, the leaves should be refreshed in cold water, drained, rolled in a dry towel and stored in a zip-top bag in the fridge where they’ll last for 6-7 days, or longer, as pictured above.
Change the towel occasionally.
Source: https://foragerchef.com/sheep-sorrel/

You can also dry the plant, much like drying basil leaves and using the dried leaves to make teas or to toss into rice.

Nutrition Info:  One cup of chopped leaves contains –

  • Vitamin A (>3,300mg) and Vitamin C (60mg)
  • 60mg calcium, some magnesium, some phosphorus, 500mg potassium, and a small amount of zinc

Cautionary Note:  Like all the sorrels, Sheep’s Sorrel contains a high amount of oxalic acid, a compound also found in rhubarb, spinach and chard. If you’ve had a history of kidney stones, your doctor may advise you to avoid sorrel and other high oxalate ingredients.  On a related note, if you cook any Rumex species, it is best to use a glass or ceramic pot rather than any metallic pot.

Recipes for your culinary consideration:

Need more motivation?  Start humming Bust a Move, by Young MC, to yourself and then read these replacement lyrics inspired by Sheep’s Sorrel!

Happy foraging!