Green vegetables we have never eaten...

[heidih]

I have a fond memory of a little neighborhood kid coming over to check out my garden and telling me his grandma (he lived on her property) was growing chard and that it was so yummy sauteed with butter. He even rubbed his tummy to make his point. I went through a phase when I was growing chard. Sauteed with touch of olive oil, mushrooms also and mixed with Lean Cuisine Fettucine Alfredo. Several times a week. I may even prefer chard to spinach.  I make excellent FA with real ingredients including imported  parm - but this was during crazy times. Beet greens do have an earthy taste - given away free at local farm stands as most want tops off. Another fond young man memory - different one - looking dazed and confused because grandma sent him to big farmer's market to get the greens for their New Year  meal but he could not find mustard greens. He'd eaten them but no clue on appearance. We steered him to an Asian greens farmer that had piles. Such relief. 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

3 hours ago, TicTac said:

Here’s a few more possibilities for your list (and others) which are probably growing in your backyard…

 

 

lambs quarters aka wild spinach.  Insanely nutritional (makes spinach look like junk food!) and grows like….a weed!

 

 

purslane (the creeper, the tall girl is a lemon tree) - a sadly overlooked absolute SUPERFOOD!

both great raw or quickly cooked.

 

 

Purslane appears not to be endemic on Cape Breton as it is in Ontario so I'll be planting my own from my favorite seed supplier.

[chromedome]

26 minutes ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

 

Purslane appears not to be endemic on Cape Breton as it is in Ontario so I'll be planting my own from my favorite seed supplier.

I've tried and failed to grow it both indoors and outdoors, which irritated me greatly. It's a bloody weed, why would it not grow! Grrr.

DIdn't get any seeds this year, but plan to try again next spring.

[heidih]

2 minutes ago, chromedome said:

I've tried and failed to grow it both indoors and outdoors, which irritated me greatly. It's a bloody weed, why would it not grow! Grrr.

DIdn't get any seeds this year, but plan to try again next spring.

Weeds have a mind of their own. Not naturalized where I live. Maybe they like warmish damper places. A friend used to say she could not control the arugula - sprouting up in any crack or pavers in her yard. Close to me but ocean very adjacent.  My dandelions on front of property did a runner! I liked to pluck the young leaves. That was probably drought.

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

10 minutes ago, chromedome said:

I've tried and failed to grow it both indoors and outdoors, which irritated me greatly. It's a bloody weed, why would it not grow! Grrr.

DIdn't get any seeds this year, but plan to try again next spring.

 

My guess for outdoor planting the local soil is out of the viable pH range so I'm planning on containers and see what happens.

Back in Ontario it would grow in bone dry arid areas where nothing else grew. It would grow between patio stones and in any crack in asphalt.

Could be just too damp here so I'm thinking on keeping the containers as dry as possible and using a mix that will dry out quickly.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

1 hour ago, chromedome said:

I've tried and failed to grow it both indoors and outdoors, which irritated me greatly. It's a bloody weed, why would it not grow! Grrr.
 

I've had exactly the same experience.    I buy it at an ethnic flea market but in bunches that, while very inexpensive, last me for several weeks!

[Margaret Pilgrim]

FWIW, dear husband has a deep aversion to greens.   But he scarfs chard sauteed in EVOO heavily infused with fresh garlic.    Like several times a week.  

And one of my favorite vignettes which I may have already described, in check-out line at a village country store in the deep boonies, the customer ahead of me commented how she hated beets and beet greens because 'they taste like dirt".    The young black checker quietly said, "They don't taste like dirt.   They taste of terroir."    I had to refrain from jumping over the counter and hugging her.   

[weinoo]

3 hours ago, chromedome said:

So would Chromedome. I make that kind of salad a lot, especially in winter when the salad greens at the supermarket are poor.

 

 

Like Chromedome, like rabbit is my guess.

 

If you decide to try endive, I like it any number of ways. But especially...

 

 

Braised. And...

 

 

In the style of a Roman puntarelle salad; that is, with an assertive anchovy based dressing. Simply, juicy and delicious.

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

28 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

Like Chromedome, like rabbit is my guess.

 

If you decide to try endive, I like it any number of ways. But especially...

 

 

Braised. And...

 

 

In the style of a Roman puntarelle salad; that is, with an assertive anchovy based dressing. Simply, juicy and delicious.

 

Your salad, indeed, but, yes, braised endive and also fennel are divine.     As summer advances, think of room temp also.

[pastrygirl]

Growing up, we'd eat wilted (don't recall if saute'ed or boiled) beet greens or chard doused with red wine vinegar. 

 

I love the pepper-iness of arugula but sometimes if i need to eat a lot of it fast, I'll saute it like spinach.  Cooking really tames the flavor, though.

 

Young pea vines would be another thing to try if you ever see them.  They're mild, reminiscent of peas.

 

 

[TicTac]

re: Purslane - it's a strange plant.  The one pictures self propagated to my lemon tree pot, which has oddly enough, no drainage holes (need to fix that) and very soggy soil.  It's loving it in there.

 

It has also popped up in my cloth pots (one of the number of 'weeds' I encourage) which I love.

 

Usually, as eluded to above; it prefers very harsh environments - cracks of side walks, super dry, etc.  Get lots of seeds and just throw them everywhere.  See what works and let them go to seed in that spot and continue for next season.