Edibles

I had the occasion to visit Napa the day before Thanksgiving, which is about an hour's drive from Davis.  It was a rainy day and there was a lot of traffic before the holiday.  It wasn't too bad getting to the turn off for Napa, although 80 east was at a standstill.  My son complained a lot of the way, however, and I was feeling a bit wincy (a made up word of my son's meaning yucky like when you eat too many sweet tarts).   I was a nattering nabob of negativity about our return trip.  In my mind's eye I saw us sitting in the car with my son in the back seat doing somersaults and whining at the same time. I also realized that although I was focusing on the immediate "bad stuff" (traffic), I was also falling prey to the the ugliness of the freeway and its concrete, plant-less scenery.  I decided to roadside botanize from the passenger seat to see how many edible or medicinal plants I could find.  When I made that my focus, a lot of the other ugliness seemed to disappear.  There is a whole world on the side of the road that few of us take the time to see.  It reminded me of when I used to work for The Department of Fish and Game (another lifetime ago) and we surveyed small creeks and streams that looked nameless and uninteresting to passersby.  We found  rich ecosystems in  small spaces and it made  the whole area seem more alive and friendly.

Anyway, to get back to Napa....The first plant I saw was the all mighty fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) which is a native to the Mediterranean. It is a perennial herb and we see it all along our highways with its smiling yellow flowers.  It is a delicious, edible plant that tastes like licorice and is really great roasted. I love it in salads. You can also use it dried as a spice and the seeds taste great and are chewed to alleviate stomach pain and eliminate bad breath.  Fennel is an ingredient in "Mother's Milk" tea, because it supposedly helps to increase the quantity of breastmilk in nursing moms. It also is the food for some butterfly species' larvae. I look for it fresh in late summer and use it dried other times of year.  Another plant I saw was white sweet clover (Melilotus alba), which is actually in the legume family.  It is a huge bee plant meaning that bees love it and lots of honey is produced in fields planted with it.  It is a biennial herb that can be used cooked or in salads, but personally I would leave it for the bees.  Growing alongside the clover was cheeseweed (Malva neglecta), which is considered an invasive nasty weed.  Poor thing...so neglecta....it does have some redeeming features as it too can be added to salads.  As a medicinal it is used as a laxative and expectorant.  It is mucilaginous...gooey that is and is used as a poultice for inflammation.  The last plant I saw was in the broccoli family, Brassicaceae, although we were going too fast for me to identify which species.  I can tell you that in a pinch you could add this safely to a salad for some zippy flavor.

 Now don't go collecting roadside plants, because as luscious as this all sounds, it's polluted out there along the road.  Also, after seeing, "Into the Wild" last night, I would be sure what I was collecting and eating wasn't in fact toxic.  Poor guy mistook one pea for another and didn't make it.

After looking for plants on the side of road and talking about them with my sweet husband, I felt more optimistic and able to contemplate the ride home, which ended up just fine as we found a different route and avoided the traffic altogether.  I think that when we connect with nature even in a small way that things out there waiting for us don't look so bad.

I hesitate to offer this recipe, because fennel is not in season, but we can all dream.  Chestnuts, however, can be found at local farmer's markets this time of year.  Use chestnuts that have been kept damp and cool or use canned chestnuts.  This recipe is from Deborah Madison's book, Vegetable Soups

1 cup lentils, soaked for 1-2 hours

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/3 to 1/2 cup each diced carrot and celery

1 small onion

1 small fennel bulb, stalks removed and rest diced

1 garlic clove

1 bay leaf, thyme sprig, 1/2 t dried oregano, pinch of fennel seeds

sea salt and pepper

The Chestnuts

One 10 oz can chestnuts, drained and coarsely chopped or 1 lb fresh chestnuts

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 t oregano

1/2 t fennel seeds crushed

1/4 t dried thyme

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/2 cup dry white wine

6 long slices French or Italian country bread, toasted and brushed with olive oil

Minced celery for garnish

Warm olive oil in a pot..add carrot, celery, onion, fennel, garlic, aromatics, celery leaves. Add t of salt and cook over med heat 5 min. Drain lentils, if need be, add them to pot along w 1 quart water (6 cups if they weren't soaked) Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the lentils are tender, 20-40 minutes depending on whether they were soaked. Remove bay leaf, taste and season.

Prepare chestnuts while lentils are cooking.  If fresh, cut an x with a paring knife into the flat sides of the chestnuts.  Put them in a saucepan, cover with water and boil gently until the peels can be pulled off about 20   mins. remove one at a time and peel while hot so that you can remove the brown skin that clings to the seed.  Whether fresh or canned, dice them into small chunks.

Warm the 2 tablespoonsof oil in the skillet.  Add chopped chestnuts, oregano, fennel seeds and thyme.  Cook over med heat for several minutes then work in the tomato paste and add the wine. Reduce to low heat and cook stirring only a few times (5 minutes).  Add this to the soup when the lentils are done.  Taste for salt and season.  Serve with long croutons broken into the soup, a drizzle of olive ol and minced celery leaves or parsley.

This one takes time, but is worth it.  Enjoy!

For an easy and tasty dessert, try dairy free coconut chocolate ice cream from the Davis Food Coop and sprinkle on some fresh pomegranate seeds.

Here are a couple interesting facts.

1. Sunflowers don't follow the sun, but face east.....who knew???

2. Cattle align themselves into a north south direction.

3. Birds and salmon use the earth's magnetic field during migration

Have a great night and let me know if you've noticed any interesting roadside plants lately.