Highly Nutritive Latecomer Herbs In Our Vicinity
Apart from the regular food crops which the herbalists love to grow in the gardens, there are some latecomers which always grow close in our vicinity yet having high nutritive value.
Wild Amaranth , Purslane , Black Raspberries
The nature had planned well to provide the essential green food to human and animal life, all the year we have good food resources. In addition to the seasonal vegetables available to us, there are some late coming herbs which grow in our areas having good potency in medicinal value. There are only a few in that category among them are the Wild Amaranth , Purslane and the Berries. Here is the little more descriptive part about these herbs.
Wild Amaranth:This plant is known to appear in the middle part of June as a little bud which develops fully till July and August. It has an affinity for places that are close to human settlements. It is due to this reason it is also known as a civilized plant. One can easily find them in places like farms, gardens or places related to sowing and harvesting.
Amaranth is well-recognised as a principal food of the extremely fascinating and advanced Aztec society in South and Central America. It is rich in protein content, comprises of nutrient packed seeds and is very shrubbery.
A number of diversities of Amaranth can be seen, of which some are grown and raised for their edible content whereas others just act as floral ornamentals. Amaranth is also commonly known as pigweed.
Wild Amaranth is agriculturally cultivated mainly for its seeds. It is considered to be more linked up to beets, spinach, lambs quarters and chard instead of cereals which actually form the principal staple food of the humankind. Amaranth actually happens to be the most unexploited, unfamiliar of all the plant species.
Amaranth is not really as tall as its relatives. Not just this, it is not even that distinguished and properly well-raised. If left to develop without any prohibitions, it can get a height of about 3 to 4 feet but with very small seed heads. The color of the wild seeds appears to be black and not pale yellow which is generally seen in various agricultural varieties. The seeds also possess a tough dense hull which makes these seeds unsuitable as a grain. They are easily perceptible as something rough gravel-like, if not perfectly separated. Due to the presence of a tough outer surface, the seeds of Wild Amaranth may remain inactive in the farm for even up to 50 years .they demand optimum environmental conditions and a lot of scarification and frost for their germination. Thus, it is not even easy to remove them and hence they are so hated by the farmers.
Amaranth seed may be found at a speciality shop at reasonable prices. The seeds of this plant are not common things available in the market but now its making a place for its easy availability. This plant has great prospects as an agricultural source as it carries great seed: harvest ratio. Just one seed of this plant can produce around a pound of eatable grain. Even the green parts of this plant carry high nutrition value and could be used as edible. According to various done on this plant, it is clear that not only the grain but the plant itself is good enough to be used to eat as it contains a high nutrition factor.
This wild plant is usually grown for its greens which contain high nutrition factors. This plant is grown in the farm fields during July or August. This plant needs a great care as it can draw unhealthy intensity of nitrates in soil which is chemically fertilized and could also become target of leaf pests. So this plant actually needs organic farms for its harvest.
The harvesting for the greens of these plants is done when they grow somewhere between 6 to 12 inches in height and is used just like cooked spinach. Sometimes it is difficult to identify Wild Amaranth as the greens of this plant are harvested earlier than the seeds emerge. This weed should be harvested carefully as it worth a lot in terms of nutrition value.
Greens of Wild Amaranth are chewy and rough and could not be used raw for salads. The greens need to be cooked and then they are ready to use and could easily replace spinach as it actually resembles with the colour, texture and taste of spinach after being cooked.
This weed can be easily stored in freezer so that it can be used in other seasons too. To preserve this weed, some water should be boiled in a big pot. After boiling the water, the greens should be added and cooked for around 3-5 minutes. Then the greens should be strained out and cooled to room temperature. The remaining water should be saved to use as tonic drink or soup stock. Then they should be packed in freezer bags so that they may be used in other recipes.
Weeds of Wild Amaranth can be used with some wonderful recipes. Other then boiling and freezing them, it can also be parboiled and strained. These parboiled leaves should be stored in the freezer bags and could be used as replacement for Spinach, Lambs quarters or Nettles. The stored Amaranth can be used for many recipes like Wild Amaranth Quiche , Wild Amaranth Lasagna , Wild Amaranth Spanokopita , Wild Amaranth Hamburger help Amaranth-Ricotta Pie , Wild Amaranth Cocktail .
Purslane:This is one another in the late coming category, showing its greens in the month of July. It grows as if covering and creeping over the soil like a mat. It is native of India later immigrated to Europe as common vegetable. It could not compete with the fast foods like burgers in United States except in some areas.
Every one of us has heard about the Omega 3 fatty acids, an expensive health supplement and Purslane is rich in this supplement. Awareness among people is yet to come on its richness in Omega 3 fatty acids and its abundant availability.
By observing, the Purslane is wet and juicy, leaves are teardrop shaped, thick, fleshy and waxy on surface. The nutritional value of the Purslane is very high and is mucilaginous, much like aloe vera and okra. This mucilaginous property serves as good herbal medication for various internal and external ills.
The Purslane can be harvested even after flowering or in seed stage. The flowers appear at the tips of the branches. It is good to pluck leaves along with flowers which edible.
The ripening stage of Purslane is same as the cucumbers, tomato and green beans. It would be perfect to add Purslane to salad. Some of the salads can be mentioned as Purslane Salsa , Purslane Cucumber Salad , Purslane Gazpacho , Purslane Pasta w/Cherry Tomatoes , Purslane Green Bean Marinade , Purslane Spanish Rice .
Blackcap Raspberries: The farm grown Blackcap Raspberries is yet another latecomer which comes around July. There are many different varieties of berries like Wild Stawberries, Blackcaps which are Black Raspberries and Gooseberries, all of these occur in the month of July. In the months from September and October, some more varieties like Wild Cherries, Sumac Berries, Wild Grapes, Highbush Cranberries and Rosehips. In addition to the useful berry varieties, there are some poisonous varieties which are selectively used in the medicinal preparations by herbalists.The berries are very rich in nutritional supplements like vitamin C when eaten raw. Berries are high in iron content along with magnesium, fiber, potassium and fructose. Wild berries have immense nutrients which can easily absorbed by bodies. Most people prefer to make a recipe called The Ultimate Black Raspberry Pie , Black Raspberry Pie , Black Raspberry Crisp Deluxe and Black Raspberry Almond Cobbler .
They can be stored when available into a freezer and can be used whenever needed all through the year. The recipes made with fresh berries make a lot more delicious than the stored ones as they tend to become seedy and soggy. Some people like to make best use of them by preparing berry juices which is a wonderful thought for utilizing the berries in the freezer. It is also a good way to prepare jams of these, the only essential ingredient additionally needed is pectin. There are different types of pectins like regular, low sugar and no sugar pectins available. We have the independence to sweeten the jam as needed, 4 cups of sugar for 10 cups of fruits proportions taste good.
Here are some tips for using jams:
Applesauce can be mixed with wild berry jam.
Kids like to have dollop of wild berry jam on plain yoghurt.
Use berry jam with French toast, cheese cakes and pancakes.
Jelly rolls can be made.
Wild Berry Cheesecake Bars as yummy recipe.
Also try Wild Berry Cheesecake Bars
The juices made from berries are much more potent and highly nutritious than the commercially available ones in stores. It is a good idea to prepare berry juice when their availability is huge.
Here are some tips for the juices prepared from berries:
Beat the summer heat with Wild Berry Lemonade .
Use berry juice as a base for the punch recipe.
The locally available soda can be made much healthy by adding half cup of the berry juice with half cup soda, no wonder the kids love it.
Can be used as popsicles in summer.
You can get gelatin packets in grocery store and prepare wild berry jellos.
Glazes can be made for some baking projects from wild berries.
Wild berry juice sweetened and frozen in the ice cream maker.
Berry syrups can be made for topping pancakes.
Cough syrup can be flavored with berry juice.
Salads can be jazzed up with Wild Berry Vinaigrette .