A month of herbs from the garden

Subtitle: The month of June is when you can find Mints, Red Clover and Cattails, and Lambersquarters.

Mint , Lambsquarter , Cattail , Red Clover

June, the sixth month of the year, is referred to as the "full sun". With its summer solstice giving out short nights and long days, summer is about to end and winter is soon approaching. The plant kingdom also takes part in this change as they grow faster during this period. You would see green all over the place which brings life and energy as it fills the land.

The month of June is also another season for a great harvest. Wild food is not on the menu anymore but rather it has been dominated now by the greens and the summer menu. Herbs like Chickweed and Dandelion will still be part of the menu throughout the end of the year but others may not last long and they may just be going to seed again on this time of the year. Greens like Lambsquarter, Pursuance and Wild Amaranth are now part of the summer menu and takes over the spring herbs. Lettuce, peas, radishes and greens grow during the early parts of summer. These greens satisfy me and excite me of what the land can surprisingly give us.

I focus on medicinal herbs when harvesting. This time of the year is the best time to make tinctures, salves, as well as vinegars. Drying herbs and storing them can also be done on summer in the preparation for winter. It would be easier and faster to dry herbs during summer that way the herbs dry pretty fast and you can use the herbs as soon as they are all dried up.

There are those foods that appear only in June and I try not to miss them. You should always have Cattails every year, with its flower buds, shoots and pollen. Milkweed and Day Lilies can add flavor to the food you prepare and you can use its flower, seed pods and even its buds for food preparation.

The 'Mint'

The family of Mint is quite big. These are the herbs that we use on the kitchen not to mention those that are still on the wild. Herbs like oregano, basil, thyme and rosemary are in the family of Mint. Relatives of Mint include Lemon balm, catnip and bee balm. There are many wild Mints out there that range from tasty to aromatic to herbs that have bitter taste and can still be used as medicines.

I will focus on the Mints that are minty instead of its other kinds. In Southwestern Wisconsin where I live, there are so many kinds of fresh wild mints. The mints can be identified very easily. They always have stems that are square, opposite leaves and of course there is that strong smell of mint when the leaves are crushed on your palm. Mints have tabular flowers. The flowers are usually tiny and the colors are usually purple, white, blue or pink. Even without the flowers, you can still identify Mints once you are familiar with the common Mints.

Mints grow in the early parts of spring. There are Mints that still grow even in the later parts of winter, I actually saw one when I was harvesting Watercress . June is a great time for iced teas and minty salads. Mints can be harvested anytime from spring until fall. I harvest the Mints when they are tall, with or without the flowers, so that I can harvest a large quantity to make teas for winter.

Mints grow near water areas like riverbanks, lakeshores, springs and places that are marshy and wet. I always find Mint when I am in those places. To distinguish all the species of Mint would need a little background on botany and one must be very keen to details on the plant. The Mints can be used in any recipes. If you have used Mint in you recipes then you would have observed that each mint has a unique flavor, some hot and others are subtle. Other Mints are fuzzy, some are smooth, and some have wide leaves and others have narrow leaves. The color also varies from leaves that are dark green to light green, purple stemmed Mints also exist. Mints also interbreed with other Mints in the wild and you cannot find these on your local store.

You can transfer the Mint from the wild to your house; just put it on a wet spot in your house like the kitchen or by the faucet. The Mint can have a root system by two weeks on the water but they can grow fast so watch them carefully.

I put a bouquet of Mints on the window of my kitchen. I put them on a jar and they stay fresh for quite some time as long as the jar has water. The Mint would act as a freshener of the room and I can just pick and snap off the Mints when I prepare salads and lemonade. I prepare for teas for winter so I harvest a lot of Mint if possible. I tie them using a string and make a bundle of Mints and hung them upside down to dry. I have to dry them under the sun to avoid loosing essential oils that evaporate very fast. Flavor and components for medicine are on the essential oils. Once they are completely dry, I remove the leaves from the stem and store them in a sandwich bag or inside a jar. Mints are very nutritious. Mints are very high in calcium. I add Mint to tonic infusion to have good flavor and boost of calcium. A small amount of Mint can also make a nutritive tea that kids would surely love. A tea set for children is good for their dose of vitamin and tea rich with natural medicine. Mints are always used in tea.

I make Mint iced tea in the summer. I also make a Mint lemonade out of a Mint infusion. You can also freeze the Mint tea then you can just add water later for another cup of Mint lemonade. Here are some recipes for Mint: Fresh Mint Lemonade Sparkling Mint Lemonade Mint Iced Tea

You can make Candied Mint leaves with the kids for fun. You have to use a dehydrator to easily dry them because if it is not dried right away the sugar will just melt instead of crystallizing it. I also add Mint into salads. Mint goes well with cucumber salads, and taboulis. You can add a sprinkle of mint on your fruit salads. Here are some salad ingredients with Mint: Tabouli with fresh mint Cucumber-Mint Salad Lentil-Mint Salad Violet-Mint Salad

The 'Lambsquarters'

Lambsquarters is another nutritive herb which can be found in the wild. It can be found all over America even in desert towns. It grows in places where there are humans. You can even find it in your garden, and you may have weeded it before. It has a long period of availability; however it is more abundant in the month of June.

Lambsquarters is a relative of spinach yet it is more nutritious. Its nutrient levels up with those of Dandelion , Watercress and Nettles . Swiss chard and Lambsquarters are relatives, together with beets, orach and those in the line of Chenopodium.

Lambsquarters is also called pigweed or goosefoot depending on where you are located. I harvest them when they are 12 inches tall and they grow together with the vegetables in my garden. When I am harvesting them, I am also weeding the garden because I cut off the roots that have dirt on it before bringing it to the kitchen to avoid getting dirt on to the sink.

I remove the leaves together with the strips of the stem that are tender and soft. The leaves have a powdery-white substance on it but it is actually harmless, so they have to be washed before preparing them for food. I dry them on a towel before storing them on a plastic bag or container. I blanch its leaves for 3-5minutes then put in the freezer. They are first rate frozen vegetables, so I freeze a lot of it. Save the water from cooking Lambsquarter where you can use it to boil your rice and make soups. This water is called by many, "pot-liquor" and I use the water with tomato juice as a cocktail.

Lambsquarter Cocktail

can substitute Lambsquarter for spinach in any recipe. It can be used in any recipe even include it on dips, sauces, dressings, salads, soups and main dishes. You would not know the difference unless you are told that it is a Lambsquarter. Here are some recipes I have that uses Lambsquarter: Lambsquarter Greek Salad Lemony Lambsquarter Feta Salad Lambsquarter Antipasto Lambsquarter Quiche Lambsquarter Lasagna Fresh Herb Pasta Lambsquarter Hamburger Helper

The 'Cattail'

You can visit your Cattail patch in the month of June. They grow on ponds, lakes and marshes and other places that are teeming with life. They are very easy to spot but they also look like the poisonous wild iris, which you have to be very careful. You can harvest them by riding a canoe or boat but others can also be found just by the shore.

Cattail season is from May to July, but you can still get them all year round. It can be served on all different dishes, from the appetizer, to main course to even the dessert. Its flower buds, shoots, roots and pollen are all edible and each add a unique flavor and texture as you use it.

The Cattail Shoots:

You can harvest the soft shoots from mid May. Cattail gardens are golden brown early in the spring because of the old plants that grew from the previous year, but green blades would soon appear later as a sign of the new season and growth. Once the blades are 3 feet tall, you would have a vegetable known as the Cossacks asparagus.

The white core inside the base of the shoot of the plant is the only edible part. To get that part, grasp the inner leaves from the base and pull the plant from its socket carefully without pulling the roots and leaving the outer leaves intact. I cut the shoot up to 10 inches leaving the darker parts. It would take 30 Cattails to get 2 cups of chopped, ready to cook Cossack's Asparagus. Cattails can be consumed even if it is raw right after harvesting. You can use your creativity in making different kinds of recipe out of these Cattails. They are like cucumbers, they have a bland taste and it adjust to the flavors of the condiments and spices when cooked. They have a sticky texture just like okra. The sticky, slippery substance can also be used just like Aloe Vera. It can be used for sunburns and insect bites you get from the swamp.

I store 6-10 inch of shoots inside a plastic bag. I use them always. I slice them between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick, or you can also slice them a little thick just like the size of bamboo shoots from the store. The white part is the tenderest part of the shoot. I peel the layers until I get the toughest one. The tenderest portion may be lower than 3-4 inches. It is not difficult to use them for preparing dishes and food. They can be used in stir fry, fried rice, soups as well as casseroles. When fresh they can be added in salads like with cucumber, beans and pasta. You can use them for hor’d’erves when you add cream cheese to it.

Here are some examples of recipes that use Cattail: Cattail-Wild Rice Pilaf Cattail-Wild Rice Soup

The flower buds are far different from the shoots. On the month of June, Cattails would have a flower stalk with a green head wrapped in a sheath. There are two heads inside the sheath. The bottom is the female which receives the pollen from the upper male part. The male heads are the ones that look for food. The female part is also edible but it the amount is so little that it is not really worth getting. It is made up of tiny flowerettes. If ready to bloom, its head will rise from the sheath so the flowers can disperse the pollens. While the heads are still wrapped, I harvest them at that point. They have a unique flavor somewhat like of an artichoke hearts. You can harvest as many as you want and you don’t have to worry about finishing all of them because the pollens that has been disperse will eventually grow giving you a new set of fresh Cattails. Summer is the best time to harvest these Cattails but a high temperature can change the growing period of the cattails. You will need a sharp knife to collect these Cattails. They are very sturdy and hard to snap. Only harvest the heads while they are still protected by the sheath.

Once done with the harvesting, you have to remove the sheaths and snap the head off. It would take 40 heads to have 4 servings. I boil them for 5-10 minutes, then coat with garlic and butter and served while they are still hot. Cat on the Cob with Garlic Butter Cattail Casserole Cattail Flower Pickles

The pollen requires effort to collect but the effort is worth it because of the nutritional value you can get from the pollens. It adds flavor to pancakes and muffins too. It can be used in many other ways, but I only collect enough to be used as a meal.

As mentioned, you would need a canoe to collect these Cattails. You can collect the pollen while you are getting the flowers as well. Look for flower heads that are unsheathed. It is still green but looks puffed up. A small breeze can blow the pollens pretty easily. You need to be careful in collecting the pollens because they may be easily blown away by the small breeze.

You can use a plastic bag to cover the flower heads then bend it over without breaking them and shake the stalk so that the pollens will just fall on the bag. I find that process time consuming. What I do is, I clip the whole flower heads into the paper bag and bring them home and let them stay on the bag overnight and the pollens will be doubled. Clipping them causes any unopened flower heads to open up and generate some more pollens because of their property to bolt in. I shake them off before throwing them away. I sift the pollen for dust, bugs and any other unwanted objects that are with the pollens. I store the pollens for 3 days if I cannot use them right away. I freeze them if I need to keep them longer for future use.

It would take up to an estimated of 25 flower heads to have 1 cup of pollens. I mix the pollen with a cup of flour to bake them. Here are some recipes you can try with the pollens: Cattail Pollen Pancakes Cattail Pollen Biscuits

The 'Red Clover'

Red clover is part of the Clover family. It blooms on the month of June and is not very hard to find. It can be found in the meadow, roadsides and maybe even your own garden. It is also a medicinal herb, where it was used as an anti cancer formula. Red clovers costs very high from $17-$20 per pound. I use red clover in my infusions, so I harvest a lot of it if I can. Harvest those that look vibrant and fresh. I only pick the flower heads but others use the leaves also which I have not really tried.

I store the fresh blossoms to be used as tea or for infusion or even to cook with. I dry the rest of the flower heads to be used on winter for teas. Quality dried clovers still have the same purple color and not brown. However, if you get a brown dry clover, you can still use them and the essential nutrients are still present on the clover. The flowers of the red clover make a great iced tea filled with nutrients and vitamins. You can do many things with red clover. You can also mix them with other herbs like mint, and chamomile and lemon balm. Red Clover Infusion Red Clover Sap Tea Red Clover Lemonade Red Clover Raspberry Juice

You can even eat the flowers right from where you harvest them. The tiny flowers have to b removed first because the green part is very hard to chew and digest. You would need a lot of clover to make a great dish from it but you can still make a dish with a cup or two of the clover. You can add them on your salads or when you cook your rice. Red Clover Rice Red Clover Salad

Just like Dandelion Syrup, I also make syrup from the Red Clover’s flowers. I keep and store the syrup in a jar and I make a lot of it to cover the entire year. It can be used to sweeten pastries, teas and pancakes. Red Clover Blossom Syrup Red Clover Pancakes Red Clover Almond Biscuits

An Herbal Vinegar can also be made from Red Clover blossoms. Making the red clovers in to vinegar extracts the nutrients that are present on the clover like calcium and other essential minerals. I add up a small amount of honey to sweeten the vinegar. I use the vinegar in cooking the food I prepare for the family.

You can also find red clover seeds and sprouts from a local store. But if you have a good garden of red clover maybe you can collect these fresh on your own and process them yourself.

There are many things you can do with Red Clover. Some websites on the internet show that Red Clover can be used to make wine as well.