What veggie greens are good for putting in a salad raw??? Besides the usual lettuce, spinach, mustard greens. turnip?? Beet?? radish?? What is in those baby greens, or spring mix packages at the store? My soil is very clay and rocky for root crops, but if I can eat the greens thats OK with me. And when is it too late to use them? When do they get tough or bitter?
Hi Wrennie, all the ones you have listed are great in salads, altho i have never used beet greens before. only the ones that are red or purple like. i use a rule of thumb for salads, if its the size of the palm of my hand or like for the larger leaved kind then its good raw. otherwise i cook them. never eat rhubarb leaves,, they are poison. dandelion leaves are great along with the flower tops, nasturitum tops taste like mild pepper, chickweed tastes like spinach. but only use the top part down to the second or third sets of leaves because it gets stringy after that. nettles are great, if you par boil them first, the burn or stinging comes from the where the leaf connects to the stem. so just don't touch there an you can eat the whole thing. fireweed is also good, the whole thing can be eaten. you just have to get it all when its young. angelica leaves an stalk is great when cooked. but again when it is young before it flowers. theres alot out there.... i love to forage. milk thistle can be eaten when young the whole plant even the roots in a salad. this man is my hero as far as foraging goes,, maybe you can find something of intrest on his site.. lots of recipes also using only things gathered in the wild. http://www.wildmanwildfood.co.uk/index.html Wild Man Wild Food - Fergus Drennan the Forager
Hi Wrennie...I always buy those spring mixes, too, despite their higher price. I don't always like to take the time to cut/slice/wash when I get home from work, and they're so convenient. I always mix in fresh spinach, too, as it's so good for you. You may want to check out some of the seed catalogs to see what's used in their lettuce mixes. Here's one from Johnny's Seeds: http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/sear ... tuce%2bmix Enjoy the game!!! We're on our way out the door to cheer the Pack on with friends.
Wrennie I forgot to add, when you thin your veggies in spring from when you seeded them,, those make excellent additions to the salad mix.. just pull out, wash, chop an add...
