I only just found out that leaves of the chilli plant are edible... :o...apparantely.. ???
see here.. http://www.salkkaaram.com/2009/10/green-chilly-leaves-curry-mulakila.html
Has anybody ever cooked any?
I've got HUGE napia plant and I've had to hack it back few times during winter when it was supposed to be 'dormant'.. ::)..foliage in tepin chilli is very fragrant and if anybody who has eaten chilli leaves would confirm that you are still alive after that ;D..(please, no haunting)...I would love to try those yummy smelling leaves.
A quick search tells me that they are indeed edible. The flavour is described as 'Slightly bitter' but you could say that about brassicas so that description tells us little.
So unlike tomato/potato leaves (solanums) that are greatly unpalatable, not deadly exactly but they will give you a bad stomach, chili pepper leaves can be used, though it is recommended as an ingredient rather than the main dish.
Always open to new things tomorrow when I'm on the allotment I'll have a nibble of one and let you know.
After a shaky start the pepper plants have grown well under their cloches. But they will have to be uncovered in a week or two as they are about to begin flowering.
After talking to a man from the Ukraine a couple of weeks ago who told me they use poison ivy on their Borscht I would believe anything!!
XX Jeannine
I have mentioned on another thread (or two) that goji berry leaves are edible and I have been eating them. In the absence of any berries.....
I LOVE the Internet :) I'm supposed to be working on a file there's a meeting about tomorrow and it's a tight deadline so, of course, I didn't have time to look in here early this morning ::) or then, after I'd read about your question, do a Google search cos it got me wondering too....... :o
And, natch, once I'd come across a cooking website and a thread devoted entirely to this very same question, I really, but REALLY didn't have time to read all the replies - all 3 pages of them, did I? :-[ ;D
I bookmarked the thread on this site and tomozz, AFTER the Meeting, I'll get back to it and post it here for you. It was so remarkable for so many reasons, primarily the absolute politeness of the posters to each other ( mainly Japanese/Far Eastern contributors) so a good read just for that.....
It's been a long day but as I recall, some (but not all) curry leaves can be added to cooking but they get thrown in as an aromatic right at the end of the process - using them earlier results in a bitter taste. I think they're used in southern Thailand and also the Philipines and I think a few links to recipes were included.
But, as I wrote upthread, I'll find the link tomorrow and get back to you.
Lishka X
chilli-, goji-, hawthorne-, chezchuan pepper-, raspberry-, blackcurrant-, birch-, horseradish leaves... ;D I'm starting to eat my way through nature...HUMAN SLUG.. ::) ;D..and then there is all the herbs. Plain salad can be bit boring..
Liska...('m looking forward what you come up with...
Tried some chilli leaves - they are mild tasting at first than a little bitter. Not bad at all they reminded me of a slightly strong lettuce flavour with the milky part of the lettuce flavour after a few chews.
The sweet pepper leaf was slightly milder than the cayenne and jalapeno leaves I tried.
As we surmised probably very nice cooked which is how they are used in the far east, the philipines in particular. A few leaves could be added to salads I guess.
Our forbears were much more adventurous with salads than we are using many leaves both cultivated and wild. Indeed there is a mountain of wild food available that is only waiting for us to gather.
Good for you for experimenting with all these long forgotten food sources. ;)
Does anyone eat fiddleheads, they are tight curled up fronfs of ferns before they start to unroll, we can pick them here and they cost a fortune in the shops..
XX Jeannine
I've never tried either, but has anyone else eaten sweet potato leaves or cassava leaves? They're both eaten in Sierra Leone, where my wife is from. Unfortunately they grow specific varieties of sweet potato for the leaves. I'm told the standard ones grown here don't taste nice, and I haven't found a source of the right sort.
Quote from: Jeannine on June 28, 2012, 21:12:58
Does anyone eat fiddleheads, they are tight curled up fronfs of ferns before they start to unroll, we can pick them here and they cost a fortune in the shops..
XX Jeannine
That is new one for me..never heard of 'fiddleheads'. When I was a kid we used to dig this particular fern up for its roots, we wiped the roots clean and snapped them into pieces..when licked, those broken surfaces had liquorice-kind of flavour. I have no memory where we learned it from, but I'm still alive..just ;D
Oh..and talking about weird 'edibles'..we used to pull grass 'straw'..clean it from the green bits so you had just 'stick' left....which we then poked into red ant nest...once the red ants 'sprayed' the intruder with their acid, we then pulled the grass 'straw' off and licked the acid off'...YUM.. ::) ..sort of salty flavour.. ::)
Now that I think about it...summer in my granparents small holding used to be just one big 'eating' experience..we kids used to pick berries and forage all the time for all sorts edible in between 'jobs' of building hiding places in woods and never 'surfaced' to amongst the 'living' other than meal times. I doubt kids now would be allowed make their own camps and camp fires..never mind carrying knives or small axes.
Quote from: Jeannine on June 28, 2012, 21:12:58
Does anyone eat fiddleheads, they are tight curled up fronfs of ferns before they start to unroll, we can pick them here and they cost a fortune in the shops..
So thats what they were. They were dark green, curled up and stored in a box in water, quite expensive I believe. Was told they were garlic scapes. Couldn't wait to get home to have a look at my garlic but unfortunately my scapes were quite tall.
Ooooo, Goodlife, I'm such a Numptie :-[ :'(
I've been trying to copy and paste a link to the pages on a site I found re: cooking these - and I can't do it! There's no link to 'send a link to a friend' whatever, so I'm lost.
Two options = you come to Bournville & look at it with me :P OR you try to find it as I did but even that's thrown up a problem...the Forum is Food.com & I typed in 'anyone use leaves from chili plants?' which was the heading of the thread in their search engine (me,I use double-l when I write about chillies, but.....hey...) but it didn't direct me to the thread.........
Sozz, I've tried and I've failed.
(bit like me trying to grow coriander....)
PS originally I typed "cooking with chilli plant leaves" into Google........
LishX
No worries.. ;D..I'll have a look.. ;) ...though if there is promise of tons of chocolate..since you are in Bournville..it is worth of traveling all the way there.. ;) ;D ;D
As for growing coriander....I've never had problems growing it..but I might be growing best crop ever...couple of more weeks and I start taking photos and showing what I've done.. ;)...that's if it turn out being as promising crop as it looks at the moment.. ::)
QuoteOh..and talking about weird 'edibles'..we used to pull grass 'straw'..clean it from the green bits so you had just 'stick' left....which we then poked into red ant nest...once the red ants 'sprayed' the intruder with their acid, we then pulled the grass 'straw' off and licked the acid off'...YUM.. Roll Eyes ..sort of salty flavour.. Roll Eyes
Well..That's new one for
me! Did you have name for this activity that I will not now be influenced in any way to try?
Eeewww! We did the same but used then to chew the tender end, no ants for us. Also we sucked nettle flowers for the sweet(?) taste. 'Bread and cheese' from leaves in the hedgerow on the way to school, no idea what the leaf was...
I'm going to inform the Son-in-law to be, (oh pleeeze) he is a chilli addict and grows his own. He can read this and eat the leaves and contact me after if he is still alive. (He had better be,he has sired a child with my darling).
Quote from: Emagggie on June 30, 2012, 22:21:29
'Bread and cheese' from leaves in the hedgerow on the way to school, no idea what the leaf was...
It was young hawthorn leaves.
Apparently they used to be picked when young and used for a sandwich filling in times past as well. Hence the name
Name change for the topic..
It was young hawthorn leaves.
Apparently they used to be picked when young and used for a sandwich filling in times past as well. Hence the name
I still do nibble hawthorn leaves..my plots are surrounded with hedges and majority of it hawthorn...taste is ok and blend in amongst other salad stuff.
In that case maybe a chilli leaf sandwich would be tasty. ;D