But, you will ask me, if we have known the edible and nutritious nature of these plants for a long time, why have they fallen into oblivion?
- With increasingly easy access to food in the markets, populations have abandoned their gathering habits, but not only that: attempts to domesticate certain species have not given satisfactory results to promote their cultivation. commercial.
On a small scale, we are more patient!
With its skewer of native Quebec plants, the 1re part of this file on edible perennial plants has made the mouths of many gardeners water.
This 2e game focuses on plants that come to us from elsewhere in the country and abroad, but which have never shown the desire to colonize the planet!
They all resist our harsh winters, but unlike our beautiful natives, there is little risk of finding them in fallow land. By installing them in a corner of the vegetable garden, on the other hand, they will remain within reach… and on the plate!
From North America
Leaning garlic
The nodding garlic's natural habitat includes dry woods, rocks and meadows scattered from Ontario to British Columbia, south to Mexico.
Very resistant to drought, it does not interest deer and is one of the rare plants that flourish at the foot of black walnut trees.
From its slender conical bulb emerge several ribbon leaves and a floral stem topped with an umbel of pink or white flowers in July or August.
It is grown a lot for its pretty flowers which butterflies love without knowing that its bulb and leaves with a strong onion flavor are excellent. The flowers also have a strong onion flavor, which becomes more pronounced with maturity.
Thanks to its indisputable ornamental value, nodding garlic can be grown both in the flower bed and in the vegetable garden.
Allow some of the flowers to reach maturity to allow the tiller to regenerate through seed.
Indian hyacinth
Native Americans from the Nez Perce, Cree and Blackfoot tribes of the west coast have long stocked up on “ quamash », name given to the bulb of the plant by the Nez Percés and which means sweet.
Abundant in humid meadows, Indian hyacinth was harvested in autumn when the bulb had grown well. It was eaten roasted or boiled like sweet potatoes or potatoes – it is also said that it tastes like sweet potatoes.
The dried bulbs were also made into flour. Attention ! If the bulb is delicious and safe, the same is not true of the foliage which is toxic!
Unfortunately, the natural habitat of this valuable food source was heavily compromised with the settlement of white people and their cattle pastures.
The plant naturalizes well in moist loam or even heavy clay, but dies in dry soil. It multiplies spontaneously from the seed.
From Asia
Crosne from Japan
Few gardeners know this ancient vegetable native to the northwest of the China, despite the reference to Japan in its name! Even more curiously, it owes its name to the town of Crosne, in France, where the local population adopted and cultivated it at the end of the 19th century.
Crosne is grown for its creamy white edible tubers which take the form of small rosary beads only a few centimeters long.
Their fine flavor with hazelnut aromas is similar to salsify in Jerusalem artichoke and artichoke.
This vegetable can be boiled or sautéed covered in butter or chicken broth. Cooking only takes six to seven minutes. In Japan, crosne is often used in the preparation of osechis, traditional Japanese New Year dishes.
In China, crosnes are preserved in a vinegar brine, or sometimes spiced, and served for breakfast with rice porridge. In Europe, it is served raw in salads; as a starter with lamb's lettuce, pears or apples and hazelnuts; sautéed in oriental dishes or simply in garlic butter; oven roasted with other root vegetables; or baked in the oven.
Potato onion
Originally from Western Asia, this remarkably easy to grow multiplies like shallots, but produces larger bulbs than the latter.
Its name comes from its way of multiply which recalls that of potatoes, because a single bulb gives around ten others during the summer.
This ancient variety, very popular with our ancestors, would have arrived in North America with the first settlers of New France. It has been replaced by more uniform selections that are easier to harvest mechanically, but its mild taste qualities have nothing to be ashamed of in front of their more modern relatives.
Additionally, the shelf life of the potato onion is superior to that of most other varieties and it is less prone to rot and onion fly!
Rhubarb Glaskins
Rhubarb comes to us from Central Asia where its medicinal and taste properties have been known for around 5000 years. In ancient times, Arabs, Greeks and Romans consumed it regularly.
The Glaskins variety was first recorded in Brighton, England, in 1920, then made its way to the Americas where it quickly captured the hearts and palates of Americans.
Its long, thick stems are bright red at the base and gradually turn green towards the blade. They are very juicy and very popular in cooking, because they do not develop bitterness and have a low oxalic acid content.
This early variety produces a modest harvest in the first year from sowing indoors in late winter.
The harvests of subsequent years were very abundant. A mature plant grows between 80 and 100 cm in height.
From Europe
Caucasian climbing spinach
Very perennial, Caucasian climbing spinach is a well-kept secret, but an essential part of any food forest project.
Oddly enough, this plant seems to have flown under the radar of all horticulturists and botanists despite its discovery in the mid-19th century. Fortunately, wild plants were discovered in 2008 during a botanical expedition to Ossetia, Georgia.
In its native Caucasus, its twining stems emerge from the ground early in spring and attack spruce and beech trees to reach up to 3 m, even 4 m in height in just a few weeks. It is also found along rivers and in ravines.
Introduced as an ornamental plant in Scandinavia around 1870, it became a vegetable plant after the good taste of its pretty greenery was discovered. However, its popularity in the kitchen has remained modest.
However, a plant a few years old can give up to 3 harvests of around a hundred young shoots in spring and abundant leaves all season long!
The young leafless shoots, 5-10 cm long, are used like asparagus. When the leaves unfold, the young stems are served with the leaves as a side vegetable.
The mature leaves with a slight spinach flavor are harvested continuously until autumn and are enjoyed raw in salads or soups, in omelets, sautéed in a pan, etc.
Plants grown in the sun should be watered regularly, as young foliage burns easily. You should also watch for slugs early in the spring, when the stems emerge from the ground.
mountain lovage
Lovage is distinguished by its robustness. After all, this mountaineer is found up to 1800 m altitude in the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Caucasus and elsewhere in central Europe.
Its triangular leaves, cut and arranged in a rosette, resemble those of celery and have the flavor.
Its culinary uses abound in Bulgarian, Moldovan and Romanian cuisine:
- fresh leaves are used to flavor meat dishes (especially lamb), soups and salad;
- we serve the young shoots and the blanched petioles as accompanying vegetables;
- the young stems can be candied and accompany certain desserts;
- the hollow stems make very original natural straws;
- the long fleshy taproots flavor the dishes with their taste of Maggi sauce (which does not, however, contain lovage!);
- the seeds give a bittersweet flavor to baked goods and soups. It is also used to make “celery salt”; And
- the leaves infused into a soothing herbal tea have a sedative action which helps digestion.
Sorrel spinach
Sorrel spinach enters the cuisine of the inhabitants of southern Europe, the Balkans, Bulgaria and Romania, its lands of origin.
Its shape and flavor are reminiscent of spinach with a slight taste of sorrel — hence its name. It is used in a similar way in cooking. Like all plants rich in oxalic acid, raw leaves should be consumed in moderation.
Like sorrel, this leafy vegetable emerges early in spring and is one of the first to garnish our plates.
The leaves, which are constantly renewed, are harvested from spring to fall. We recommend eliminating flower stalks as soon as they appear, because the seed germinates easily and can invade the garden. The shoots are also more tender if the plant is prevented from flowering.
Spinach sorrel thrives in the sun and cool soil. During heatwaves, copious watering prevents interruption of leaf production.
Watch out for slugs! They also feast on its foliage.
Specific to the Mediterranean basin
Green Globe Artichoke
The artichoke grows naturally in North Africa, as far south as Ethiopia, but is now well established all around the Mediterranean Sea where it grows in rich, loose soils.
Plants produce over several years, but less as they age. In Quebec, the winter cold does not make life easy for them and protection with straw is essential to their survival.
The Green Globe selection, however, allows artichokes to be obtained from the first year of sowing, because 80% of vernalization is obtained after 8 days of exposure to cold at 10°C or less.
We must therefore plan the sowing so that the pots of young plants are ready to go out around the end of March or the beginning of April, depending on the weather and your region. Don't worry, the plants are frost resistant, but still allow a few days for acclimatization. We transplant them into the garden 2-3 weeks before the last frost when the soil has warmed up.
The plants are vigorous and yield 3-4 artichokes per 1re year.
The edible part is the immature flower called the artichoke head. That of the Green Globe has a very round shape and of medium size. It is picked while the lower bracts begin to move away from their neighbors. Keep about 15 cm of stem when harvesting.
The very young heads, which are still very tender, are eaten raw, but the older heads are served cooked with a dip, in a soup or in a casserole.
Just before the first frost in autumn, the stems which have produced are cut to ground level and the others cut back by half, leaving the 20 cm stems intact. Then hill up the plants with potting soil and cover everything with a good thickness of straw. As soon as the spring thaws, remove the straw and soil.
Argenteuil asparagus
Originally from the maritime coast of the Mediterranean, asparagus adorned the tables of the ancient Romans and the vegetable gardens of France as early as the 15th century.
It thrives in loose, light, draining soils that remain cool at depth, but not humid. However, it adapts well to varied conditions with the exception of very humid soils.
Asparagus multiplies by claws (the name given to its rhizomes) and grows from spears (root buds)
The Argenteuil variety is the fruit of the work of Louis Lhérault, a world-renowned asparagus producer, who introduced it in 1860. Its great popularity in France comes from the ease with which it is obtained — while keeping its spears in the shade — large-sized white asparagus, excellent in taste and of high quality.
Around 1885, a very similar, but earlier variant appeared on the markets, the Précoce d'Argenteuil.
Its precocity is twofold:
- it appears very early in spring; And
- it develops more quickly than its peers and allows 1re harvest after only 2 years, instead of 3.
The Argenteuil asparagus begins to produce a little after its earliest double, but its spears are still very fleshy when those of the Précoce d'Argenteuil see their waistline melt away.
Algiers Red Cardon
Cousin of the artichoke, the cardoon resembles it in several respects, but not all!
Its African origins are slightly less extensive, stopping at Libya, to the east, but reaching as far as the Canary Islands, to the west. It is also present in Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, the former Yugoslavia, the south of France, Portugal and Spain.
The leaves and flowers of the two species are similar, as is the general appearance of the plant, but in the case of the cardoon, we eat the cardoons, that is, the central vein and the petiole of its leaves.
Fortunately for the cook, the Algiers Red cardoon is practically devoid of thorns, which is not the case with the artichoke!
Its pretty reddish cards are first bleached to rid them of their milky sap with a bitter taste. Then, they are served as gratin with a white sauce, in an omelette, in puree, in salad or as an accompanying vegetable for meat.
Rich in nutrients and fiber, they are low in calories and contain inulin, a sugar tolerated by diabetics. Cardoon also serves as a liver cleansing agent, as it contains cynarin. It's not for nothing that it is part of the Holiday menu in certain regions of France!
The immature flower of the cardoon is also edible, but too tough for cooking.
Cardoon cultivation is in every way similar to that of the artichoke.
Beautiful ones from elsewhere – in Canada or around the world
| Name | Areas | Exhibition | SOL | Harvest | Edible parts |
| Lean garlic, rattle onion, ladies' leek (Allium cernuum) | 4 | S, MO | Poor, stony, sandy loam, well-drained | May (bulb); all season (leaves); July-August (flowers) | Bulbs, leaves, flowers |
| Green Globe Artichoke (Cynara scolymus) | 6: with winter protection | S | Very rich in humus and nitrogen, loose, well drained | End of July, August | Flowers |
| Argenteuil Early Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) | 3 | S | Rich and light | End of April, May | Young plants |
| Algiers Red Cardon, cardonette, Spanish thistle, wild artichoke, thistle (Cynara cardunculus) | 6: with winter protection | S | Very rich in organic matter, well drained | End of July, August | Flowers |
| Japanese Crosne (Stachys affinis) | 5 | S, MO | Sandy, fresh | April or November | Tubers |
| Caucasian climbing spinach (Hablitzia tamnoides) | 3 | S, MO, O | Very adaptable, even in acidic soil | April May (stems); May to October (leaves) | Leaves, stems |
| Potato onion, Egyptian onion, rocambole onion, baby onion, perpetual onion (Allium cepa there. aggregatum) | 5 | S | Rich and well drained; pH neutral | Late July to August | Bulbs |
| Garden sorrel, common sorrel, sorrel, meadow sorrel, barberry (aceto rumex there. hydrangea) | 4 | S | Rich, humus and light | April May | Sheets |
| Sorrel spinach (Rumex patientia) | 5 | S | Costs ; fears drought | May to September | Young leaves |
| Little burnet (Minor leech) | 4 | S | Dry and well drained; neutral or limestone | May to September | Young leaves |
| Rhubarb Glaskins (rheum sp.) | 3 | S, MO | Rich in organic matter, well drained | May, August | Petioles |
Coming soon
Make way for perennial vegetables! – Part 3 of 3: The beautiful adventurers of Eurasia and Africa
