I think it’s important to know the wild relatives of Skirret as well because Skirret is one of the most Difficult wild Edibles to ID, it especially looks similar to Waterhemlock. Regardless the Skirret you have Sium sisarum taste nearly identical to Sium suave.
Did you get a chance to try the Young Leaves & Shoots of Skirret? They are supose to taste just as good as the root. But you need to make sure you have your ID game on Point!
Have you tried Parsley roots? There are some Parsley cultivars with Carrot like roots, where everything you can do with carrot roots, you can do with parsley. Altho a Perennial carrot feels like an oxymoron cuz for most apiaceae, the root is best in the plants first year before it bolts to seed. If the plant is perennial, how old must that root system be? I don’t know, I’m still learning the Apiaceae so correct me if there’s something wrong.
Skirret can’t cross with Cilantro or Dill. Each plant is not just in a completely genus but a Completely different tribe! You deserve Scientific awards & Honors if you somehow manage to cross them (Yea it’s at that level)!
I haven’t tried the shoots of skirret, but I’ve tried the leaves. They taste just like carrot leaves, except that they lack the somewhat scratchy texture and slight bitter aftertaste of carrot leaves. Very nice.
I’ve eaten a parsley root once. I was super curious about the taste. It tasted . . . like parsley, except as a root! I’d say it was milder than the flavor of the leaves, which I found pleasant. Not enough to bother growing it again, because I don’t really like parsley, but it was a pleasant enough experience. If you want to grow parsley for the roots, I recommend the variety Hamburg, which has been bred for big roots. (That was the kind I tried.)
Wow, dill and fennel can cross? I had no idea! What do the offspring taste like?
…im thinking the taxonomic information would be great for growers working on adaption…its really helped me to get thinking about the botony of plants a bit more. Im no expert, and am working on understanding more each day.
Clearly, some crosses wouldn’t take place, understanding the ones that will might save some growing time?
…and soils, at some point we should include the soil and its ability to support the growing effort. Not to change it by amending, but to grow edible varieties with the companion plants to build the soil. I’m thinking of Dr. White and his class on the GTS webpage. Soils should be getting better each growing season with what they support, our growing spaces should support multiple varieties as we curate them.
Growing root vegetables really helps the soil. Its a bonus when they taste good. There are all different shapes of carrot roots depending on the soil…shorter and stubby for clay, long and super long for loam and sandy soils.
Yeah, and plants with big roots also tend to be more drought tolerant, which is a huge plus (and/or necessity) if you live in an arid or semi-arid climate. I’m finding that root crops are often more promising than most things for dry farming.
Turnips are delicious, and I’m also fond of daikon radishes.
I’m experimenting with maca this year. I was originally thinking it was a diva and would be impossible, because it can’t handle above 80 degree temperatures or below 20 degree temperatures, and it wants lots of water . . . but then I read that it’s a winter annual in its native climate.
I was like, “Ohhhhhh!!” All of a sudden, I realized I can easily provide that, as long as I plant them in fall. My temperatures can get down to 10 degrees, so they may need a little cold protection, but not that much. A cold frame would be sufficient, or maybe even a sheltered microclimate all by itself.
I’ve started a patch on one side of my greenhouse, and I may try planting maca around all the edges of my greenhouse this winter. Any warmth that escapes from the greenhouse will benefit them, so that may be all the microclimate they’ll need. I’m excited to see if that root crop will work for me!
Meanwhile, carrots overwinter so well and taste so good in cold weather. I’d like to find more tasty Apiaceaes that can overwinter as root crops and taste delicious in winter, too. Are there any others that have stood out to you?
Parsnips are good, we add them to potroast as well as rutabaga…but I like to grow the herbs too, dill, parsley, corrianer and my favorite of fennel. Rutabaga isn’t apiacea but is a tasty root. Carrots are found in so many colors now, and they are better when its getting cold, down into the 40’s. But the best I’ve had so far were yellow root color, “Usbek carrot” seed from Baker Creek…and they produced seeds too. I didnt know until joining this group about the cytoplasmic infertility issue with seed. I just collected seeds and grew them again, but had started with heirlooms, so the seeds should be ok?
Yeah, seeds from heirlooms should be just fine. Cytoplasmic male sterility is rare in the wide, and you’re definitely not going to find it in an heirloom variety.
Cytoplasmic male sterility is mostly only seen when major companies want to create hybrids for species with flowers that are numerous and tiny (like Apiaceaes and Brassiceaes). It would be too much work to emasculate the flowers of the variety serving as mother, so major companies often breed male-sterile varieties to serve as the mother. The unfortunate thing is that CMS tends to be dominant, so all the offspring of those mothers will be male-sterile. This is an issue only if:
a) You’re only using hybrids in your landrace, so they’ll all be male-sterile,
or b) it bothers you to grow some plants that are essentially gynoceious,
or c) you’re planning to share seeds with someone else who feels that way.
Personally, I don’t mind having some gynoeciousness in my population; the plants that are both male and female fertile can contribute enough pollen to make up for the ones that don’t. But some people do mind that, so it’s worthwhile to consider that when you’re considering sharing seeds with others.
