Every so often, reading a foraging book will help me stumble across a new species I’ve never heard of before that sounds interesting, I look it up online, and I think, “Wow, that looks like an obscure treasure.”
Like this one!
The leaves are supposed to be tasty: mildly sweet and mildly sour, with an apple-like flavor. It grows from Maryland on down to Florida. Given that range, it’s probably pretty adaptable, and it sounds like an excellent perennial leaf crop.
Does anyone know anything further about this species?
This is one I have on my list to look out for to try & bring into my forest understory but I didn’t really realize it was edible for people. That does make it more intriguing. Does your book mention if it’s a nibble here & there kind of plant or cook up a pot of greens kind?
It didn’t say anything more than that, so my thinking is, I’ll have to try it and find out!
Here’s the page about the plant on PFAF:
It says: “Edible Uses: Leaves - raw. Thick and downy, they have a pleasant sweet smell and taste. Chewed for their pleasantly sweet, slightly acid flavour that is refreshing and helps to ease thirst.”
