The plants you would not think are edible and people eat

Here are a few to get the thread started

Avocado seeds
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=30HNVhQeGTg
Jack fruit seeds
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1SKnh8_J-Nk
Beet greens
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aKnPnviuPH0
Sweet potato greens
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6twMbwZMuKE
Wild foods
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt7e5YlfL1U

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I’ve never tried it but horsetail. IMG_2936

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Pigweed.

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pigweed is actually delicious in broths. And young squash and chayote stems/leaves/flowers are even better-tasting than any other green leafy vegie. If you like gumbo, egyptian spinach is a must. It is the sweetest leafy green have tried.

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Lambs Quarters are on the spring menu. Also Poke Weed both for leaves and stalks. Look up methods to prepare the leaves. The stalks have to be harvested young when the stem is still solid green i.e. before it develops chambers. Peel off the purple skin then wash and chop up and fry like okra. It is a delicious spring dish.

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my grandmother would dig early sprouting dandelion greens and steam them. very good for you. shes still kickin’ at 93! also the ostrich fern or fiddlehead is a local delicacy in the spring here. even the restaurants serve it in soups , steamed and deep fried. i like mine sautéed in real butter some olive oil and fresh garlic. a spring meal of fiddleheads and fresh caught brook trout is a Maine outdoorsman treat. i started a patch of stinging nettle and borage. even if we dont care for it, the chickens will eat it. should make their eggs very nutrient dense for us.

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another nutrient powerhouse. It also has mannitol, a naturally occurring diuretic which may benefit folks with high blood pressure/congestive heart failure, but wary of side effects of water pills.

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Cauliflower.

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if you compare dandelions nutritionally to kale, dandelions are better. i havce a spot in my yard, under my red pines where the dandelions grow exceptionally well. after i harvest the spring crop for us, i harvest all summer and feed to the chickens, ducks and geese. they prefer dandelion over any other weeds i throw in there. smart birds. :wink:

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and our adopted tortoises seem to know it’s good for them too. Below they are enjoying their salad of dandies and spurge. Two good reasons why they live to a hundred

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nQjgqGes6I&t=17s

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I wish there was a “hahahaha” button!

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(Amaranth family)

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Nettle

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I am good with all of them (in fact beet greens are my favorite green). But that thing on the avocado seed, that does not even discuss persin, leaves me cold.

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I wondered about that also and looked it up “Persin is a fungicidal toxin present in the avocado. Persin is an oil-soluble compound structurally similar to a fatty acid, and it leaches into the body of the fruit from the seeds.”

“There is a slight amount of persin, a fungicidal toxin similar to a fatty acid, in avocado pits, and the skin, bark, and leaves of the avocado tree. But there is only a very small amount, meaning that the avocado seed is not really poisonous to humans, unless eaten in massive quantities.”

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I tasted the last fruits of prune yews (cephalotaxus).
When in doubt, I do not do too much, I hesitate to start again.
In short, very sweet pulp, very good, reminds me of the candy with pine resin.
Some say do not skin, others do not suck stones.

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Rose of Sharon, I prefer them just before they bloom, crisp , very light taste with A hint of sweet

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Crisp may not be the correct term, less wilted than when they open is what I am trying to say

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I didn’t realize Rose of Sharon is edible, but I have it in abundance, so time to give it a try.

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so we have to assume that all domestic animals that get sick on it, it is because they eat massive quantities.

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