@BlueBerry … I like how Job said it in Chap 12:7-10.
Ask the animals… speak to the Earth…
If you really do that… question how all this is possible… like he said… you will know.
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When i was a kid my best friends dad was an AVID ginseng and yellowroot hunter. Hen of the woods, Chicken of the Woods, Molly Moochers, Oyster Shrooms, Fiddleheads, and if we were lucky find some Sassafrass we would get Sassafrass root beer! Sumac chicken was pretty good too.
Things we didnt like- Cattail root, and Cattail Corn on the Cob. and Poke Sallet.
Very good memories.
My dad was always working or working on our homestead plus we grew tobacco… he took me 'sangin and moocher huntin alot… but my buddys dad was next level…
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I have started to plant Ginseng here in VT after finding a wild stand in the forest. I live on a limestone bluff, and as you say the plants getting morning sun have done well.
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@Ged —I know a Guy in VT that grows Apples (Huge Orchard) and hunts Ginseng… and does very well with both. I only know him by his forum name on another board (Maya)…
The Ginseng there and in North Carolina mountain areas is highly prized by buyers.
When my TN Ginseng was bringing 770.00 per pound (dry)… he was getting 1000.00+
Ginseng from different States, and Soil types can have quite different appearance, shape, and color.
VT is one of the better, more favored… ones…
TNHunter
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Curious what you mean about Turkish rocket tasting like crab meat. To me, crab meat would be a delicacy. I’ts hard to imagine that the plant would taste like that, though. It’s a mustard. We have plenty of annual wild mustard here in New Mexico that grows all winter and into the spring. As you might expect, it has a very sharp taste and one can only really eat small amounts of it. The Turkish rocket looks similar.
We do have salsify, which is supposed to taste like oyster. It does have a pleasant taste and texture but it’s not oyster!
So I’m curious what you mean about a “crab meat” taste. I don’t see any reports of it tasting like that so far on the internet. Just the sharp mustard taste.
Thanks for that tip! I have never tried to sell any, as I’m still early in the planting, but that is encouraging. It sounds like you know the ropes pretty well.
@Ged — I did my first ginseng hunt in 1976… been hooked on it for a long time.
I checked a few of the older post over at wildgrown.com and found some of my friend Maya’s last posts…
That is some of his VT Ginseng… gorgeous…
On the same thread he posted that ginseng pic on… he posted this about his apples.
He has not posted since around 2016 over there…
Good Luck with the seng and what ever else you are growing.
TNHunter
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Much thanks, really impressive… someday I might get there !
Curious what you mean about Turkish rocket tasting like crab meat. To me, crab meat would be a delicacy. I’ts hard to imagine that the plant would taste like that, though
I mean it it! My plant tastes so much like crab to me that I put them in a risotto and closed my eyes, and it tasted like crab risotto.
I’m sure they vary a lot since it’s a species not a variety and it seems a lot of folks don’t report that (though some do). Mine were from Oikos back in the day.
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Wow yummy!!! I think we need to do some trading lol 
Interesting. Does it also have a sharp mustard taste? Or mild? Of not mustardy at all? This is worth pursuing I think.
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And also… do you eat just the broccoli-like tops and upper stems or do you eat the leaves? Which part has the crab taste?
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If I recall correctly I took some flower stalks with young buds (the bit that looks like broccoli). Last year was the first year my plant was big enough to steal from, and I found the shellfishiness…odd…so I stopped there. I think if I liked asparagus I would have liked it more? It definitely wasn’t bad at all – not stringy or bitter or anything. Just…odd!
Of course by the end of the summer it was tall…so…since y’all are interested I’ll have to try again this year and see all the parts taste the same, and if the taste changes over the season…
Ha! I’m afraid mine isn’t big enough to split yet. Maybe in a year??
Of course by then I might have dozens of seedlings to share. I’ve heard they can get a bit wee bit feisty once they get established.
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I saw some leaves were still green on the Rocket and tasted one today – no shellfish taste at all; just mildly bitter broccoli/kale…surprisingly edible for past-prime, raw, frost-damaged leaves. Neat. Makes me suspect that flavor will vary with the season, or is concentrated in the flower buds…
Makes sense. We have annual wild mustard here that grows all winter and spring. The leaves have a pretty sharp mustard taste but we can use them in small quantities. I’m also guessing the flavor you described is in the buds and stems.
Rosemary is iffy even here in 7a. They hang on a few years but single digits usually wipe them out. ‘Arp’ rosemary, however, is super hardy and May do ok in z6.
Pennsylvania is actually putting a ban on the sale of barberry starting this year, with compliance regulated by 2024 with fines. Thank goodness.
Lexington KY has had a ban for around 30 years on Silver Maples.
But HOME DEPOT still sells them in Lexington from time to time.
It’s like banning ribes nationwide…they never disappeared.
But I suppose they start somewhere if they
plan to slow the spread.
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Spring is here. I checked and my rocket is now ready for harvest and is…delicious! Tastes just like broccoli now; lots of small heads.
So definitely looks like the funkiness I got before was some dire weather thing or something.
Unequivocally recommended now.
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