Eat the Weeds Newsletter 21 July 2015

Eat the Weeds Newsletter 21 July 2015

by Green Deane

Fruiting Tamarind trees in West Palm Beach. Photo by Green Deane

“What tree is that?” The answer was “I don’t know.”That’s something I don’t say as much as I used to but when you don’t know you don’t know. Fortunately a couple of people in the class did know: Tamarind.

The fleshy inner parts of the pods are edible raw or cooked. Photo by Green Deane

We were in DreherPark in West Palm Beach. That explained a lot as Tamarind, Tamarindus indica, is from warm Africa. Today it is commonly found in South Asia and Mexico. India is the world largest producer of the legume… hmmmm… pod. And the two trees were heavy with ripe pods. It was the first time over several years I was at the park at the right time to see them. Timing is often everything.

Tamarind’s nutritious pods are consumed raw and cooked and is one of the current flavor darling of many avant-garde restaurants. The flavor is distinctive, both sweet and sour. The tree itself is slow-growing and long- lived. Without the pods it’s just another pea tree, of which there are so many here in Florida. But the next time I’m asked “what tree is that”I’ll have an answer.

Tropical Almonds are invasive but delicious. Photo by Green Deane

While on the topic topical I carried a couple of Sea Almond seedlings home with me from West Palm Beach. They won’t survive the winters here unless taken inside so I put them in moveable pots. As such I don’t think they’ll be much an invasive threat here. Two hundred miles to the south it’s a different story. Though an attractive edible it’s on the state’s hit list. The seeds float up from Central and South Americaand area common beachcomber find. During class this last week we cracked several of the “almonds” and enjoyed the tasty seed inside. The unripened green seed pods are also reported as edible but I haven’t been able to make them so as of yet. Also called the Tropical Almond, to read more about the treeclick here.

SilkBay leaves are bronze on the back. Photo by Green Deane

As a new disciple of recumbent biking I rode 30 miles on the West Orange Trail one morning last week taking pictures from a closer-to-the-ground perspective. While there was the usual foliated forest to see a couple of plants did stand out. One was a persimmon jumping the ripening season by three months. They usually don’t golden up locally until around October, which is also long before any frost. The other plant was the SilkBay, Persea humilis.I have personally seen it growing only on the Central Florida Ridge. (Yes there is a Central Florida Ridge, low as it is. Interstate 4 travels along a good portion of itas do most of the disruptive sink holes.) Like two other relatives, P. palustris and P. borbonia, the leaves of P. humilis can be used like a bay leaf. What makes the SilkBay striking, and easy to identify, are the back of the leaves: They are bronze-colored. To read more about the Bays go here. You can also read more about bike trip and pictures on the Facebook page: The Green Deane Machine.

Pellitory is picky about how much shade and sun it gets. Photo by Green Deane

Are the seasons changing? Whether there is global warming and whether it is man-made will probably be arguments we will hear for decades. But one thing seems to be so, and that is the seasons are changing though perhaps irrationally. Two plants come to mind. One is the Podocarpus, a common hedge plant locally. I used to be able to count on it having fruit in August. Now I can find it as early as June and as late as December. More shocking is Pellitory. It was a cold-season crop, much like stinging nettles. I would start looking for it around Thanksgiving and it would disappear around St. Patrick’s Day. Saturday, July 18th, I found some in West Palm Beach. Not only out of season, but in a warm area of the state. Then again, it was growing under a Banyan, the same tree I found Honey Mushrooms growing under about a month ago, again out of season. These might be normal variations or perhaps things are changing though the effects are a bit unusual. To read more about Pellitory go here.