Yesterday, I introduced Agricultural Explorer David Fairchild who, inspired from visiting Japan, was determined to try to introduce udo (Aralia cordata) and wrote an interesting paper 120 years ago giving more details about this novel perennial vegetable: Udo introduction to the US with cultivation instructions (1903) 11 years later in 1914, he wrote a really interesting report summing up his experiences with udo. It blows my mind to read how much work was done on this plant over 100 years ago, but sad to see that it was never adopted in a big way! You can read the whole report and I recommend you do, but I’ve picked out some titbits from the report that I found particularly interesting followed by a few other interesting excerpts from various inventories of introduced plants to the US!
…..and adding a few other things to the one species udo and American spikenard salads (Aralia cordata and Aralia racemosa) and this was the result, the summer’s first extreme salad, on the anniversary of the filming of the extreme salad youtube videos (“B” in the following link!) http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=16712
The centrepiece was Allium humile with tulip, Primula denticulata, Trillium grandiflorum, Trillium erectum, Arabis alpina and Primula veris
The centrepiece was Allium humile
It was commented “as if you were cradling a lover”…spot on!
Last night, I tried American spikenard (American Udo) or Aralia racemosa for the first time! Although Aralia cordata (Japanese Udo) had a hint of bitterness after blanching, the spikenard was mild with no bitterness…a bit like cucumber was my guest’s comment
NB! The spikenard was more thoroughly blanched than the udo, so not a reliable comparison!
Peeled and sliced American spikenard shoots
As with yesterday’s udo salad, I simply added a dressing of roasted sesame oil, salt and pepper! Delicious!
American spikenard to the left and Japanese udo to the right!
Walking past the Udo (Aralia cordata) patch yesterday morning I noticed that the shoots had outgrown their bucket and, as usual, had thrown the bucket down the hill, eager for some sunshine. Sad for it, its effort was in vain as they were bound for the kitchen! Here’s an album of pictures showing how I prepared the udo salad.
I alsø blanced Arali racemosa for the first time, but haven’t tried it yet…
The bucket of cordata let some light in at the top, so the shoots were greener than for A. racemosa
Aralia cordata with ostrich fern, blanched and unblanched shoots
Aralia racemosa, blanched and unblanched shoots
Aralia racemosa and Aralia cordata
Peeled udo shoots
Peeled and sliced udo shoots
Udo salad with a dressing of roasted sesame oil, soy sauce, salt and pepper! My least diverse salad of season 2018 so far!
My forest garden continues to be super-productive, my udo is on its way back to the soil and is preparing for next year as are my three devil’s walking sticks, Aralia elata as well as Aralia racemosa and A. californica.
There are a lot of apples to start drying soon!
Udo (Aralia cordata) collapses early autumn under its own weight….
Ostrich fern, udo, apples and devil’s walking stick (Aralia elata)
Aralia racemosa (I think) is growing next to my udo and is now quite big, with ostrich fern growing underneath it!
Aralia racemosa fruiting heads…
Aralia racemosa fruiting leaves…
Aralia elata from Honshu in Japan is the youngest of 3 trees
Aralia elata (devil’s walking stick) is in fruit for the first time here
Apples galore…producing large amounts of fruit every year without any fertiliser, growing next to it, also produces well every year on zero fuel!
Apple “Aroma”
Aralias
Apples
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
