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Thread: Some stuff I found in an urban area

  1. #21

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    The palm tree is something not related to the olive picture. Whatever a Washington Palm Berry is.

    grrlscout, what do you do with the green olives? All the processing I've seen for them require nastiness like lye to keep them.


  2. #22
    Senior Member grrlscout's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rick View Post
    I thought olive trees were ... well ... little trees but with a gnarly trunk. That thing looks like a coconut tree. I've never see one that looked like that. Then again, we don't have too many in Indiana to compare it with.
    Hehe yeah, two separate items. Here are the olive trees I harvested from:

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    Senior Member grrlscout's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LowKey View Post
    The palm tree is something not related to the olive picture. Whatever a Washington Palm Berry is.

    grrlscout, what do you do with the green olives? All the processing I've seen for them require nastiness like lye to keep them.
    I brine them. Just salt and patience needed.

    I slit them all, and put them in a jar of brine -- I'd have to look up the exact ratio. Let them sit, and periodically change the brine. It leaches out all the bitterness. They'll be ready in about 6 months.

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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Okay. Now I'm with you.

    If you folks will follow me the rest of the tour will be about high desert cactus. Not many folks know that Indiana is ripe with cactus. Trust me, not many folks know that. Right this way. Watch your step.
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    Senior Member grrlscout's Avatar
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    Pecans are ready!

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    I grabbed some grape leaves for my pickles as well.

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    This may or may not be of interest to you grrl, but those green husks can be boiled, and the water used to tan skins. I'm collecting enough now to try on a piece of cow I got a few months ago, but the drought and plague of squirrels is making it hard to find suitable husks.
    There's a food with multiple uses!
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    Senior Member grrlscout's Avatar
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    I did not know that! Very cool.

    Do they stain, like walnut husks do? I know folks who use walnut husks to make yarn and hair dyes.

    If I thought I could get away with pulling the husks off the trees before security came after me, I would totally send them to you.

  8. #28
    Senior Member grrlscout's Avatar
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    Springtime brings new targets:

    Cholla buds

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    Creosote bush (sorry for the fuzzy photo!) Not edible, but medicinal
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    Chamomile - not really an edible, but it makes a fine tea
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    And yucca blossoms
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  9. #29
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    I pick the flower petals off the yucca blooms and eat them straight away. They are supposed to be really good battered and fried, but I haven't tried them cooked, yet. The fruits taste a little like the soap grandma washed my mouth out with. Aquired taste I guess, but the petals are good if a wee bit bitter. Useful as a cordage plant, and the root makes a fair soap. Save that flower stalk once it dies and has weathered so that it will snap off easily. One of my favorite friction fire materials.

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    Senior Member grrlscout's Avatar
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    I like the yucca petals in an omelet or sauteed with some greens and shrooms:

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    I think the flavor depends on the variety of yucca you harvest from, and there are so many kinds! I bet it's the soap tree yucca that's icky tasting.

    The ones I pic from have a flavor like the tender inner leaves of an artichoke. I think it's probably yucca filamentosa (Spoonleaf yucca, Filament yucca, or Adam's Needle) or Yucca schidigera (Mojave).

    As for the fruits, I've been on the hunt for Yucca Baccata, because supposedly, when roasted, it's fruits are sweet like bananas. I have yet to find one, however.

    As for the cholla buds, I dug up some more info. Here's how the indians used to harvest and process them:

    http://azmemory.lib.az.us/cdm4/docum...OPTR=156&REC=7

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    Senior Member grrlscout's Avatar
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    Put the olives in their final brine last night:

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    mmmmmm. Loving this thread. How many brine changes does it take in all? I understand that olives are toxic when fresh and they must be boiled, is that true? (maybe I missed it earlier in the post, sorry).

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    I think I only did 3 this time. I went with the fermentation method. Instructions on that are in the Fermentation thread, in the cooking folder.

    I don't think they are toxic, untreated, they just taste awful -- extremely bitter.

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    I did a little research.
    It seems that to make them taste good, we have to take out the stuff that makes them good for you! LOL!!
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleuropein

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    As a side question. Have the lemon skins turned green? I canned some oranges, lemons and limes two years ago and the skins on the lemons turned almost an olive drab color. They were still quite good they just changed color.
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    New find! Natal plums:

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    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carissa

    Not sure which variety it is. I think Macrocarpa. They are not native to the area. But they are very heat tolerant, so they are often used as a landscaping plant.

    Haven't worked up the nerve to taste it yet though.

    Rick - last I checked, they were still yellow.

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    The flower looks very different from the "normal" plums we have around here. Interested to know how it tastes.

  18. #38
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    I don't think botanically it is a plum. They just call it that because the fruit kind of looks like one. According to Wiki, the carissas are part of the dogbane (Apocynaceae) family.

    I have yet to taste it. Maybe tonight.

    Supposedly, they taste a bit like cranberry or rhubarb.

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    i think your " mesquite beans " picture may be one of my unknowns
    i'll have to check it out
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    rain is on it's way into our area, Thank Goodness!, so I'll be firing up the torch on the tunas in a little while.

    I have a question regarding the jars for your olives. The Ball book says not to use the hinged jars with rubber gaskets, and not to reuse jars from other goods as the sealing compound is "only good once". Have you had any "reused" jars to fail? Not that I'm going to jump in headfirst recycling old pickle jars, but I am curious if I could use a few of them for something rather than just throw them away.

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