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Tag: How to prepare Bull Thistle

August 16, 2017August 16, 2017Henry Holly

Bull Thistle – The mini Artichoke

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Foraging a Hearty Winter Meal.

Maple blossom experiment A. I'm experimenting with Maple Blossoms. There's something sweet and something savory in the works. These were taken from the big leaf maple which are currently super abundant. If you haven't tried them yet, go ahead and snap one off and pop it in your mouth. If the bract still has unopened buds then it will be fresh enough to try. You'll find they are reminiscent of a floral broccoli. I'll share more pics of my experiment 🤓 Scotch thistle taproot steamed till soft, seasoned with salt and field onion, garnished with wild chervil and purple dead nettle. How did it taste? Choice! The flavor and texture was just like a mild tasting artichoke heart. Creamy, savory and a tad sweet 😋👌 This now ranks higher than bull thistle for my preference. Such a delicious "survival" food. It's too bad it's noxious because I'm tempted to grow it 😉 Meet the Scotch thistle (Onopordum acanthium) the wooly cousin of the Bull thistle. Scotch thistle is very well adapted to the arid climate of the high desert and have a strong presence east of the cascades in Oregon. They have enormous taproots that allow them to pull moisture deep below the surface. I broke this one off which easily could have been 2 feet long. The root is edible but this will be my first time trying it. The seed is very high in oil which once upon a time was used for lanterns and cooking. Unfortunately these are a noxious weed, fortunately that means it's free game eating them up. The last two pics is a comparison with Scotch and Bull thistle.
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