Tree Spinach, Chenopodium giganteum ‘Magenta Spreen’

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Tree Spinach

Tree Spinach

In 2010 there was a Garden Organic Members’ Experiment to grow Tree Spinach, Chenopodium giganteum ‘Magenta Spreen’ and I volunteered to take part and grow this striking edible plant and report back on how easy it is to grow and what it tastes like.

I raised my first plants in modules in an unheated greenhouse and planted them out at the allotment in late spring. The plants grew very well and were about two metres tall by the end of summer.

I left some seedheads for the birds to feed on, but they didn’t seem particularly interested. The result of this was a forest of young seedlings in spring 2011, which came up within about two to three metres of the original plants. I should have known this would happen – Tree Spinach is a close relative of Fat Hen, Chenopodium album, which does very well on the allotment and on disturbed ground almost everywhere.

However, the advantage of a plant that self seeds is that you can dig up seedlings that are in the wrong place and move them or give them away. So I kept some and moved three plants to the Grapes Hill Community Garden. All the seedlings did very well, though it was noticeable that the Grapes Hill plants were even bigger, in clay loam, than in the sandy soil of the allotment.

Tree Spinach looks like a giant Fat Hen but the young shoots are a very attractive bright pink.The specimens in the Grapes Hill garden caused much comment and we sold some seedlings at our stall at the St. Benedict’s Street Fair in July 2011. That same day an article by Alys Fowler about Tree Spinach appeared in The Guardian.

Tree Spinach is edible and the young shoots are a little like spinach. You can eat them raw in salads. Older leaves lose the flavour and become tough, but taste rather good steamed for a couple of minutes and served with butter. Yields are high and the plants aren’t particularly fussy, though they’re prettiest in a sunny spot. Like Fat Hen, it’s best not to eat the leaves more than a couple of times a week and to avoid plants growing on recently manured or fertilised soils, as plants accumulate high levels of nitrates, which can be harmful.

At the end of the summer the plants become a duller green. We removed the Grapes Hill Community Garden plants to prevent them from self-seeding, but I left the allotment plants to seed and will transplant some spare seedlings to Grapes Hill when they appear in spring.

Rosehip Syrup

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On a cold morning in early December 2011 I went for a short cycle ride out into the countryside to the west of Norwich and picked rosehips. There had been a couple of short frosts, so some of the rose hips were a bit soft but I picked them nonetheless. I set off for home with a full carrier bag, some scratches and my hands covered in orange gunk.

Rosehips

Rosehips

Back home, I made rosehip syrup. I cooked the hips whole in water then mashed them gently with a potato masher and simmered them for about 15 minutes. I then strained the mixture through a jelly bag to remove the seeds. I added sugar (an equal weight to the hips) to the strained juice and warmed it gently until the sugar was dissolved. I bottled the resulting syrup in hot, sterilised jars.

I’ve started to use the syrup as a sauce for vanilla icecream, a healthy cordial, diluted with water to taste (about five parts water to one part syrup) and – rather decadently – neat by the spoonful as a silky syrup. The taste is rich and sweet but tangy – in his own rosehip syrup recipe Hugh Fearley Whittingstall describes it as having a surprisingly tropical tang, with notes of lychee and mango.

Rosehip syrup is high in vitamin C (provided you don’t heat it too much), as well as vitamins A, D and E, and antioxidants. Rosehips were harvested in large quantities to make syrup between 1941 and the early 1950s, once supplies of citrus fruits were affected by the Second World War. According to the excellent “Flora Britannica” by Richard Mabey, annual harvests peaked at over 450 tons and the collectors, mainly children, were paid 3d per pound.

The rosehips I collected came from the Dog Rose, Rosa canina, but other roses have edible hips and some of the biggest come from the Japanese Rose, Rosa rugosa, which is often planted in large quantities in cities – look out for the large, usually dark pink, flowers in summer.

I haven’t tried making rosehip and apple jelly yet but perhaps I’ll have a go this autumn, along with some of the other rosehip recipes featured here.

Chicken of the Woods, Laetiporus sulphureus

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Chicken of the Woods

Chicken of the Woods

It is lovely to be on a walk or cycle ride and to see, quite unexpectedly, a bright orange and yellow bracket fungus on the trunk of a tree, usually an Oak or Willow. This is the Chicken of the Woods, Laetiporus sulphureus, also known as the Sulphur Polypore. It is unmistakable.

It is also delicious, with a texture and taste rather like chicken. Young specimens, which are soft, brightly coloured and ooze with moisture, are the best. (Older specimens are paler, dry and hard and can taste a little bitter.)

We’ve found this fungus in many places from spring until autumn in Norfolk, Suffolk, mid Wales, Sussex and the Lake District. My wife has even braved barbed wire, shinned up a tree and carefully cut a piece from an old oak gatepost in our quests to capture a lovely specimen.

Chicken of the Woods can be added to a recipe in place of pieces of chicken, but I’ve never done this, as I prefer to fry it simply in a little butter or oil. Don’t be greedy when you pick it – just cut off some small pieces and leave the rest.

I have eaten and enjoyed Chicken of the Woods many times and I have given it to friends too, with no adverse effects. But the first time you try it, eat just a small piece to check that it agrees with you. The fungus is reputed to cause dizziness, hallucinations and gastric upsets in a small number of people. Avoid specimens growing on Yew trees – they will be poisonous.

Before eating any fungi, it is wise to invest in a good identification guide. One of the best is River Cottage Handbook No.1, “Mushrooms” by John Wright. John has a great sense of humour too, making this the most enjoyable book on fungi that I know.