Is Dock eddible??

[cug69]

A question for those educated in greenery.

Is the dock leaf that you rub on a nettle sting eddible?

I've seen in a recipy listed in 'food for free' that young dock leaves would be added to other leaves for a salad. Would this dock be our humble (often manccie looking) nettle sting antidote?

I've tasted its tap root (before I knew better) which was crunchie and in some ways spud like in texture, to no noticable ill effect. Does anyone know definitively??

Cheers
Tone

 

[reddy]

I've eaten the big commen curled dock leaves with no ill effects but personally found it very bitter from what I remember (ate it a few years back cooked like spinach and never touched it again!). The only old traditional recipe I can think of is to sprinkle them in vinegar and cook with ham and bacon. Oh, and I think there is a Yorkshire origin recipe called Dock Leaf pudding, but I don't know the exact ingredients I'm afraid!

 

[JonnyP]

Not had them myself, but they are edible and best used as young small leaves as a vegetable...Meant to be bitter, so add flavour...
As with all plants, make sure your ID is spot on before eating...

 

[xylaria]

I agree with reddy the various docks i have tried aren't much cop, bitter and not very nice. There are quite a few members of the rumex family native to britain, common sorrel and 'little sorrel' are about the best. Toddy mentioned a few months back about the seeds been edible or at least processable.

As the great jonny p says get your ID thorough enough. There is alot docks out there and some should taste better than others. Food for free can overstate the ediblity a bit.

 

[combatblade1]

It really does depend where you pick it and how old it is. I find that if you pick curled dock young it has less of a bitter after taste than when its older. I do agree with Sorrel being a better option, though it does contain oxalic acid which can cause you problems but only if you eat to much.

 

[Still Waters]

I've eaten the big commen curled dock leaves with no ill effects but personally found it very bitter from what I remember (ate it a few years back cooked like spinach and never touched it again!). The only old traditional recipe I can think of is to sprinkle them in vinegar and cook with ham and bacon. Oh, and I think there is a Yorkshire origin recipe called Dock Leaf pudding, but I don't know the exact ingredients I'm afraid!

Dock pudding varies in recipee and consitance depending on who makes it.
It looks like a cow pat but its ok tasting and suprisingly filling although its not somthing i would go out of my way to make.

I ahve a freind who cuts dock leaves into strips and mixes it with mashed sweet potatoe then makes the mixture into patties which are fried in olive oil,garlic and chives and there lovely.

 

[Toddy]

If you know where they grow and you can catch the plant before it shoots, when there's just the start of leaves coming up from the ground, and you hap it up for two or three days with leaf litter or newspaper or something like it, the resultant leafy buds can be cut off and used like little chicons Quite tasty. Good with eggs and cheese or even just sliced and sauteed in butter (especialy if you add a couple of ransome bulbs too).

Make sure you know your sorrels though, and don't eat any of them all the time. A little is good for you but toomuch mucks up the system.

The little sorrel grows in my garden and I crop it all year long, it's much milder.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[BushTucker]

Can you eat the normal dock leaves that grow as I believe to be a weed in my garden.?

 

[Toddy]

D'you mean the one that throws up a really tough reddish brown stem? If so, that's the one to hap up and later on parch the seeds and munch them.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[BushTucker]

Um, bugger, dunno Toddy.
Mine stay green but the leaves do go sort of spotty with redish brown. Sorry I am no floral expert, to me , even a dafodil is a weed uh.....

 

[Burnt Ash]

Food for Free can overstate the ediblity a bit.

You're not kidding! Try lady's smock (Cardamine pratensis aka cuckoo flower) leaves sometime this spring. A memorable experience.

Burnt Ash

 

[cug69]

Cool! many thanks for the replies, I'll rest easy knowing its one more think I can munch on!!

 

[JonnyP]

You're not kidding! Try lady's smock (Cardamine pratensis aka cuckoo flower) leaves sometime this spring. A memorable experience.

Burnt Ash

Strange...I have tried them, and they seemed ok to me, how did it affect you..?

 

[Burnt Ash]

Strange...I have tried them, and they seemed ok to me, how did it affect you..?

Tasted like effluent from a petro-chemical works, IMO. I reckon I have a pretty catholic and robust palate and a like of strong and pungent flavours, but cuckoo flower (leaves) was too much for me.

Burnt Ash

 

[littlebiglane]

I boiled mine with a little milk that (IMHO) got rid of the bitterness. If the ones I picked were bitter in the first place that is

 

[Exbomz]

I am doing some experiments with dock at the moment. However, rather than eating tests, I am using dock to tan leather. They contain a large amount of tannins (and other - oxacilic acid et al) which are highly astringent.

Some native Americans used Rumex sp to tan leather and it was certainly a source of substantial tannins, in some cases up to 35%. The test pieces of deer skin have worked and I am currently doing a boar skin (though due to a little too much effort on the scraping-the-hair-off stage, I have invented bark tanned boar suede ).

My point in relation to the original question - lots of the research I have been carrying out does seem to suggest its leaves can be eaten though boiling is generally recommended. It is the other uses - e.g. salves, antispetic, burn treatment that I find very interesting.

Most of these result from the astringency of the tannins - you could try breaking the root and touching it on your tongue and you will understand what astringent means Also, the acidic environment helped to keep wounds sterile; apparently a paste was made for burns which relieved pain and killed 'germs'.

I am not suggesting anyone go out and try this - I just thought that some of you may be interested as I am finding the research fascinating.

 

[Jumbalaya]

Some dock species are most certainly edible. Trick is to catch various ones at right time.

Curled Leaf Dock (Rumex crispus) is a well-known, as in terms of long-standing, veggie green and certainly better than the Broad-Leaved Dock (R. obtusifolius) which can be absolutely vile once it's too old. If you can recognise the B-L Dock when the leaves are about 1-inch long they make a not too bad veggie green, but IMHO not really pleasant enough for a salad a la Mabey. Roots of B-L dock are vile also.

Forget the Red-Veined Dock (R. sanguinea or /uieus methinks). Tried growing some but the root and leaves were really dreadful.

There's another species called Patience Dock (R. patientia) which used to be grown quite regularly as food but sort of died a death over the last few centuries. More commonly found on the Continent than here, and one that I have yet to get my hands on.

Marcus H