Pendulous sedge flour

[Suffolkrafter]

I finally found some pendulous sedge. I gathered enough seeds not so much to make flour now, but to plant in my garden for future use.
I read that seeds should be harvested when brown in colour, but I found that all seeds were either yellowy green, or entirely absent. So it got me wondering, how long do ripe brown seeds last on the plant? Can green/yellow seeds be dried or toasted anyway? The seeds fell away very easily so I suspect they were not far off ripe.
As an aside, does anyone here have any knowledge on edibility/usefulness of rush (juncus) seeds? There's not much on the internet regarding this.

 

[Toddy]

Funny you should start this thread; I've been weeding out seedlings of this this morning. If you get it loose in your garden you'll be howking them out for years to come

Anyhow, there's a long thread on this topic, somewhere on the forum. Heaven knows where, but I'll have a search.
Xylaria kicked it off years ago.

From personal experience if you don't like really wholemeal flour, then this stuff isn't for you.
I quite liked it, but the rest of the family said it wasn't one of my better experiments, and they've grown up with me feeding them wild food.
Roasting enhanced it greatly though.

If you fancy growing wood millet, let me know and I'll save you some of this years seeds. It's just as prolific if given a chance

M

 

[Kadushu]

I can't comment on the culinary uses of pendulous sedge but I do know it spreads like wildfire so be prepared for it sprouting up all around your garden in future years. I'm pretty sure I've spread it to other people's gardens accidentally, maybe via some seeds caught on my shoes.

 

[Billy-o]

Funny you should start this thread; I've been weeding out seedlings of this this morning. If you get it loose in your garden you'll be howking them out for years to come

Yes, I was thinking this. Maybe find a bit of convenient woodland, common, roadside, hedge, ditch or something to sow, rather than your own garden. Be nice to have a nearby stand.

 

[Toddy]

@Billy-o

Yes just yes

It's actually a lovely 'structural' kind of plant, quite decorative, in a wide border, just that it really does seed prolifically. Bit like dockens that way.
Actually, thinking on it, you can use docken seeds the same way you do the sedge They need sort of scorched first though to burn off the seed case bits.
Blooming things spread like them though.

 

[Suffolkrafter]

Thanks for the advice folks. I'm sure I can find somewhere to plant the seeds nearby. Mind you my garden is a bit of a free for all and I happily let things find their place... Within reason. Was very happy to find wood avens and garlic mustard in my beds for the first time this year.

Actually, thinking on it, you can use docken seeds the same way

By docken do you mean dock, as in rumex?

 

[Suffolkrafter]

From personal experience if you don't like really wholemeal flour

I do like wholemeal, but really I just like the idea of experimenting making flour from what's around. So far I've only tried acorn. I've got a way to go and plenty of things to try

 

[Toddy]

Thanks for the advice folks. I'm sure I can find somewhere to plant the seeds nearby. Mind you my garden is a bit of a free for all and I happily let things find their place... Within reason. Was very happy to find wood avens and garlic mustard in my beds for the first time this year.

By docken do you mean dock, as in rumex?

Yes, I do if you catch the seeds at the right moment, ....there's a 'trick' to this. Folks used to put them into something that wouldn't catch fire and sort of fling them through flames and catch them as they fell. That roasted off the little sharp bits of the seed coating. It's kind of fun. Messy and smokey and all kinds of mess they taste kind of nutty. Quite nice really

 

[1 pot hunter]

Funny you should start this thread; I've been weeding out seedlings of this this morning. If you get it loose in your garden you'll be howking them out for years to come

Anyhow, there's a long thread on this topic, somewhere on the forum. Heaven knows where, but I'll have a search.
Xylaria kicked it off years ago.

From personal experience if you don't like really wholemeal flour, then this stuff isn't for you.
I quite liked it, but the rest of the family said it wasn't one of my better experiments, and they've grown up with me feeding them wild food.
Roasting enhanced it greatly though.

If you fancy growing wood millet, let me know and I'll save you some of this years seeds. It's just as prolific if given a chance

M

Wood millet must take forever to harvest

 

[Toddy]

Actually it's not that bad. If you've seeded an area ( ) and there's a fair amount of it about.
Just run your hands up the seed stalk and the wee sesame seed like grains just fall off.
It's definitely a famine food though; I think you'd need to be hungry (or just determined to learn and try like us) to go to the effort

Makes you wonder though; all these expensive south american grains, like quinoa and the like. Why don't we cultivate our own native 'grains'. They're every bit as nutritious, just they could do with some cherry picking and improving the strains a bit.

M

 

[1 pot hunter]

Actually it's not that bad. If you've seeded an area ( ) and there's a fair amount of it about.
Just run your hands up the seed stalk and the wee sesame seed like grains just fall off.
It's definitely a famine food though; I think you'd need to be hungry (or just determined to learn and try like us) to go to the effort

Makes you wonder though; all these expensive south american grains, like quinoa and the like. Why don't we cultivate our own native 'grains'. They're every bit as nutritious, just they could do with some cherry picking and improving the strains a bit.

M

Most time efficient food for me is sweet chestnuts iff there grand trees in public estate parks V energy dense obv trout aswell

 

[Toddy]

They don't ripen around here. There's a group of them in Glasgow city centre though that do. There are also loads of hazelnuts there too....no squirrels in those city streets.

I wish they did ripen here though. We do get beech nuts. Now those don't last long, but oh they are good The pavement beneath them ends up an oil mess as folks walk over and crush the nuts that fall that side of the wall.

M

 

[1 pot hunter]

They don't ripen around here. There's a group of them in Glasgow city centre though that do. There are also loads of hazelnuts there too....no squirrels in those city streets.

I wish they did ripen here though. We do get beech nuts. Now those don't last long, but oh they are good The pavement beneath them ends up an oil mess as folks walk over and crush the nuts that fall that side of the wall.

M

Iv read a article carnt remember the site but a guy lived off wild food for a year mostly pigeons stuff off his allotment ect.He claimed walnut tree nut butter was his staple food

 

[Toddy]

Walnuts are good food I'm very fond of walnuts, but they don't ripen in my bit of the world. Bit like sweet chestnuts there
Pigeons are like rabbits, edible but not a lot of calories really for the work in them.

Himself has just finished the last of the pigeon breast burgers that were made by one of our friends.
They were made using a bit of the fat from the trimmings of pope's eye steak to add to the minced breast meat. He gets a lot of pigeons, we have a huge number of the woodpigeons here. Otherwise, I generally just casserole them, but Himself's not fond of anything on the bone, he enjoyed the burgers

 

[1 pot hunter]

Walnuts are good food I'm very fond of walnuts, but they don't ripen in my bit of the world. Bit like sweet chestnuts there
Pigeons are like rabbits, edible but not a lot of calories really for the work in them.

Himself has just finished the last of the pigeon breast burgers that were made by one of our friends.
They were made using a bit of the fat from the trimmings of pope's eye steak to add to the minced breast meat. He gets a lot of pigeons, we have a huge number of the woodpigeons here. Otherwise, I generally just casserole them, but Himself's not fond of anything on the bone, he enjoyed the burgers

Iff u eat skin brain and organs u can get enough fat off game I’d assume you’d get blood sugars off raw meat also ,I’m not sure iff this is doable with rabbits though.

 

[Toddy]

You can eat (well, they're edible, I don't know if they are safely edible nowadays, mixie, etc.,) rabbit brains.
My Grandpa thoroughly enjoyed eating a singed sheep's heid....Basically the butcher cracked a sheep's skull in half, and folks bought that half and roasted it. Then ate the brains. Granny insisted that he singed (roasted off the hair and outer skin) outside on a brazier because it stinks while it cooks. Old fashioned food, but incredibly nutritious.
Totally a no-go nowadays because of scrapie.

Inuit women who prep bird skins for leather, pouches, etc., say they get fat when they're working on the skins. They worked the skins by mouth.
There's a lot of fat in the skins. Pretty sure that if you boiled them up and strained out anything feathery/boney, etc., that you'd skim off a lot of fat though.
You can do that with fish. Fish oil might stink but it keeps, and it's nutritious.
Then again, stilton cheese stinks but we still eat it

 

[1 pot hunter]

You can eat (well, they're edible, I don't know if they are safely edible nowadays, mixie, etc.,) rabbit brains.
My Grandpa thoroughly enjoyed eating a singed sheep's heid....Basically the butcher cracked a sheep's skull in half, and folks bought that half and roasted it. Then ate the brains. Granny insisted that he singed (roasted off the hair and outer skin) outside on a brazier because it stinks while it cooks. Old fashioned food, but incredibly nutritious.
Totally a no-go nowadays because of scrapie.

Inuit women who prep bird skins for leather, pouches, etc., say they get fat when they're working on the skins. They worked the skins by mouth.
There's a lot of fat in the skins. Pretty sure that if you boiled them up and strained out anything feathery/boney, etc., that you'd skim off a lot of fat though.
You can do that with fish. Fish oil might stink but it keeps, and it's nutritious.
Then again, stilton cheese stinks but we still eat it

Iv read in books about tribes when they cook they always collect dripping fat ina bone or polished stone dish n store it in pots for winter the brain is 70% fat so v nutritious like u said.