Eat Your Greens

It's springtime! And what better to eat than fresh greens. And what better than fresh greens you picked yourself. We had a long weekend this past weekend and beautiful weather. We armed ourselves with gloves and scissors (for the nettle), and plastic bags and off we went. We picked nettle, rucola and bärlauch.







Nettle.



Yes, the stuff that burns and gives you a rash if you touch it. I knew from my grandmother that you can eat that stuff (when it's properly prepared). She used to make soup out of it and you can also make tea. It's very good for the bladder and kidneys and jam-packed with iron. This I had seen last summer around the house and even had an unfortunate experience getting stung by it while trying to get some soil for some flowers I wanted to plant. So this time, I went prepared. Gloves on and scissors in hand, I picked a whole bagful of it. But I had to call my grandma to ask what to do with it exactly. She gave me her soup recipe and I made it. It turned out very yummy indeed and even hubby, who has a very horrible experience with nettle (he fell in it face first as a child once and you can imagine the consequences), tried it and loved it. Ate, like, two bowls. I had leftover nettle which I froze in Zip-Lock bags for other times.









Rucola.

I love rucola, but unfortunately, it's always so criminally expensive when it comes out in the stores in early spring. I thought, it's some kind of exotic green for sure and hard to come by or farmers slave to plant it, water it and pick it. Until I found out what it actually was....dandelion leafs!!! Who would have thought? I'm a city girl and new to the country and clueless when it comes to things like this. I said to my husband the other day, let's buy some rucola, I realize it's expensive but I love it so much and it's so healthy. He says, "Rucola? You want rucola? My God, let's go out on the weekend and I'll pick you all the rucola you want". Me: "What are you talking about? Do you know what rucola is? Do you know what I'm talking about?" Him: "Uhm, yes, I do. It grows under your nose. Lots of it. You want it? We'll go pick some this weekend." Turns out rucola is nothing but dandelion leafs and hubby was right, they do grow under our noses, everywhere, and we picked and picked till our heart desired. I'm making fresh rucola salad all week next week. One thing to watch out for, however, is where exactly you pick from. Make sure it's not from land where cows graze or you'll get a little something extra on your rucola and I'm not sure I want to be eating that, even after thorough washing....

Bärlauch.

I don't know what that is in English, since I'd never seen it until I came to Switzerland. It's a leaf with the taste and smell of something between leek and garlic. It's very yummy, stinky, but yummy and it's a great additive to sauces, salads, pasta/lasagna, burger meat (of course home made, duh), soups, etc, etc. Once I was introduced to this herb, I couldn't have enough of it. Last couple of weeks, at the butcher's, they had a special bärlauch season and you could buy sausages, hamburgers and all kinds of stuff with the herb in them. We did of course, but now, bärlauch season at the butcher's is over. Not for us though. My mom-in-law told us where it grows and we picked some up today as well. We'll have some fresh and the rest I'll dry and store for future use, like oregano, but so much better.

It was a lot of work. Picking the greens, washing them, blanching them (the nettle, or else to the emergency room with you trying to eat it like that), cutting them, drying them and storing them. But it was all worth it. How else do you get your vitamins and minerals?!