LFC News November 27

Nov 262024
 

Thanks to the people who have contributed to this week’s newsletter: Doris Glier, Erin West, Eve Fraser, Julie Merlet, Lynn Wallace, Rachel Bishop and Robin Gale-Baker.

Vegetable leaves and stems – edible or toxic? (by Robin Gale-Baker)

With the advent of artisan butchers and fishmongers featuring using the animal or fish top to toe, there’s a temptation to also do this with vegetables. Beware, however, that not all vegetable leaves or stems are edible and some are quite toxic.

Let’s start with a few edible ones:

  • Carrot tops are edible and can be used as a substitute for basil in pesto.
  • Turnip tops likewise make good pesto. Also, the young leaves can be added to salads.
  • Radish leaves can be used in the same way as turnip tops.
  • Beetroot leaves can be used as a substitute for spinach or silverbeet. They also make good pies (e.g. spanakopita) and soups.

Non-edible vegetable tops include:

  • Parsnips. Parsnip leaves emit a compound called furocoumarin from their stems. This is a white, liquid that, when exposed to the sun, becomes caustic and can cause anything from blistering to burning of the skin, mouth or throat.
  • Anything in the Solanaceae family, including potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, chillis and eggplants. Whilst the fruits of all these can obviously be consumed, the leaves are dangerous when ingested because they contain high concentrations of a compound called solanine.
    • Potato leaves are highly toxic and should never be ingested. As most people are aware, green potatoes are an absolute no-no too. Potatoes exposed to light or cold (as in the fridge) develop solanine in sufficient quantity to potentially cause stomach problems.
    • Tomato stems and leaves are now served in some restaurants as part of roasted tomatoes on the vine. Perhaps chefs get away with the very small quantities on the plate but they are toxic, containing a compound called tomatine.
    • Peppers, chillis and eggplants likewise have toxic leaves from solanine concentration.

When we think about the solanaceae family, it should perhaps be no surprise that the leaves are not edible. This is the deadly nightshade family after all.

Just because one plant in a family is edible does not mean that similar looking plants are. In the carrot family (Apiaceae), for example, Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) is edible whilst hemlock (Conium maculatum) is highly poisonous.

Bitterness is often an indication of poisonous alkaloids so the more bitter tasting a leaf is the more suspicious you should be.

Some final points:

  • Both sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) and everlasting peas (Lathyrus latifolius) are toxic.
  • Rhubarb leaves contain oxalic acid in sufficient quantities to cause a range of serious symptoms, often requiring a trip to hospital.
  • Fig roots and stems, like parsnip stems, contain furocoumarins and, particularly when weeding, gloves and safety glasses should be worn to avoid burning of skin and eyes.

Boab (Adansonia gregorii) by Julie Merlet

[The material below is a shortened version of material from the NATIF website which was written by newsletter reader Julie Merlet. NATIF (which is an acronym for N=Native, A=Australian, T=Traditional, I=Indigenous and F=Foods) sell a wide range bush food products online (including boab powder).]

The boab (Adansonia gregorii), traditionally known as larrkardiy, is an Australian native tree. Some of the trees are more than 1,500 years old and they are only found in the Kimberley regions of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

The trees have been used for thousands of years by the Indigenous people of Australia for food and medicine. Almost every part of the tree can be eaten, from the young leaves and tubers to the internal fruit pods and seeds. In addition, the hard outer casing of the fruit can be used to make ornamental engravings and some children like rattling the nut and hearing the clucking of the fruit pod inside.

The tree is easily recognisable by its bulbous trunk and they stand bold and strong in the landscape, each with their own character.

The tree is deciduous, with its leaves on in the wet season (November-April) and only the fruits in the dry season. The flowers are large, fragrant and white or yellow. They are pollinated by the convolvulus hawk-moth (Agrius convolvuli).

The fruit is inside a pod and naturally dries on the tree itself, being the only fruit in the world to do this. The seeds inside are surrounded by the pithy edible dried fruit. When you touch it, you can break it apart and it turns to powder.

The fruit powder tastes like mildly sweet, lemon sherbet and it can be mixed with water to make a paste.

The boab nut can stay intact many months after it has fallen but also often cracks open upon hitting the ground.

Read about other bush foods on our website.

The Caring Farms Coop new farm gate

[As you may remember from our 13th November newsletter, the Caring Farms Coop and the Veggie Empire have started a weekly farm gate on Wednesday mornings, 10am-1pm, at their farm in Wickham Place, St Helena. Their first farm gate was last Wednesday and Rachel Bishop has written in about how it went.]

  

“We’d like to send a huge shout out to everyone who came along to our first ever farm gate stall last week. There was a real buzz in the air as people came along to shop for some veggie and herb staples grown on our farm plus some surprise additions like local cherries and beetroot from Farm Raiser.

“As well as interesting food conversations, there were some sneak peeks at our market garden and the grow tunnels.

“We asked many of the customers how they found out about the farm gate. There were locals who read our sign in the paddock as they walked along the open space near the farm, people who found out through word of mouth and our social media posts, plus those who found out about it through the LFC News.

“We are grateful to everyone who came along and supported the beginnings of what will become a more permanent farm gate shop in 2025 that will be open more often throughout the week.

“We will be open every Wednesday from now until Christmas and hope to see many newsletter readers there.”

Local Food Connect’s 2024 annual report

View/download (pdf).

Another week, another food justice organisation seeking donations

Hope City Mission is seeking non-perishable items to support families in need this Christmas. They are at 5-15 Kent Avenue, Croydon, which is near Coles, and they are open 7 days a week from 10am to 5pm. The graphic right lists the items that can be donated.

Another new article from Angelo Eliades

Tomato growing guide.

Read more of Angelo’s articles about food growing.

‘Crowd harvest’ – seeds for Christmas

Gardeners with excess seeds are invited to send them in a Christmas card or holiday card to one of the not-for profit organisations listed below who will, in turn, either germinate the seeds, store them or distribute them to people facing crisis yet know how to start seeds. Please package the seeds in individual and labelled packages so that food relief recipients can easily take them home. The program runs from 1st December to 15th December.

DIVRS in Preston; Liberty Church at 25 Miller Street in Epping; Odyssey House Victoria at 28 Bonds Road,
Lower Plenty; or STREAT in Collingwood. Alternatively, Tiny Trowel, PO Box 4076, Box Hill South, 3128.

Mitcham Community Meal

Mitcham Community Meal provides a free community dinner every Sunday evening, where each meal is cooked by a different local community group. During November, the cooking teams were Belmore Road Church of Christ, Mitcham Baptist Church, Rangeview Primary School (see photo right) and Team Turning Point. Look at some photos of these teams, plus those of previous teams.

The Melbourne ‘Local Food Connections’ community radio show

On next Sunday’s show (1st December, 10-10.30am) on 3CR (855 AM), Amy and Ann will interview Charlotte Harrison from Sustainable Gardening Australia. Listen by tuning into either the station (855 AM) or its livestream.

Podcasts of all previous episodes are available on their website, the latest being Maree Dellora on Cuban food justice and resilience (17th November).

Bruschetta (by Julia Busuttil Nishimura)

Serves 8.

Ingredients

350g fresh shelled peas or frozen baby peas
2 garlic cloves
juice of ½ lemon, plus extra juice and finely grated zest to serve
handful each of mint leaves and parsley leaves
30g pecorino romano, grated, plus extra to serve
80ml (⅓ cup) extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
sea salt and black pepper
4 slices of sourdough
2 × 100g buffalo mozzarella balls, roughly torn, at room temperature
8 anchovy fillets in olive oil, drained

Method

Blanch the peas until tender, drain and refresh under cold water. Reserve 50g (⅓ cup) of the peas and set aside.

Finely grate one of the garlic cloves and place in a food processor with the peas, the lemon juice, mint, parsley and pecorino romano. Process to a fairly smooth mixture, scraping the side of the bowl if needed. Stream in the olive oil, process again to combine and season to taste. Transfer to a bowl and mix in the reserved peas. Set aside.

Grill both sides of the bread on a grill plate until golden and slightly charred on both sides. Halve the remaining garlic clove and rub one side of the grilled bread with the cut side of the garlic. Place the bread on a serving plate and drizzle with some extra olive oil. Top with some mozzarella, follow with a spoonful of the pea mixture and finish by draping over an anchovy fillet. Top with some lemon zest and extra lemon juice, another drizzle of olive oil, a scattering of extra pecorino romano and season with salt and pepper.

Cut each slice in half to serve as a snack.

Critter of the week – smooth flower wasp

The photo is of a male smooth flower wasp (genus Catocheilus in family Thynnidae) in the garden of Lynn Wallace.

Whilst male smooth flower wasps have wings, the females (as with many other species of flower wasp) do not. Each Spring, the adult wasps emerge from the soil and the males fly around looking for females. Meanwhile, the females emit chemical attractants (i.e. pheromones) and perch on low vegetation waiting. When a male finds a female, he carries her away before courtship and mating.

The female then relies on the male for food. In most species, the male feeds his mate a sugary liquid from his mouthparts or from a storage area just beneath his head. He then returns her to near where he found her.

The female then searches underground for a scarab or similar grub, which she paralyses and lays a single egg on. She repeats this mating-feeding-egg laying cycle about 3 times, over a week or two.

The wasp larva feeds on the grub’s body fluids followed by its internal organs, then pupates before emerging as a fully-developed adult.

Thanks to Lynn for the photo. If you have any interesting photos of critters in your garden, email them to me.

Read about our previous insects (or other critters) of the week on our website..

Bonus critter of the week – yellow-shouldered ladybird

The photo is of an adult yellow-shouldered ladybird (Apolinus lividigaster in family Coccinellidae) in the garden of Doris Glier.

The yellow-shouldered ladybird is a small (3-4mm long) ladybird native to Australia and New Zealand.

It has just the two yellow spots, one on each shoulder.

Its main prey is the oleander aphid (Aphis nerii).

Thanks to Doris for the photo.

What seeds to plant in December

Here is a list (see the planting guide for more detail):

Warm season veggies

Beans
Cucumber
Gourd
Pumpkin
Sweetcorn

Leafy greens

Lettuce
Mizuna
Mustard greens
Parsley
Silverbeet

Roots

Beetroot
Carrot
Potato
Radish

Perennial

Asparagus
Chives

 
December is not a very good planting month: arguably too late for many summer veggies and, although you can plant leafy greens such as lettuce and mustard greens, they are likely to go to seed pretty quickly.

Our articles over the last month

Here are some of the articles from our newsletters over the last month that you might have missed:

Which link was clicked most times in the last newsletter?

The most popular link in the last newsletter was the Eltham Wine Show results.

The most popular event link in the last newsletter was gift in a jar with Marie Vassallo on 4th December in Whittlesea.

b33e661f-c100-4ebe-9ffa-847952e0da4e.jpgJoke (or pun) of the week

Why did the students eat their homework? Because the teacher said that it was a piece of cake.

Read more food-related jokes on our website.

 

Regular activities over the coming week

Farmers’ and other food markets

Melbourne Farmers Markets has produced the useful graphic right which lists what vegetables, fruit and herbs you might expect to see at farmers’ markets over the summer.

The cherry season has started and Cathedral Cherries will be at all of Alphington, Carlton, Coburg and Eltham farmers’ markets.

DownUnder Mushroom, who sell a range of mushroom products, will be a new stallholder at Carlton Farmers’ Market on the Saturday and will also be at Eltham Farmers’ Market on the Sunday.

Eltham Farmers’ Market will have a rare visit from gin makers, Bancroft Bay Distillery.

Food swaps
Community gardens

Upcoming face-to-face events – not cooking

On farm garlic braiding workshop; Saturday, 30th November, 10.30am-12.30pm; $88 ($44 per hour); Bellfield.

Learn how to craft a garlic braid using organically grown garlic and dried flowers, all sourced directly from Farm Raiser’s farm, then take your creation home. You will receive: 1Kg of organically grown garlic (retail value $60), plus the opportunity to purchase additional garlic at a discounted rate; a selection of dried organic flowers grown on the farm to embellish your braid; and refreshments (tea, coffee and light snacks). You can also have a tour of the farm. Organised by Farm Raiser.

Weed and herb workshop; Sunday, 1st December, 10am-midday; $20; Macleod.

Join Marina Bistrin as she shows you her garden, discussing both wild weeds and cultivated culinary and medicinal herbs. Cost $20 or 1 hour of weeding at a time suitable for you or LETS points.

Herbal medicine and food growing in small gardens workshop; Saturday, 7th December, 9am-midday; $64 ($21 per hour); Mill Park.

Practical tips on growing a diverse range of medicines and foods in an urban (terrace house) setting. Working with the seasons, harvesting and using your produce. Demonstration of how to build your own wicking garden beds large and small. Guides: Dr Teaine O’Brien and Dr David de Vries.

Open day herbal medicine and food growing in small garden; Saturday, 7th December, midday-5pm; $10; Mill Park.

Tour this urban garden and ask questions. Completed wicking garden beds and an array of food and medicine plants will be available for purchase. Guides: Dr Teaine O’Brien and Dr David de Vries.

In November
In December
Regular events

Upcoming face-to-face events – cooking

In November
In December
Regular classes

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