Groundnuts

Groundnut vines

I came to the park eager to check on the progress of the groundnuts along the power lines. I found them. Their vines emerge from the ground in search for their host plant. Once detected they proceed to lengthen on a winding upward course sucking in any vegetation in their path as they wrap around the vegetative shaft. The pinnate leaves grow oppositely along the its vine. In about 2 months, beautiful maroon pea-like flower clusters will develop in the axis of the leaves. The edible part of the plant grows just below the surface of the ground horizontally as part of a string of tubers. To located them you have to start at the tip of the vine and trace its twining length down to the ground. There you have to loosen the dirt and tug gently upward to dislodge the little potatoes from their subterranean nests. I pulled up a foot long string which ended in what looked like a rock the size of a Russet potato. It was not a rock but the mother of groundnuts-all 3 1/2 inches of it! Once home I scrubbed it and baked in in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes. Slack and I enjoyed the groundnut with eggs for breakfast. They are very filling have a thick consistency much like a potato. It's no wonder the Pilgrims survived their first Winter on them after the Native Americans introduced them as a food source.  

 

Wild Carrots

Wild Carrot

While on a wild edible foray this weekend I happened upon a field covered with little rosettes of feathered basal leaves characteristic of the Wild Carrot also know as Queen Anne's Lace. I have always steered clear of page 38 of the Peterson Field guide since it lists Wild Carrot along with it's poisonous lookalikes, Fools Parsley and Poison Hemlock, but today I put my observational skills to the test. So long as the leaves were hairy and its foliage carrot-scented when bruised it was a sure bet. The plant I targeted passed both tests so I dug around the tuft of leaves and pulled out the clump of earth. I separated the dirt until the tiny white taproot was exposed. A quick scratch and sniff confirmed that I had discovered the wild carrot. I was so eager to sample this wild food that I took a bite not minding the light coat of dirt. After all this is why we have an appendix! It tasted like a cross between a carrot and a parsnip. Awareness of this plant was like putting on glasses for the first time-all of a sudden I could see this plant everywhere and I could not fathom how I did not notice the likes of it before.

Wild Carrot is a biennial meaning it has a 2 year life cycle. In its first year of growth it is just a basal rosette of leaves powered by a taproot. This is the time that you want to harvest the root, before it sends its energy up the the flower in its second year of growth. You are supposed to harvest the roots from Fall to early Spring. Being the beginning of June I am a little late in the season. The roots that I harvested had a someone fleshy layer surrounding a tough woody inner core. Apparently domesticated carrots were derived from the Wild Carrot (http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history.html) but have been bread so that their inner cores are also edible and lack the inedible xylem tissue.

Back home I sample the carrots steamed and found that the tops of the taproot which joins with the stems to be the fleshiest. I will try harvesting them again in the Fall to see if there is a difference in texture, taste, and thickness of the flesh surrounding the inner core.

Wild Carrot-taproots

Wild Carrot-rosette of feathered basal leaves