Title: Eating Basswood, Elm and Maple Leaves, Flowers And Buds
Categories: Wild, Info
Yield: 1 Servings
Elm leaves
Maple leaves
Flowers
Buds
From: Mike Krebill
When clusters of Siberian elm samaras are soft, moist, and entirely
green, they are one of my favorite snacks. I love to strip off a
small handful and toss them in my mouth.
Sam Thayer mentions adding them to soups, cooked vegetable dishes,
as a garnish for pasta, to make rice pilaf colorful and interesting,
in omelets and lasagna and tacos, and even in oatmeal.
American Elm and Slippery Elm samaras are also edible.
Siberian Elm produces its seeds in the spring while Chinese Elm
produces its seeds in the fall.
From: Abe on Silver Maple Seeds
I found them to be pretty tasty when still green and soft. My
friend Alex was inspired to prepare the samara (winged seeds) like
edamame (boiled and salted), and the dish turned out really well.
From: sam_schaperow re: Another Salad Tree?
I understand basswood is a good way to do this (but a bit
mucilaginous, though I'm still waiting to try this.
I tried tasting the unfurling leaves of a red maple, which ad a
reasonable texture, but a bit of what I guess was an aftertaste that
wasn't so appealing
I also tasted norway maple (Acer platanoides) leaves: The texture
was excellent, no bad aftertaste, pleasantly tart.
BTW, the green norway maple flowers are good as well, with a bit of
a sweet flavor, too.
