permaculture

[Paul d'Aoust <paul@heliosville.com>]

I think wild lettuce and chicory are both fairly bitter, but the
bitterness can be reduced if you blanch them by hilling or mulching,
like leeks. Somewhat difficult, because they don't form a really large
basal rosette like their cultivated cousins. And of course the
nutritional value drops.

Two caveats with wild lettuce though: (1) it contains a few alkaloids
that produce an effect similar to opium, and (2) those alkaloids are
poisonous in large doses. Wikipedia has some interesting stuff to say
about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactuca_virosa

And here is the venerated PFAF's take on it:

http://pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Lactuca+canadensis
http://pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Lactuca+virosa

Hope this helps!
Paul

On Sun, 2008-04-13 at 21:35 -0400, Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:
> Harvesting and using wild foods:
> 
> What t do with wild lettuce & dandelion, wild chicory (?)
> 
> Wild lettuce grows to be a large tall plant with blooms similar to dandelion
> and leaves that seem to be good for salad greens when young but becvome 
> tough and spiny as the plant
> reaches full height and goes to seed
> 
> Are these leaves good to eat in a salad, cooked? are they bitter? any 
> problems with them at all?
> 
> Same questions about dandelions. The cultivated varieties are good as raw 
> greens.
> 
> Anything in the chicory family is supposed to be good for people with 
> bronchial or pulmonary problems.
> 
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