Regional Items in your Pantry/Kitchen

badjak said:
I like them better than spinach and rape.
But they are a pain to clean!

I had heard of sweet potato leaves via my dad (memories from Indonesia), but I was incredibly surprised about the pumpkin leaves first time I saw/heard it. Cucumber leaves will be used as well
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I didn't know you could eat cucumber leaves. I'll have to harvest them at end of season next year.
 
Barriehie said:
I didn't know you could eat cucumber leaves. I'll have to harvest them at end of season next year.
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Don't know about cucumber leaves, but pumpkin & squash leaves are best picked throughout the growing season just at full size for tenderness etc. Super good nutrition too. Include the stem, cut with shears or kitchen scissors quite close to the vine. I pick bunches of about a dozen leaves at a time, rinse thoroughly, place flat in a large shallow pot, lid on, high heat until the leaves wilt and the stems are just tender, then use in a dish or freeze.
 
Z-Cook said:
Don't know about cucumber leaves, but pumpkin & squash leaves are best picked throughout the growing season just at full size for tenderness etc. Super good nutrition too. Include the stem, cut with shears or kitchen scissors quite close to the vine. I pick bunches of about a dozen leaves at a time, rinse thoroughly, place flat in a large shallow pot, lid on, high heat until the leaves wilt and the stems are just tender, then use in a dish or freeze.
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👍 I grow lots of squash too!

🙏
 
Barriehie said:
I grow lots of squash too!
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Pumpkin/squash leaves are seriously off the charts in nutrition. Reminds me, must use some of the ones I froze, as they have been winking at me from the freezer 😅

Edited to add
The use of the flowers, but more especially the leaves turns pumpkin/squash growing into a great season-long vegetable/crop in addition to the harvested fruit
 
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badjak said:
Squash leaves are much more commonly used, esp pumpkin ones
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We also lived in the capital city south of you for a short while when I was wee and it was from there I saw and ate pumpkin/squash leaves used in local dishes. Fast forward to growing pumpkin/squash in recent years, as well as using the flowers, I was using the leaves too and really try to enthuse people into using them, but it's just not part of the food mindset outside SoAf.

Adding to the general topic, in almost all of the many places I've lived, people grow and use very local plant species as greens.

In this area, which is high desert and seasonally arid, when greens appear in the spring and with the summer rains, they're used fresh and also dried, which is the most common way of preserving food.
 
Z-Cook said:
We also lived in the capital city south of you for a short while when I was wee and it was from there I saw and ate pumpkin/squash leaves used in local dishes. Fast forward to growing pumpkin/squash in recent years, as well as using the flowers, I was using the leaves too and really try to enthuse people into using them, but it's just not part of the food mindset outside SoAf.

Adding to the general topic, in almost all of the many places I've lived, people grow and use very local plant species as greens.

In this area, which is high desert and seasonally arid, when greens appear in the spring and with the summer rains, they're used fresh and also dried, which is the most common way of preserving food.
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I'm in deep South Georgia and always have greens in the fridge and some in the freezer... 👍😋
 
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