Welcome back to an entirely new year of LITFM! We took a long hiatus to get our YouTube channel's second season completed and now this blog is back in action. So to get things rolling and at the request of some folks who visit the Farmer's market, I am posting a new series covering forage foods. Given the current geopolitical situation some of this information may come in handy in the not-to-distant future.
Asiatic Hawksbeard isn't an unattractive weed as it's neat curled foliage would look pretty nice in a cultivated form next to some hosta.
Common Name: Asiatic Hawksbeard
Other Common Names: Oriental False Hawksbeard, Rocketweed.
Botanical Family: Asteraceae (The Aster Family)
Botanical Latin Name: Youngia japonica
Season to Harvest: You can harvest the young leaves of this perennial plant year-round.
Habitat: Asiatic Hawksbeard appears in sites of soil disturbance but may appear in vacant lots, I get them in my garden every year in somewhat randomly but they always appear at the fringe of cultivated areas and occasionally in planters left out over the winter.
Parts to Harvest: The parts of this plant you want are young leaves which are edible just like dandelion greens. Older leaves have to be prepared like a potherb which means a little bit of cooking.
Poisonous Look-alikes: Asiatic Hawksbeard is fairly unique, poisonous lookalikes are unlikely.
Related Edible Species: There are two other plants in the Youngia grouping, Y. japonica ssp. elstonii and Y. japonica ssp. longiflora. Neither relative is known to be invasive or weedy. Both species are believed to be equally edible however I have not encountered either in the wild to test this so be careful.
Description: Asiatic Hawksbeard is often mistaken for Cat’s Ear Dandelion (Hypochaeris radicata), or Carolina False Dandelion (Pyrrhopappus carolinianus) or even Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). The difference is that Asiatic Hawksbeard is often comparatively dainty. Most specimens will likely be less than six inches in diameter. In optimal conditions these plants can get as five feet tall (with flower stalk) with a spread of up to eighteen inches. The leaves are slightly fuzzy and may have reddish coloration. Leaf margins are lobed with leaflets sometimes curling over each other. This is a rosette forming plant so compactness is expected. It is suggested that Asiatic Hawskbeard may have antiviral compounds in its sap and may or may not have some anti-cancer capabilities.
How to Harvest: Ideally you want to pick younger softer leaves when you can. Since this plant is in the aster family and not too distantly related to Dandelions the older leaves are edible if cooked slightly.
Recipe: Setting aside the use of Asiatic Hawksbeard as an addition to a forage salad or as trail nibble, cooking it as a potherb is fairly easy. Harvest a cup of this perennial’s leaves and wash them. Chop the leaves to the desired texture and add to two cups of boiling water. Add butter, salt and pepper to taste or hot peppers if you want some extra kick. Cook for about two or three minutes to tenderize the leaves properly and serve with rice if possible.
With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.
For those of you wondering what plants are going to be at the market this weekend here is the list.
Produce:
Garlic Bulb, $1.00
Soup Kit – Parsnip, $5.00 (On Sale)
Soup Kit – Turnip, $5.00 (On Sale)
Garden Stuff: ($3.00)
Elephant Garlic
Softneck Garlic
Lettuce – Parris Island Romaine
Lettuce – Cherokee Red
Lettuce – Five Star Lettuce Mix
Beets – Bull’s Blood
Mustard – Red Giant
Kale – Beira
Kale – Dinosaur
Kale – Redbor
Kale – Ragged Jack
Coming Soon:
Abutilon ‘ Orange Hot Lava’
Okinawa Spinach
Rhubarb
How to stay in Contact with Us!
Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.
https://nextdoor.com/g/ybvdm226x/?is=nav_bar
Also please take a gander at the Youtube version of this blog:
The Videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/curacaovexxor/videos
>Newest videos (-):More videos coming soon.
Meetings still going on! We now meet at LeClairs General Store on the First and Third Thursday of every month. Our next meeting is on April 7th between 5:30pm and 7:00pm. This upcoming meeting is the big yearly seed swap which is back after almost two years of covid madness. You don’t have to bring seeds to join in so come on down and let’s fill up LeClairs! We are in the back room so come on in and join us for a fun garden chat.
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