Edible plants that grow in the shade
onegreenplanet.org
onegreenplanet.org
This matters because it means a commercial farm gets better yields, with less irrigation, in a field shared with solar panels. The panels just need to be mounted high enough to enable access to the plants underneath. This is easiest in pasture, but is wholly feasible for row crops, too.
So, for anybody who was worried that deploying solar panels will remove land from food production: surprise! Deploying solar panels on existing productive land increases yield and cuts water demand.
And if it’s such a no-brainer to cover crops to increase yield, why is it done so rarely?
It has been easier when you grow in greenhouses; there, it is common to provide partial shade.
And, yes, at higher latitudes there is less excess sun for everybody. Probably Finns will need to continue importing liquid fuel to burn in turbines, transitioning to anhydrous ammonia synthesized in the tropics, instead of deploying their own solar panels. But HVDC transmission line power delivery will be able to undercut turbine prices, normally, albeit unreliably. They will still need to stockpile fuel and maintain turbines for when HVDC fails to deliver.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/fiddlehead-ferns...
I'm pretty supportive of agricultural diversity and native plant consumption and cultivation, and also harvest a lot of wild plants for my own use. But fiddleheads are one thing I no longer eat.
Part of the confusion over ostrich ferns are periodic incidents of poisonings they can't explain. But in those cases, there usually are undercooked fiddleheads involved.
But yes, ostrich ferns are probably ok, or at least are less of a concern, if cooked.
I just did some research on raspberries (commercial berries are notorious for pesticide residue) and apparently hydroponically grown berries are roughly equivalent to soil-grown berries in blind student taste tests and, despite soil-grown being technically sweeter if you do the chemistry, this is theorised as being due to water-related stress (so you could perhaps emulate this with a more sporadic hydroponic watering schedule if you want extra-sweet berries). In short: no reason not to grow at home, if you are familiar with the basics.
https://www.scirp.org/pdf/FNS_2015121614300010.pdf https://file.scirp.org/pdf/FNS_2015062414290599.pdf
I've come across variations of this old wives' tales before and never seen any any legitimate justification for it other than hand-waving about acids combining in some "harmful" manner.
(I've been eating persimmons for many years and never experienced any adverse reactions, even though I'm pretty sure I've had milk/yoghurt/dairy products alongside it. And coincidentally, I gave my 11-month-old a lunch couple of hours back that contained yoghurt and followed that up with a persimmon and haven't notuced anything unusual.)
Price in fruit trees is relative. They pay for itself. If you really want one just buy it when is big. Is an expensive investment in terms of time, the sooner you start and the bigger plant, the better.
I think you meant 'flora'
Will need to try small Caimito.
My understory plants are coffee and cacao. Also banana can grow.
We have a Zapote tree and we need to find a place between the Coconuts…your comment makes me want to find a new spot for the lemon tree…
Would love to connect!
Interesting, I've always read in permaculture books that nanking is a good understory fruiter, and my local permie nurseryman said the same. Maybe it's a myth. How shaded are your non producing ones?
Oh and I have a nicely producing lime tree (at least 20+ years old) that at best gets 1 hour of dappled sun a day - it's on the edge but with very thick canopy above it. Here they call the variety "limon" - my understanding is that it's an ancestor to modern lime/lemon varieties.
I haven't tried to eat any of it though. The roots smell amazing but I have been trying to grow parsnip and carrots already and that's enough carrot family for one kitchen. I am however starting to replace the QAL with the native carrot family, since I want to maintain the pollinators but I'm quickly crowding out reasonable places to let it grow. I guess we'll see how good my eye is at telling them apart when young.
The cough syrup made from the leaves is my favorite - soothing, but no other medicinal effects, and I find the taste to be a bit comforting. “Spitzwegerich Hustensaft” is the general thing to look for in German.
“Spitzwegerich” (has several names in English, none of which are Queen Anne’s Lace) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago_lanceolata
The leaves are the most interesting part, but I’ve eaten the heads and roots, too.
Do NOT attempt to make cough syrup from Queen Anne’s Lace greens.
Another warning: they tend to grow near water/river banks and often found near mugwort. A few years ago, we’d have visitors who came to forage mugwort and elderberries ..and one of the kids spotted hemlock and thought it was Queen Anne’s Lace. I had to deny entry after that..they bought kids and the liability wasn’t worth it. Those who forage must absolutely know how ti is which toxic/poison plants.
I have acute intermittent porphyria (a serious metabolic disorder) and was on a wild edible plant walk about 25 years ago on the Mendocino coast, the host pointed to something that looked like dill to my untrained eye but I didn't hear what they said about it.
So I picked some and sniffed the broken stem, then I blacked out and immediately collapsed and it took me about 20 minutes before I could talk, stand and walk again (very shakily).
It's quite a potent Poison to be sure, and now I Never pick and smell plants I don't recognize anymore (DOH!).
And I agree with jelliclesfarm that it shouldn't even be touched, as the "juice" if rubbed into the eyes unconsciously would be bad news for anyone.
Also like I said I'm new to all this so anything and everything I've said can be wrong. This is just the general gist I've gotten so far.
That said, I had some porcini inside of a ravioli where I thought I was eating part of a meatball that went with it (eg meat-like, compared to a meatball, versus actual unadulterated meat).
Black pepper is the only other thing I'd usually use with chanterelles. Possibly cream. To not waste so much of it, sometimes I'll boil them a bit first, and let enough water boil off to pour the rest into a light cream sauce to add chantarelle taste to the sauce as well.
Mushrooms are delicious, but their most interesting opportunity in the food supply might be vitamin D. Shine some UV on them, and they produce high levels just like people.
[1] Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets, end of chapter 7
[2] Ionizing radiation changes the electronic properties of melanin and enhances the growth of melanized fungi by Dadachova
* Chilean Guava (Ugni molinae)
* Pineapple Guava (Acca sellowiana)
* Babaco (Vasconcella x)
* Passiflora antioquiensis
* Passiflora "Mission Dolores" (P. antioquiensis x P. parritae)
Here are a few more that only need partial sun in California:
* White Sapote (Casimiroa edulis)
* Cherimoya (Annona cherimola)
* Pakistan / Persian Mulberry (Morus sp.)
* Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica)
* Surinam Cherry (Eugenia uniflora)
* Tree Tomato (Solanum betaceum)
* Coffee (Coffea arabica)
* Ginger (Zingiber officinale)
* Turmeric (Curcuma longa)
* Starfruit (Averrhoa carambola)
Outside the wire, there’s a lot of black raspberry, I think allegheny blackberry and wineberry. I prune many of the black raspberry and wineberry and harvest those as well. The wineberry seems to do particularly well in the shade. Also probably one of my favorite berries.
Callicarpa americana can stand semi-shadow and the tiny berries are edible in jelly.
Asimina hates being too dry.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01618...
It will be interesting if anyone is able to bring them to market at scale, it seems like agriculture departments at several universities have programs to work on different varietals with better shelf-life and shipping characteristics.
A hike through the woods in southeastern Ohio will make this fact obvious. I miss the area and love coming across a stand of pawpaw in the understory. The leaves are so big. It feels like walking in the jungle. I miss the pawpaw festival in Albany, OH.
Ideally, they have a mild, sweet flavor, and the name 'custard apple' is quite appropriate. They aren't durian- there shouldn't be any strong flavors or smells present that might be off-putting.
The sprays of flowers were lovely and could be harvested for elderflower syrups and even wines. The berries were less reliable, I did harvest some and turn them to syrup one year, but the flavour was not that great (I added the syrup to a homebrew saison in the end, but wasn't a huge fan of the result).
A number of these other plants do produce edible fruit, but in quantities too limited to be meaningful to a household.
You could want to try tea made from elder flowers also. Dark green and does not taste very good but has interesting properties.
Thanks for the soup recipes! I had never heard of that.
Women specially should treat this stuff with a lot of caution.
Ferns store cyanide and must be cooked. They can provoke canker if eaten regularly.
And there are also other things to consider. Hosta leaves grow once in the year. Eat the leaves and you will have an ugly plant for a whole year (or a dead plant). They are famous to keep the cuts in the leaf for the entire season. There is not much point into spending money in expensive garden plants with a long life if you want to eat them later.
I wouldn't vouch for the others (that I have not tried), knowing very well that many plants on such lists tend to taste unpleasant.