Duckweed recipe!

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Geoff Dann

Native
Sep 15, 2010
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Invented today...

https://www.geoffdann.co.uk/south-indian-style-duckweed-and-eggs/

duckweed_eggs-300x248.jpg
 

Woody girl

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Mar 31, 2018
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You should have duck eggs with the duckweed. I have a spring fed pond nearby with plenty of weed on it. Dare I try it???hmmm I think I'd have to be very hungry. But it's good to know. It will totally freak out my friends if I serve this up.. and they are used to my foraging habits. I can't see them asking for this recipe somehow. The little impact in me just might try tho... hee hee
 

Billy-o

Native
Apr 19, 2018
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Canada
Sounds nice ... I might try that, but a bit simpler ... stirfry with some garlic, salt and maybe a bit of a cardomum. :) No duckweed just now ... things are getting to the point of icing over.
 

Janne

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Feb 10, 2016
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Sounds nice ... I might try that, but a bit simpler ... stirfry with some garlic, salt and maybe a bit of a cardomum. :) No duckweed just now ... things are getting to the point of icing over.
I think that sounds nice, stir frief garlic, salt and cardamom..
Maybe some chicken too.
Pond weed? Hmm,....
not sure, considering it filters ot a lot of rubbish from the water......

It is used in water filtering systems..
 

Geoff Dann

Native
Sep 15, 2010
1,252
31
55
Sussex
www.geoffdann.co.uk
The pond this came from is fed by a spring, and the water is crystal clear. No sign of rubbish in the water.
Also note this is Least Duckweed - the really small one. I don't think it would work so well with larger varieties.
And yes Duck eggs would be a nice touch!
 
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Janne

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These floating water weeds prefer a nutrient rich water.
I think it would be safest to have the pond water analyzed.
If you plan to eat more of it and regularly, of course...

Once in a while should be fine...


Ps I am writing is so that people with less experience than you in foraging remember some basic rules, one of them to know that the environment the foraged food stuff is safe and not contaminated with something for us harmful.

 
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Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
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A pond is a pond because that is where the water has stopped flowing and is in stagnation.
Whatever is the run-off from the land that makes the pond?
The best indicator of crappy (!!!) water is the long, green filamentous, hairy-looking green alga called Spirogyra.
I would not ever drink that water, even filtered and boiled until next week.

Is Lemna sp. a good site indicator of nutrient-rich water or not? No speculation allowed.
 

Janne

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'concentrate minerals in heavily polluted waters"

That sentence hit me in the eye.

Be careful boys and girls, of what you put in the mouth!

Imo same rules applies as for drinking water. Check carefully of what is upstreams. Maps are good here.
 
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Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
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I erred on the side of caution. Cream of Swamp soup. Pass, thanks.
I could not remember just how eutrophic the water needed to be to grow Lemna.
BS uber alles
! Too thin to plow and too thick to drink = I got it.
 

Janne

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I suspect it used to be 'starvation food' in the old days, together with the Cambium (?) layer of certain trees, mushrooms and roots from several wild plants like watercress, waterlillies and others.
 

Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
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Spruce cambium is still harvested out west on Haida Gwaii.
There's a very clear description written by Haida elders in my Haida Gwaii plant book.
I'd rather forage at low tide for shellfish than eat spruce.
However, it's a tell-tale marker of "culturally modified trees" that enters some land claims.

Foraging is such a seasonal window. Collect fast, hard, long and quickly.
Know ahead of time how to preserve the harvest.
Maybe a month now and I could be up to my whazoo in snow.
There's essentially nothing left in the forest edges to eat.
 

Woody girl

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Yes I think it would be last ditch (or should that be pond)starvation food for me. I'd rather eat bark and grass myself! Luckily just munching my way through a giant bar of Cadbury chocolate. Ooh the calories. I won't starve just yet, so my local pond weed is safe!
 

Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
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Sorry guys but ranting about your own phobias about pond based foods is really not necessary; you don't like it leave it there.
A great deal of the 'greens' we eat have been fed with some pretty obnoxious substances; we even feed our rhubarb with sh*t!
I regularly eat pond plant life including cattails, brooklime, water mint and, yes, pond weed. The pond is stream fed not stagnant and a perfectly good source of food.
 
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Woody girl

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That green eggs and ham sounds delicious. You could serve me that anyday. I eat watermint cattail and brooklime too. I was just having a bit of fun. But I would still leave pondweed to last resort. I just don't realy fancy it. But then I was like that with liver untill last year. Now I love it. In fact had liver bacon and onion with cheesy mash tonight. This time last year I'd rather have eaten grass that a dog had just peed on. !!! No joke. I will give it a tentative try soon.... if I can pluck up the courage.
 

Janne

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Of course you can eat or not eat whatever you want, but as the Internet is a such powerful educator and gives people good / (sometimes bad) ideas, safe practices should be taught too.

Many people here are town people without what we from outside the towns would call ‘common sense’.
It is common sense for us, but not for them.

Know your upstream.
 
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Woody girl

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Just had a thought. Maybe we should eat our local pond life before they come knocking wanting to eat you when the zombie apocalypse happens.:D:mask:
 
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