atalhlla (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} atalhlla) wrote,@ 2008-05-10 15:48:00 |
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| Entry tags: | cook, cooking, eat, eating, japanese, knotweed, resveratrol, weed |
Knot weed
Ugh. I just deleted a whole post because I hit CMD-Left, which in a text area causes the cursor to go to the beginning of the line. In a web browser it also goes back in the history, but not a text field. At least, not a plain one. Also, autoformat sucks.
Anyway. If you've seen this, you'll have some idea what I'm talking about already... If not, well, Google and Wikipedia are your friends.
Knotweed, as anyone who has it knows, comes in two quantities : None, and Tonnes. It grows from tiny clippings (Don't compost it fresh!), it grows fast. It's liable to poke you, it grows so. And because of that, it's illegal to plant it anywhere. At least in the US or Europe. But other places would no doubt ban it if they got any, except maybe the desert places. Wait, no, they would, because then the oasisesisesies would all get choked with the stuff. On the other hand, it is a succulent.
Doesn't kill or make ill you, else I'd've been sick already. In fact, it's kind of like rhubarb... Except it grows a lot and no body eats it. Which is strange, but I guess people are too busy demonizing it and mowing it down, some how hoping this'll curb it.
I don't know what'd completely remove it, but I do know this : It's edible and it's got resveratrol, which apparently is anti-infection and even preventative of cancer in some capacity. That's the stuff in red wine that people made a big deal of.
Speaking of red, there's a nice robust red (Not bitter, just strong in character.) made from this one variety of grape called the Norton grape. It's got what reds have in spades, sans any super bitteriness (Though that's probably also dependent on winery...), and as a bonus it looks kinda like vampire blood. Low yield, though, but at least the grapes are themselves very robust in the face of disease.
Anyway, I was out tearing the stuff up today, when I noticed something. Most people 'll tell you to go for the short shoots, and that's fine. Well, you can take the big ones, too, but you'll be spending a lot of time peeling them. Or you can just take the tops, because they rip off about the same way the short new ones do. In fact, if you just start near the bottom and, going up each section, yank really hard, you can find out just how much of it 'll be easy to process. If it pops right off, there you go. If you notice a few fibres sticking off the tear, though, you may prefer to tear off that section in favour of the next one up.
You can see them in a new light now, eh? Still highly invasive, but at least they're not a complete loss.
On the topic of fibres, you have to wonder if the lower parts, fibrous as they are, could be used for something... You could probably scrape the flesh off the insides, too. Fun!
For my last musing, I wonder if quokkas would like them...
zomg a big entry.
Edit!
Some broken shoots. (Sorry for the iSight quality) On the right there are two clean breaks. On the second to left, there's a few threads sticking up. Not a show stopper, but you may not like it so fibrous, and it's not like the knotweed's going to vanish. Unless they try poisoning the stuff. (Adding toxic substances to the environment is always a great idea, especially when they can mix.)
The bigger shoots have more water, and you may just use them. On the other hand, if you get them while they're short, you can use the whole shoot. But then your food's green. :) The tips are a bit dryer, though you can always just add a bit more water. Discard any unused parts with EXTREME care. Burn them or freeze them or sear them. And especially don't toss them where there isn't already knotweed. To put it in Darwinian terms, it's extremely fit.
