Can I safely eat the foliage grown by carrots?? I'm getting interested
in eating assorted young greens. And radishes, and turnips.......
(thoughts of rhubarb leaves has made me ask).

"houndsy" wrote in message
o.uk...
Can I safely eat the foliage grown by carrots?? I'm getting interested in
eating assorted young greens. And radishes, and turnips....... (thoughts
of rhubarb leaves has made me ask).

I do illustrated talks, mainly to WI's and one of my subjects is 'Food
Rationing in World War II'

I did a lot of research and of course I remember a lot from WW II, but I
think you will find the following of some help

http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/carrotops.html

Mike

--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................

On Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:23:12 +0000, houndsy
wrote:

Can I safely eat the foliage grown by carrots?? I'm getting interested
in eating assorted young greens. And radishes, and turnips.......
(thoughts of rhubarb leaves has made me ask).

Carrot tops are nice cook or raw. They were often used when I was
young. It's a bit of a mystery to me why people don't eat more.

Steve

--
Neural Network Software. http://www.npsl1.com
EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com

On 03/21/2012 01:23 PM, houndsy wrote:
Can I safely eat the foliage grown by carrots?? I'm getting interested
in eating assorted young greens. And radishes, and turnips.......
(thoughts of rhubarb leaves has made me ask).

Radish greens make a truly delicious soup. Just cook lightly in butter,
maybe with a little onion, add water (or stock) and a cooked potato,
then whir the whole thing. Can add creme if you want, and of course
salt and pepper. Super easy, uses the greens, loved by all.

Same soup works with ground elder, nettles, spinach, sorrel, etc.
Haven't tried with carrot greens which are maybe bitter?

-E

In article ,
Stephen Wolstenholme wrote:
On Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:23:12 +0000, houndsy
wrote:

Can I safely eat the foliage grown by carrots?? I'm getting interested
in eating assorted young greens. And radishes, and turnips.......
(thoughts of rhubarb leaves has made me ask).

Carrot tops are nice cook or raw. They were often used when I was
young. It's a bit of a mystery to me why people don't eat more.

You are probably a non-taster. Bitterness can be tasted by less
than half of the UK population, apparently, though it seems to be
more common among the people I know. The others taste it in the
same way as sourness. If you regard lemon juice as more bitter
than grapefruit juice, or can counteractness bitterness with sugar,
you are a non-taster.

I am less sensitive than I used to be but, even today, one grapefruit
in a fruit salad for 20 people makes it unpleasant for me. A LOT
of things are not eaten because they are bitter - the worst I have
tried was cardoons, which are as bitter as gall.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

wrote in message ...

I am less sensitive than I used to be but, even today, one grapefruit
in a fruit salad for 20 people makes it unpleasant for me. A LOT
of things are not eaten because they are bitter - the worst I have
tried was cardoons, which are as bitter as gall.


Regards,ck
Nick Maclaren.

Very interesting Nick! Some time ago when I decided to leave off taking
sugar (I have a sweet tooth), I used to eat grapefruit "neat" and often
they tasted sweet to me- all a matter of relativity perhaps. I became so
used to grapefuit that I can honestly say I didn't encounter a bitter one.

Lemon is quite a diffent story :-)

Bill

On Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:23:12 +0000, houndsy
wrote:

Can I safely eat the foliage grown by carrots?? I'm getting interested
in eating assorted young greens. And radishes, and turnips.......
(thoughts of rhubarb leaves has made me ask).

Whatever you do, DON'T eat rhubarb leaves! They are seriously
poisonous. One good use for them, though, is to make an insecticide.

Chop them up a bit and boil in a pan of water (keep windows open as
this process stinks!) for 5 minutes or so. Allow to cool and strain
off the liquid which is pretty effective against green and black fly
and, of course, organic. Just spray it on. My mother used to make the
stuff each year and give it away to all comers (who always came back
the next year for more).

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling happily from the dryer end of Swansea Bay.

On Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:42:02 +0000 (GMT), wrote:

In article ,
Stephen Wolstenholme wrote:
On Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:23:12 +0000, houndsy
wrote:

Can I safely eat the foliage grown by carrots?? I'm getting interested
in eating assorted young greens. And radishes, and turnips.......
(thoughts of rhubarb leaves has made me ask).

Carrot tops are nice cook or raw. They were often used when I was
young. It's a bit of a mystery to me why people don't eat more.

You are probably a non-taster. Bitterness can be tasted by less
than half of the UK population, apparently, though it seems to be
more common among the people I know. The others taste it in the
same way as sourness. If you regard lemon juice as more bitter
than grapefruit juice, or can counteractness bitterness with sugar,
you are a non-taster.

I am less sensitive than I used to be but, even today, one grapefruit
in a fruit salad for 20 people makes it unpleasant for me. A LOT
of things are not eaten because they are bitter - the worst I have
tried was cardoons, which are as bitter as gall.


That's interesting. I don't find carrot tops, lemon or grapefruit
bitter. In fact, I can't think of any food that I find too bitter to
eat. I'm sure my taste works normally but I know it has changed over
the years. I once loved sweet tastes but now find most sweet foods to
be unpleasant.

Steve

--
Neural Network Software. http://www.npsl1.com
EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com

houndsy wrote in
o.uk:

Can I safely eat the foliage grown by carrots?? I'm getting interested
in eating assorted young greens. And radishes, and turnips.......
(thoughts of rhubarb leaves has made me ask).

DO NOT rely on this newsgroup to decide whether of not you can eat foliage!
Any foliage can contain toxins. Best to be safe.

Baz

On 21/03/2012 14:10, Baz wrote:
wrote in
o.uk:

Can I safely eat the foliage grown by carrots?? I'm getting interested
in eating assorted young greens. And radishes, and turnips.......
(thoughts of rhubarb leaves has made me ask).

DO NOT rely on this newsgroup to decide whether of not you can eat foliage!
Any foliage can contain toxins. Best to be safe.

Baz
I cannot remember during the war if we ate them, but after the war when
Dad had come home he grew lots of sweet peas, he always used the carrot
foliage in vases with the sweet peas. So that is another use for them.

--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire

"Baz" wrote in message
.. .
houndsy wrote in
o.uk:

Can I safely eat the foliage grown by carrots?? I'm getting interested
in eating assorted young greens. And radishes, and turnips.......
(thoughts of rhubarb leaves has made me ask).

DO NOT rely on this newsgroup to decide whether of not you can eat
foliage!
Any foliage can contain toxins. Best to be safe.

Baz


Don't you think it was a bit more re-assuring for me to post the following?

http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/carrotops.html

Kindest regards

Mike

--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................

On Wed, 21 Mar 2012, Nick Maclaren wrote:

Can I safely eat the foliage grown by carrots?? I'm getting interested
in eating assorted young greens. And radishes, and turnips.......
(thoughts of rhubarb leaves has made me ask).

Carrot tops are nice cook or raw. They were often used when I was
young. It's a bit of a mystery to me why people don't eat more.

You are probably a non-taster. Bitterness can be tasted by less
than half of the UK population, apparently, though it seems to be
more common among the people I know. The others taste it in the
same way as sourness. If you regard lemon juice as more bitter
than grapefruit juice, or can counteractness bitterness with sugar,
you are a non-taster.

Many, many people describe something as bitter when it is, in reality,
sour. Apples, for instance. There *are* bitter apples, for instance most
cider apples, but when someone is trying to explain to me that something
is bitter and I think it is sour, is it because the other person is
unable to tell the difference? That's something that I hadn't heard
before.

And what do we mean by sour? Sour milk is not the same as a sour apple
...... or is it?

Confused!! I know what *I* mean but does anyone else?

David

--
David Rance
writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France

In article ,
David Rance wrote:

You are probably a non-taster. Bitterness can be tasted by less
than half of the UK population, apparently, though it seems to be
more common among the people I know. The others taste it in the
same way as sourness. If you regard lemon juice as more bitter
than grapefruit juice, or can counteractness bitterness with sugar,
you are a non-taster.

Many, many people describe something as bitter when it is, in reality,
sour. Apples, for instance. There *are* bitter apples, for instance most
cider apples, but when someone is trying to explain to me that something
is bitter and I think it is sour, is it because the other person is
unable to tell the difference? That's something that I hadn't heard
before.

It's fairly well-known among the appropropriate biomedical people.
There are tests for some of the more common genetic causes. Try
gurgling 'bitter tasting test'.

And what do we mean by sour? Sour milk is not the same as a sour apple
..... or is it?

No, because the acids are different, and taste different. Neither is
bitter.

Confused!! I know what *I* mean but does anyone else?

Oh, yes. But it's sufficiently complicated that you need to be a bit
of an expert to work out what is going on. I don't claim to be, but
I know more than most people about this.

Incidentally, to a strong bitter-taster, grapefruit are BOTH bitter
AND sweet, and sugar does not mask bitterness. Salt does, to some
extent, as do the buffering molecules in beer. Lemon, on the other
juice hand, is almost entirely sour (because it contains almost no
sugar), but the peel is bitter.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:32:23 +0000 (GMT), wrote:

Lemon, on the other
juice hand, is almost entirely sour (because it contains almost no
sugar), but the peel is bitter.

In my opinion lemon peel is not bitter but orange peel is.

Steve

--
Neural Network Software. http://www.npsl1.com
EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com

On Mar 21, 12:23*pm, houndsy wrote:
Can I safely eat the foliage grown by carrots?? *I'm getting interested
in eating assorted young greens. *And radishes, and turnips.......
(thoughts of rhubarb leaves has made me ask).

I think carrot tops can be eaten.
In general,you need to be cautious about eating vegetble tops.
Many are poisonous, some extremely so.
It's natures way to prevent them being eaten by grazing animals.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrot