Sow Thistles

Speaking of Plants that are commonly in edible wild food books, this one is quite the contrary and completely neglected. The very first plant my grandmother ever explained to me: 'cardella' in Italian means (I believe) to be more of an umbrella term for dandelion-type weeds. It is of the dandelion tribe or 'Cichorieae' and the daisy family. 

When cut, the stem will emit a milky substance, a good way to tell that you are picking the right plant, the stem and leaves are hairless with small spines on the leaves, resembling dandelions in colour, although the stems are sturdier. 

It is best to pick the young leaves as the plant tends to become more bitter as it ages (I happen to like the bitterness of the plant which originates from the milky sap I mentioned before). It has a taste similar to the Italian chicory catalogna if you've ever tried it, and you can definitely tell that they are related, as not only do they taste similar, but look incredibly similar too. 

Again, my favourite way to eat this weed is boiled for about 4 minutes, then fried in garlic, chilli and olive oil. On bread, hot or cold, there is nothing quite like it. You can always add thinly sliced jerusalem artichokes to the pan and top with grated parmesan, poached egg or put the boiled veg into an omelette which works well too.

Fried with garlic, chilli and olive oil with added thinly sliced jerusalem artichokes

On toasted soda bread topped with parmesan and my sorrell and pennywort dressing for a lemony kick

Here are my two favourite plants from the same family, you will note they look quite different but both give off the milky sap when cut, one is spinier than the other which I have found that chopping it finely once cooked stops the little spikes (which will soften when cooked) from being noticeable, even less so if they are young plants. 

Sow thistle 

Spiny sow thistle

So there you have it, the most underrated vegetable in the world.