Hi,
I recently started to grow vegetables since I got a plot of land this spring. I am very excited!! I of course want to use as much as possible on the plants and not miss out of nourishment-goodies. So I wonder if you guys can share some knowledge about which parts that are eatable on plants. I know for example that you can eat the leaves of beets, radishes and carrots and that you can not eat the leaves of potatoes. What can you eat other than the given things on different plants? I mean, that you can eat tomatoes on tomatoplants i kind of a given :-) but can you eat the leafs?
Leaves, flowers, stems... what can one eat??
// Emanuelle

Sweet potato iirc you can eat everything, roots, leaves, and shoots, and it's one of the most nutritious veggies out there! Not sure if it's easy to grow it though.

>Banana ice-cream rocks!<

Do NOT eat the leaves on tomato plants!! They are INCREDIBLY toxic and full of tropanes, plus more nicotine than wild tobacco. People have died from drinking tomato leaf tea. DON'T DO IT!! :O

On a friendly note... some plants you CAN eat almost all the parts, like dandelions. Flowers and leaves can be eaten raw, roots should be steamed or boiled (and make amazing tea).

Also, if you have raspberry or blackberry plants, the leaves can also be made into a very therapeutic tea (especially for women).

In this event, I would say, Google is your friend. Some plants are incredibly nourishing, but others even with very common fruits can otherwise be quite deadly. If there's anything you're thinking about nibbling, just run it by Google first.

Same with picking mushrooms... I wish there were classes or festivals for wild mushroom hunting in my area, it would be so amazing to have that knowledge.

The cool thing is we can relearn it all and pass it onto our kids... like it wasn't passed to many of us. >8|

Hello, Emanuelle!

Agree with phantom; the internet should have a host of information about what is and is not traditionally eaten from plants. Remember: just because it's edible doesn't mean you should eat it; if there are parts that are traditionally consumed for medicinal reasons and your don't need that cure, in this sense, those parts are not "food."

Good luck!