Its Milkweed Time! Cooking with Tizy!

When we got Zola and Vinegar, the first two bred does, in August three years ago, I spent hours removing milkweed from the field we prepared for them. Milkweed is poisonous to goats. They are back in that field now, and I have not seen the milkweed yet, and was quite happy about it.
Tizy is a long time friend, and past coworker of Hubs. He has a great sense of humor, and of experimentation, especially when it comes to foraging and the culinary arts. A few days ago I got this notice from him, and he is allowing me to pass on the news.

I just wanted to give you a heads-up that the milkweeds are coming into their "prime" now. We had our first batch yesterday, and they were delicious. For years, I was "skeered" to try them, but we've had them 4 or 5 times now (with no ill effects), so I've got no hesitation about recommending them to anyone else now. I'd rank them among the choicest wild greens. (And when you line them up on the plate, they make an "elegant" presentation.)

If you read the wild food books, they all say you need to boil milkweed in 2 or 3 changes of water to "remove the bitterness", but I've convinced myself that (at least for the milkweeds growing around here), there just ain't no bitterness to remove. Every time I've made them, I've snuck one after the first boiling, and there wasn't the slightest bitterness of any kind. If you Google "milkweeds", you'll see there's a fella in the Midwest who's spent a lot of time trying to get to the bottom of this alleged "bitterness" business (cuz his milkweeds aren't bitter either), and the best he could come up with is that maybe they're bitter somewhere, but it's probably one of those situations where the plant's are extremely sensitive to microclimate. If so, I live in a favored milkweed "appellation". The wild food books also tell you to wait until the water's fully boiling before dropping in the milkweed, but I suspect that's "hooey" as well. Next time, I'll throw caution to the wind and just boil them "regular" to see how they'll come out. I suspect there won't be any difference.

If you're on a quest to eradicate milkweed from your farm, eating them's a great way to do it.

Now before you go traipsing through the field for your milkweed, please be aware that there are many kinds, and parts can be toxic. Check out the links I found for good information and some interesting history also.

Identifies many milkweed plants. Its a large genus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepias

Interesting stories here: http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/bi/2000/Ethnobotany/milkweed.html