Now that the new year has begun, maybe it’s time for a spring tonic.
The idea of a spring tonic comes down to us from the centuries before refrigeration, when most people lived on their family farms and winter fare was mainly what they had dried, stored in the root cellar or, after John Landis Mason invented his jars in 1858, canned.
The hogs were butchered in late November and provided meat and fat during the winter. This was supplemented with the root vegetables: potatoes, beets, carrots, turnips, rutabagas and chicory roots. This food kept them alive, but after a winter of salt pork and potatoes, they yearned for something fresh and bright to eat.
When the first plants peeked up in spring, the spring tonic was born, and it was usually a salad of whatever tender young things were emerging. In the East, people would have to wait until March or April, but here in coastal California, January brought plenty of new life stirring in our sandy soils.
The typical spring tonic salad was dominated by the first leaves of dandelions. Not only were they tender, they were far less bitter than dandelion leaves that had been exposed to sunlight for weeks on end. They were packed with heaps of nutrition, just the thing to rouse heavy winter-weary bodies from their potato torpor and refresh them for the rigors of the spring planting season ahead.
Today it’s more about celebrating the natural new year that begins on Dec. 21 and its promises of lovely weather to come. But let’s not forget that dandelion greens are one of the most nutrition-rich plant foods; you’ll find them young and fresh at the stores and growing wild just about everywhere. If you collect them from the wild, make sure they haven’t been sprayed with agricultural chemicals or grown too near a roadway where they were exposed to auto exhaust or in someone’s lawn where a weed-and-feed fertilizer was used.
From root to flower, dandelions are loaded with vitamins, minerals and fiber. The greens can be cooked by braising, added to stir-fries or eaten raw in salads. They’re an excellent source of vitamins A, C and K. They also contain good amounts of vitamin E and folic acid and small amounts of other B vitamins. They are rich in minerals, especially iron, calcium, magnesium and potassium. The root contains the invert sugar inulin — safe for diabetics — which is a soluble fiber that supports your intestinal microbiome, the gut bacteria involved in strengthening your immune and other crucial bodily systems.
Besides dandelions, other greens often added to spring tonic salads included a few early leaves of ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata), onion seedlings and a few young pea shoots from the midwinter garden, a few tender center leaves of curly dock (Rumex crispus) and a little chickweed (Stellaria media).
If you’re leery of gathering edibles from the wild or are unsure of what the wild plants look like, you can substitute sprouts. In many cases they’re just as fresh and nutrient-dense as the wild plants.
Here’s a spring tonic salad that’s bracingly bitter yet icy-sweet, crammed with nutrients and a guaranteed pick-me-up after we’ve finally said goodbye to 2020 and its associated catastrophes.
This January salad cleanses the body, refreshes the soul and gives us hope for a new year far better than the last one. You can find most of these ingredients at our better markets, and the sprouts are easy enough to bring to life on your kitchen counter.
Spring Tonic Salad
Makes 3 to 4 servings
For salad:
1 bunch dandelion greens
1 head Belgian endive
1 bunch curly cress
4-5 young violet leaves
4-5 violet flowers
1 tablespoon grated dandelion root
For dressing:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon tamari
In a large salad bowl, gently toss all the plants and grated root.
In a second bowl, mix together the oil, vinegar and tamari.
Place salad in individual serving bowls and dress with the vinegar dressing.
Jeff Cox is a Kenwood-based food and wine writer. You can reach him at jeffcox@sonic.net
January 06, 2021 at 05:50AM
https://ift.tt/38iiAhm
How to make a spring tonic salad with these tender greens - Santa Rosa Press Democrat
https://ift.tt/3ekeW79
salad
No comments:
Post a Comment