wild foods :: GoWilkes - The Community Website for Wilkes County, Wilkesboro, and North Wilkesboro, NC

just-in-case	Posted 2:40 pm, 02/17/2018
When I was younger we would pick creasy greens and dandelion greens for salads.

adams86

Posted 11:46 am, 02/17/2018

I appreciate the info. I wasn't sure if Creasies grow in wilkes. Ill have to check out paw paw days!

Alot of folks are unaware how many foods grow in Appalachia, or that even things like poke and chickweed are perfectly edible. There is also a mycology group in the area that goes mushroom hunting seasonally. Most of these edible botanicals can easily handle pressure from three or four folks' handful of pickins so no worries for the critters...of course as far as property goes, it is mandatory to seek express permission. No good forager goes in willy nilly.

About the Creasy greens, yes they are a cress from the brassica family and are often mistaken as wintercress, but they can tend to actually be a very similar subspecies...not quite as bitter.

smalltownman	Posted 11:16 am, 02/17/2018
Combs Produce in Winston usually has creesies by the bushel, never heard of anyone having any paw paws unless you go to the Paw Paw Days usually in late August at the Ag. Ext. Building in Winston.

WestEnd

Posted 8:47 am, 02/17/2018

They grow wild in the gardens of the old home place where I grew up. My Mother use to go out with big old silver wash pan and a butcher knife and cut as many as she could pile in that thing......She would season them with the grease of streaked meat......bake a big old cake of corn bread.....man that was some fine eating.....

At the first hint of spring in the Appalachian Mountains, folks start looking for "creasy greens"" They are the earliest of any of the wild greens, often poking through the snow, and although traditionally hunted by foragers they are now grown commercially. Creasy greens are usually cooked long, like kale, mustard or turnip greens but they are equally good raw in a fresh salad.

So, what ARE creasy greens, really? The botanical name is Barbaraea verna; they are a mustard in the Brassicaceae family. Creasy greens are a small leafy green often known as upland cress, winter cress, and early yellow rocket. They are similar to watercress in taste but do not grow in bogs the way watercress does. There is a similar species called winter rocket (Barbarea vulgaris). The other two major cresses are watercress (Nasturtium officinale) and garden cress (Lepidium sativum). Cress, in general, denotes plants with a sharp taste used in salads or as a potherb (cooked greens). There is a variegated upland cress that is both pretty and edible: Barbarea vulgaris 'Variegata'.

WestEnd

Posted 8:43 am, 02/17/2018

They grow wild at the old home place where I grew up. My Mother use to go out with big old silver pan and a butcher knife and cut as many as she could pile in that thing......She would season them with the grease of stricked meat......bake a big old cake of corn bread.....man that was some fine eating.....

At the first hint of spring in the Appalachian Mountains, folks start looking for "creasy greens"" They are the earliest of any of the wild greens, often poking through the snow, and although traditionally hunted by foragers they are now grown commercially. Creasy greens are usually cooked long, like kale, mustard or turnip greens but they are equally good raw in a fresh salad.

So, what ARE creasy greens, really? The botanical name is Barbaraea verna; they are a mustard in the Brassicaceae family. Creasy greens are a small leafy green often known as upland cress, winter cress, and early yellow rocket. They are similar to watercress in taste but do not grow in bogs the way watercress does. There is a similar species called winter rocket (Barbarea vulgaris). The other two major cresses are watercress (Nasturtium officinale) and garden cress (Lepidium sativum). Cress, in general, denotes plants with a sharp taste used in salads or as a potherb (cooked greens). There is a variegated upland cress that is both pretty and edible: Barbarea vulgaris 'Variegata'.

Old Dixie Dog	Posted 8:39 am, 02/17/2018
Adams86, there are many things you can harvest that grow wild. Just make sure that you don't eat up something that belongs to someone else. Open Casket, Branch lettuce was used in many dishes. It is absolutely great when combined with spring onions and stirred into cornmeal gravy.

Crypt	Posted 7:37 am, 02/17/2018
Now before y'all descend on the wild edibles like a plague of locusts, realize that you will wipe out entire generations of living creatures that depend on them.

168Amax	Posted 10:47 pm, 02/16/2018
No OC creasys are usually found in corn fields before they plow in the spring,

bobster123	Posted 10:37 pm, 02/16/2018
There is a regular on WKBC Swap Shop who calls himself "Almanac man," who sometimes advertises that he has pawpaws for sale.

adams86	Posted 10:37 pm, 02/16/2018
maybe. i wish i could find some wild. probably the same thing

OpenCasket	Posted 10:21 pm, 02/16/2018
Is creasy greens the same thing as what we used to call branch lettuce? Because I've picked that before but it was YEARS ago.

adams86	Posted 10:10 pm, 02/16/2018
has anyone out there seen creasy greens growing around wilkes? also, anyone aware of any paw paw trees in the county and where they might be? Maypops/wild apricot/passionflower? this spring/summer i'll have my eye out for ramps, morels, wild persimmons, and of course berries of all sorts- esp. gooseberries which are rare but are definitely around.

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