Cleavers (Galium aparine) is known as a sticky plant that might not be pleasant to eat. You can use its leaves and stems to make an infusion for tea or for a smoothie base. It is in the same family as coffee (Rubiaceae). Its roasted seeds can be used as a coffee substitute, they even contain caffeine. For this smoothie for the wild ingredients, we use a cleavers’ (Galium aparine) infusion as a base and sorrel (Rumex acetosa) and Japanese knotweed (read more Reynoutria japonica) as the main aromatics for a pleasant acidic kick. To give the smoothie more body
Category: Sorrel
The two stars of this recipe are ground elder (Aegopodium Podagraria) and Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica). Ground elder was spread around Europa by Roman soldiers. They use it as a spice. Nowadays, this plant is considered as an invasive weed. Despite being a nuisance to gardeners, ground elder has medical properties and can help treat gout and arthritis. We described Japanese knotweed here. Ground elder (Aegopodium Podagraria) leaves (left) and blooming plant (right). The inspiration for this soup was a rhubarb-carrot soup recipe. We replaced rhubarb with Japanese knotweed and carrot with ground elder. To add sweetness we used sweet potatoes and to