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Alder leaf? Yum!

Submitted by Blog - Henriette on 7 July, 2009 - 12:37
Botanical name: 
Alnus glutinosa
Alnus incana

It's entirely possible that I've finally found a local substitute for licorice.

So I was out in the woods, carrying the baby in a pouch-like thingy. And gave her things to taste, cos unless you keep her amused she's likely to amuse herself, for instance by starting to pull my hair. (Ouch!).

And the black currant leaf was very nice, and got spit out after perhaps 10 minutes. And the birch leaf was nice, and got spit out quite a bit faster. And the alder leaf just got chewed and chewed and chewed, and I had real problems in getting that out again ...

So I tasted one myself. A shiny young green one. Y-u-m.

I'll have to chew on an old leaf next, and then dry some leaves and see how they taste, and then make some tincture and see how that turns out.

Cos the taste and aftertaste is of licorice. Like, wow.

Comments

Submitted by Kiva Rose (not verified) on 9 July, 2009 - 19:40.

My alder bark tincture tastes very sweet and licorice like to me too.... What spp do you have there?

The baby leaves here also taste sweet but the older ones are often obnoxiously astringent and coarse.

Hmm, I sound like I spend a lot of time chewing on plants, eh?

Submitted by Henriette on 13 July, 2009 - 10:53.

This is A. glutinosa, a sticky-leafed species.

Submitted by Kiva_Rose (not verified) on 18 July, 2009 - 00:28.

Hmm, mine is a sticky (or at least semi-sticky) leafed species too, A. oblongifolia

Submitted by Henriette on 20 July, 2009 - 16:49.

A bitch to dry, don't you think?

Submitted by Kiva_Rose (not verified) on 22 July, 2009 - 17:55.

Here in NM, it's not really a problem but I imagine in a more humid climate it could be. They take a while, but when they're finished, they're quite nice.

Submitted by Henriette on 22 July, 2009 - 20:14.

They do stick together when they're being dried, and stick to themselves, too, so need to be _really_ spread out on their whatnots. No two on top of each other, else they won't dry.

Submitted by Kiva_Rose (not verified) on 24 July, 2009 - 17:40.

Wow, yours must be REALLY resinous! Mine do stick together when they're fresh but as they dry they curl apart and are just fine. Hmm, impressive Finnish Alders!