Selfsufficientish.com

Hi

Anyone using the mallow plants for anything? They grow wild on my patch, cattle, parrots & cockatoos ignore them but I have heard they are edible>

Apparently there are about 25-30 different plant called mallow. So I can't be certain that we'd be talking about the same plant. Even in the UK there Lavatera and Malva ssp all referred to as Mallow.

However, most mallows seem to be edible - roots were originallly used as the basis for marshmallows (I'm guessing they weren't big pink fluffy things then ). Shoots and young leaves can be eaten raw or cooked and the seed head are supposed to taste like peanuts. They also produce a mucilage in their stems which are good for digestive disorders and for rubbing on bites and stings. It also helps thicken soups etc when cooked.

All of that, of course, depends on you identifying the species etc and checking it out, but all in all they're a pretty useful plant.

I've eaten the flowers and small leaves in salads. We used to grow a small white-flowered variety - can't remember the proper name, sorry. Very pretty. I don't remember it being particularly tasty though - it was some years back.

The one I am interested in is Malva parviflora - small flowered mallow. We have a number of other species around, including a couple of native ones, also called "mallow". From the general info I can get it seems that most parts are edible, but hardly worth the effort. I guess my father was right when he told us kids "food is needed to keep you upright; if it tastes good it's a bonus"

Just found this while looking at old recipes, thought it might be of some interest
http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/lettucesuckets.htm

I don't know whether to thank you or curse you Brewtrog.
That link has just wasted half an hour of my life and I can see that it will require much further in depth study, and subsequent hours of time wasting.
Extremely interesting and food for thought (pun intended)

I've spent a lot of time on there today. Some really interesting old recipes on there (pepper flavoured boiled sweets), and probably some fun with old brewing recipes