No Fad Diets For Beetles

Earlier I reported on a soup with knotweed that was knot so good. Alright, it was heinous. So it was to my surprise that I made a soup with knotweed on Friday that was really pretty good. It was also a little surprising that I was able to get a dozen or more takers on eating the soup with me, and they enjoyed it too!

Friday morning I collected knotweed and garlic mustard from the West Meadow Beach area. I chose this spot because it is closed to automobiles and there is little chance of pesticide or herbicide use. Its also nice to clear out invasive species from an area that is undergoing ecological restoration, although I can say that my collection is not likely to have much of an impact. I was actually surprised to find only one patch of knotweed, but this patch (probably a single clonal individual) was large enough to provide me with a grocery bag full of young tender stalks.

I was much more selective about which stalks I collected this time: stalks that were 6-18 inches and with a diameter at least the size of my pinkie. I was also a little more selective about what parts I used when I chopped them up. First I stripped the leaves and took off the bits right at the base of the leaves (these may actually be the most tender parts, so I might try them again in the future). I also discarded the fattest parts at the bottom of the stalks, and I discarded a section if the stalk started splitting lengthwise as I chopped. I think this was part of why the soup was more successful.

The soup was also totally different from before. I elaborated on Steve Brill’s recipe, because I didn’t have enough knotweed (being so selective left me with only 4 cups of chopped stems), and I wasn’t very keen on the combination of the knotweed with the tofu spread from the previous experience. Instead I made a big pot of vegetable broth (36 cups of water and 18 cubes of veggie bouillon; I was preparing to feed as many as 30) and brought it to a boil. I sautéed a couple of chopped onions, a couple cloves of garlic, and 8 sliced carrots in olive oil and then added them to the pot, along with 3 chopped yukon gold potatoes. I waited a few minutes for the carrot and potato to cook and soften, and then I decided that there was way too much onion in there, so I used a strainer to remove most of them (they still provided flavor, but they didn’t get in the way of the other good stuff coming). I added 2 cans of corn and 1 can of whole peeled tomatoes (I broke up the tomatoes first and added just a little bit of the juice from the can). Last I added about 4 cups of chopped knotweed, a tablespoon or so of sugar, returned the soup to a boil, and then let it cool.

Unlike the other recipe, this one was not overwhelmingly “knotweed-y” and any odors particular to the weed were masked by the other ingredients. This isn’t to say that you couldn’t taste the knotweed; it retained its tang, but delivered it most when you had a piece on your spoon. I served this soup with another invasive species as a garnish: Garlic mustard Alliaria petiolota. I just chopped up the young leaves and flowers ad offered them raw.