Pages

▼

Sunday, 3 May 2020

One Of Our Favourite Things To Forage - Lime Leaves

Now although my eldest asked if the "lemon" leaves were ready to eat yet, I was really pleased they'd remembered this foraged treat from last year.
Yes that is a Christmas jumper, no I don't care...

Even the Boy, who is going through a phase of not eating salad leaves, loves these.


As the leaves have only just come out they are super tender at the moment. I think they rate against any salad leaf you could grow, they have a very mild taste and just taste fresh really.



We picked a small amount to go on our burgers for tea, for which they were great! But then we left the rest in the bowl, uncovered overnight. Amazingly the next day they were just as good to eat, whereas a normal salad would have wilted.


The children got into making "sandwiches" from them between tortilla Crisps and another bowl of them was gone!


If you have other the large (Tilia platyphyllos) or small leaved Lime (Tilia cordata) growing near by I recommend you try some of these leaves!

Who else eats Lime leaves?

Disclaimer - do your own research though, make sure you can identify the tree correctly and make sure you do your own research into it's edibility!
at

8 comments:

  1. Jo4 May 2020 at 17:52

    I must admit that I had never thought of eating the leaves myself but I always pick some for the rabbit. Next time, I'll pick some for me too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kev Alviti4 May 2020 at 18:27

      Try it! You wont regret it!

      Delete
    2. Jo9 May 2020 at 18:21

      Found a lime tree on a quiet road on my daily walk today so I picked some young leaves for the rabbit and for me too. And yes, they will definitely be appearing in my salads in future : )

      Delete
  2. Toirdhealbheach Beucail4 May 2020 at 23:33

    Forgive me Kev - are these actual lime tree leaves, or something called a lime? I have a couple of dwarf lime trees and the leaves look nothing like these.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kev Alviti5 May 2020 at 13:51

      These are Lime trees but not the same as the citrus limes that people often get them mixed with. These are large leaved lime (Tilia platyphyllos) or small leaved Lime (Tilia cordata). Both grow into big trees and are common on park land or in cities and towns, we have a few here I think planted as specimen trees by "the big house" that our house was built to support.

      Delete
    2. Toirdhealbheach Beucail6 May 2020 at 03:08

      That is pretty cool! Learned something new. Wikipedia says it is also known as a Large Leaved Linden. Those, at least, I know from Tolkien's writing.

      Delete
  3. Tigger's Mum25 May 2020 at 12:35

    Our bees made great honey off this sort of Lime tree. A row grew along our lane, and the honey was SOOOO fragrant.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Scott2 June 2020 at 21:14

    I have a small leaved lime. I regularly feed it to my reptiles but dont eat it myself lol

    ReplyDelete