Eating Weeds: Fried Queen Anne’s Lace

Eating Weeds: Fried Queen Anne’s Lace

So, The Wife was out weeding today, and she got into a conversation with one of our neighbors, a science teacher. He pointed out that the Queen Anne’s Lace that lines our back walk is edible.



One of The Wife’s many fine features is her adventuresome eating, and so she quickly set to work, cooking up some of what we had previously considered only a relatively attractive weed (i.e., we never planted it; it just grows; sometimes we remove it to plant stuff we want).

First, she checked online info to make sure we were going to be eating something edible. Apparently, Queen Anne’s Lace looks a little like Hemlock, but after some investigation, she confirmed that preparing this snack would not make us get all Socratic. Some egg/rice flour, a quick dip in the Fry Baby, and there we go.



This was a tasty little thing, the flower furnishing a delicate superstructure for the fried breading, and it would have been even better with a sauce of some sort (I went with salt, solo). The flower had a slightly peppery note (which I find characteristic of other flowers, e.g., nasturtiums), and it looked pretty cool. I could see it served on some lettuce leaves, with maybe a light citrus or vinegar dressing.

Following the fine Italian tradition, I used the occasion of eating a new food to make a wish, which was, that we find more flowers to eat in the coming months of summer.

Isn't Queen Anne's Lace related to the carrot? Did you check the root? Either way, I wish I had some here in PRoE.

nr706 wrote:Isn't Queen Anne's Lace related to the carrot? Did you check the root? Either way, I wish I had some here in PRoE.

nr, Queen Anne's Lace may be related to carrot, but there didn't seem to be any obvious family resemblance. Didn't check root...but will, as there may be more to eat down there.

David Hammond wrote:Following the fine Italian tradition, I used the occasion of eating a new food to make a wish

I never heard of this tradition before, but I like it!

Isn't Queen Anne's Lace related to the carrot? Did you check the root? Either way, I wish I had some here in PRoE

I used to live in an area with a lot of Queen Anne's Lace that I used to weed. The root certainly resembles and smells like a carrot. Don't know if it is edible.

Wow! What a wonderful idea (and lovely photos)!

Your post brought back great memories for me. At fairs in Germany, I used to occasionally get batter-fried elderflowers (frittierte Hollunderblüten) sprinkled with powdered sugar. It's amusing to me that I've also seen recipes for this (also under the name frittelle di sambuco) in German cookbooks as a sort of health-food dish, because of the healthy properties of the elderberry plant. I'm a little skeptical that batter-fried flowers are a health food, but they certainly are beautiful and crispy.

nr706 wrote:Isn't Queen Anne's Lace related to the carrot? Did you check the root? Either way, I wish I had some here in PRoE.

Yes it is, but it's a biennial: The year when you get flowers, the plant is feeding off the carroty taproot from the previous year. That makes it hard to find the wild carrots.

Although they're both invaders, I find the roadside combination of white QAL and blue chicory flowers to be a great bit of scenery in midsummer.

David Hammond wrote:

Fun facts related to Queen Anne’s Lace, culled from The Wild Carrot Museum:

“Ancient folk lore said that to cure epileptic seizures you should eat the dark coloured middle flower of Queen Annes Lace. The flower is also used in ancient rituals an spells, for women to increase fertility and for men to increase potency and sexual desire!”

David Hammond wrote:The flower is also used in ancient rituals an spells, for women to increase fertility and for men to increase potency and sexual desire!”

Obviously, this begs the question ... did it work?

tip: do not confuse with wild parsnip which causes a nasty rash.

http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/icm/2007/7-9/poison.html

nr706 wrote:

David Hammond wrote:The flower is also used in ancient rituals an spells, for women to increase fertility and for men to increase potency and sexual desire!”

Obviously, this begs the question ... did it work?

I noticed no uptick in fertility or anything else.

Apparently, Queen Anne's Lace is mildly toxic to horses - and they like it as well, which can be problematic; it's a larger issue in Great Britian, which is where the plant originated - it's an import, but has been in the US for centuries. I also remember that the legend is that Queen Annepricked her finger while making the lace, resulting in the single reddish-blue (as she's blue-blooded) flower in the middle.

In the first link, there's a recipe for jelly made from the flowers.

MariaTheresa wrote:Wow! What a wonderful idea (and lovely photos)!

Your post brought back great memories for me. At fairs in Germany, I used to occasionally get batter-fried elderflowers (frittierte Hollunderblüten) sprinkled with powdered sugar. It's amusing to me that I've also seen recipes for this (also under the name frittelle di sambuco) in German cookbooks as a sort of health-food dish, because of the healthy properties of the elderberry plant. I'm a little skeptical that batter-fried flowers are a health food, but they certainly are beautiful and crispy.

My grandfather picked elderberry flowers for my grandmother to make....healthy fried elderberry snacks! As you did, I always wondered at the healthy part of frying, but they were delicious.

Picking through the garden today, I noticed a few other things to fry and eat: arugula flowers and dill flowers. I mean, why not: they're both fully edible, and they are both probably more flavorful than the Queen Anne's Lace. In my future I'm seeing a big plate of fried flowers, perhaps with several sauces.

David "There's food all around us" Hammond

Say, I've got a ton of other weeds (besides the Queen Anne's Lace) that you are welcome to come harvest and fry up!