Devil's Claw

Harvested some small pods from the giant Devil's Claw Proboscidea that's taking up most of the middle of my kitchen garden:



Here's a more normal sized plant near our mailbox:



Pods are edible when very small, about 1 - 2 inches long:



Large pods have edible seeds, which can be eaten green or allowed to ripen:



Proboscidea, also known as Martynia, is the only plant genus besides Solanacea which is eaten by the Tomato Hornworm:



The pods are rather bitter. In the past they were pickled and sold commercially, I don't know if any are available in stores now. I'm going to try to sneak them into curry for tonight's dinner, along with other garden vegetables.

let us know how they were. I've been wanting to try them for some time, but ours are not ready, yet. They are just blooming.

Someone on another board suggested soaking the cut up pods in salt and then rinsing prior to cooking, as some people treat eggplant and cucumbers. It did indeed reduce the bitterness.

Some of the pods have begun ripening, here's some; the little black bug-looking things are the edible seeds:

I've eaten the seeds before, they are kinda nutty tasting, but never the young pods.

We ate the pods in curry and I couldn't detect any bitterness or other nasty flavor, although they were pretty well disguised by spices. I'll try them next time in something less seasoned and see how it goes.

Abe, did you take the shells off the seeds or eat them whole? Raw or toasted?

Tyler Ludens wrote:We ate the pods in curry and I couldn't detect any bitterness or other nasty flavor, although they were pretty well disguised by spices. I'll try them next time in something less seasoned and see how it goes.

Abe, did you take the shells off the seeds or eat them whole? Raw or toasted?

I just took raw seeds out of dried pods and chew on them for a bit, spit out the skins.