Historic use of velvetleaf

Good morning. I'm looking for ways to revive the human use of velvetleaf since I got half growing crazy throughout my community farm right now. I've heard people use the velvet leaves for food in some Asian countries like India or China and wanna find out if they still eat velvetleaf today as they had historically. And, also, did folks had the seeds and flour of that plant culturally from centuries ago to today? And had they made cordage to create rope and things of that nature. If any of y'all have any ideas to help revive that historic use of that now exiled plant which has been classified as a pest by rural farmers especially in the Midwest from where I'm from. Have a good day!

Following. Velvet leaf has a strong presence in my area. Here are some pics I took at my place while trying to identify the plant.

Wow , Angela , I have that plant !
Thanks for post your photo, I would never have guessed otherwise!

William Bronson wrote:Wow , Angela , I have that plant !
Thanks for post your photo, I would never have guessed otherwise!

You are welcome!

Awesome pics! I'm trying to find sustainable ways to remove the velvetleaf from my gardens and use them for food, medicine or cordage. Any historic records or writings on how the velvetleaf has been used for food from its leaves? How we cook them?

Blake Lenoir wrote: Awesome pics! I'm trying to find sustainable ways to remove the velvetleaf from my gardens and use them for food, medicine or cordage. Any historic records or writings on how the velvetleaf has been used for food from its leaves? How we cook them?

I do not know yet, but hope to.

Anybody know how to make flour from velvetleaf to bake bread and stuff? I wanna reduce my grocery spending on bread and other types of flour that claim to be organic. What's velvetleaf flour like after it's being made? You all also had seeds that supposed to taste like sunflower seeds? I never had them before, but like to try new things.

I can't imagine eating it... I think it smells like pee.

I worked for a farmer as a teen/into my 20's.  This weed was not established in his farm, so when we saw it, he would send us out with trash bags to hand remove it.

It's pretty ubiquitous where I live now.  It mostly seems to grow along the edges of corn fields.  I find it easy to pull in the garden - it does not have a serious root system.  It's just that it seeds out by the thousands which makes it an issue, and I think it is resistant to most herbicides, which is why it gives "conventional" farmers so much trouble.

 Why do farmers always label things as weeds when they're considered benefical long term for health and security for society? It's the same thing happened to milkweed.

That's a beautiful plant! I love the seed heads. Doesn't look like It would be warm enough to grow it here.
From wikipedia Abutilon theophrasti:

The leaves are edible stir-fried or in an omelette.[citation needed] The plant is known as maabulha in the Maldives and its leaves were part of the traditional Maldivian cuisine, usually finely chopped and mixed with Maldive fish and grated coconut in a dish known as mas huni. The seeds are eaten in China and Kashmir.

Pfaf give it 3 out of 5 for edibility:

Seeds - raw or cooked. They can be eaten raw when they are under-ripe[179]. The ripe seed is dried and ground into a powder then used in soups, bread etc[177, 178]. It is washed first to remove any bitterness[179]. The seed contains about 17.4% protein, 16% fat, 33.8% carbohydrate, 4.4% ash[179]. Unripe fruit - raw[177]. This is really more of a seedpod

So it sounds like to make flour you would leach the ripe seeds like you would acorns, before drying and grinding. The seeds seem to be quite high in protein and fat, so potentially quite nutritious.
It's also called China jute, Butterprint Buttonweed Jute, China Mallow, and Indian Velvet Leaf. It sounds like the fibre may be more useful, since it may still be cultivated for 'Jute like' fibre in China. Apparently it is in the mallow family and think you can get fibre from other member of that family too.
If you do try either eating it or extracting the fibre, please let us know how you get on.

Are there  Chinese or Indian people out there in the world right now  who could help me better understand the historic recipes and stuff of velvetleaf and its benefits medicinally and structure wise to create ropes and things of that nature? If you're new, then welcome to Permies! Drop in for questions and stuff.

Following Velvet Leaf. We have a lot of it on our farm. We have started foraging and I am studying for certification as an herbalist. So any information or a specific recipe would be greatly appreciated. My grandchild and I made Poke Sallat. lol

It makes good emergency toilet paper.

Velvetleaf mallow is never too abundant in my garden, but I have eaten the leaves, raw and cooked, on multiple occasions. They are slightly musky, but perhaps they would be good blanched and served with oil and lemon. I would try this except that as far as I have seen there is only one plant in the garden this year…

Greetings folks! Could we make twine outta veletleaf? Never made rope before from veletleaf.

It seems the answer is yes. I took a few pieces of bark, and they are very tough and wiry—not as strong as hemp but still very good. It was a little too wiry to make into cordage as it is, so I just rolled the strands together. Even a strip of bark would work excellently as garden twine. Maybe they’ll be easier after some retting?

Very good!