Powdered greens?

Hi All,

Seeing Kate Downham's Year in an Off-Grid Kitchen reminded me of a book about less-often-grown greens, in which the author suggested drying and powdering greens to use in the winter.  It didn't seem terribly appetizing, but am I being hasty? Could dried greens be tasty? Would it mean putting perfectly good food to waste-y?

Bad rhymes aside, I'm curious whether anyone has tried drying unusual greens (like sochan, which grows in abundance in our yard) AND had success getting others to eat them.

Thanks!

I feel you have a great idea about powdering green.  

This thread from the Similar Threads listed below talks about a similar use.

https://permies.com/t/174057/kitchen/Discovering-Joy-Powders#1706475

And this one too:

Kena said, "Edible but less pleasant greens can be dehydrated and powdered into "flour" to be mixed in baked goods such as crackers or bread. Loses the vitamin C and volatine compounds of course, but keeps fiber and minerals, and some of the vitamins.

https://permies.com/t/192590/Eat-leaves-human#1596597

Thank you for bringing this subject to my attention.

Anne Miller wrote:I feel you have a great idea about powdering green.  

This thread from the Similar Threads listed below talks about a similar use.

https://permies.com/t/174057/kitchen/Discovering-Joy-Powders#1706475

And this one too:

Kena said, "Edible but less pleasant greens can be dehydrated and powdered into "flour" to be mixed in baked goods such as crackers or bread. Loses the vitamin C and volatine compounds of course, but keeps fiber and minerals, and some of the vitamins.

https://permies.com/t/192590/Eat-leaves-human#1596597

Thank you for bringing this subject to my attention.

Thanks, Anne!  The book I came across talked about using powdered greens in soups and stews, but I hadn't thought of incorporating small amounts into baking.  Also saw a post in the thread you mention about drying grape leaves, and we have enough wild grape vines to go around.  Guess it's time to make a solar dehydrator!

A century ago cabbage was often dried and powdered for winter use. In sections of northeastern USA, this practice was common because of shipping difficulty. A farmer could ship his cabbages as dried "green flour" far cheaper than as fresh cabbages, and ship a whole field of cabbages on one wagon. Getting produce from the farm to the urban areas wasn’t all that simple like nowadays.

My grandmother remembered her mother using green flour in soups and stews. By the time I came along, grandmom was no longer cooking with it. Refrigeration and iceboxes were common enough to keep fresh cabbages, which apparently was preferred to green flour.  I, myself, have never tried using green flour. BUT……I do use dried, powdered moringa, today’s equivalent to old-time green flour.  I use it in smoothies, salad dressing, soup, stir fry, stew, curries, spaghetti sauce, gravies. Grandmom most likely did the same thing with her green flour.

All sorts of greens can be dried to make green flour, not just cabbages.

Last year, we started maximizing the lamb's quarter that grows naturally on our property (especially in our main veggie garden). We use as much as we can in fresh salads and soups, sell some in salad mixes on Nextdoor, but ultimately this nutrient rich wild green grows far beyond our fresh use capabilities.

With 2 dehydrators going near constantly with herbs and fruit all spring and summer, we cut and hang dozens of branches of lamb's quarter to dry. After a couple weeks, we'd trim the smaller stems and leaves, finishing them on low in the dehydrator. When they easily crumble into flakes, they are done. That would be good enough for adding to soups, but powdering them in a coffee grinder let's you incorporate it to anything.

We have a quart of this nutrient-dense, LQ powder that we add to soups, smoothies, scrambled eggs, pasta sauce and really anything! Our son eats very well, but sneaking some extra vitamins into a meal is good for him and us. This free resource is awesome in winter when fresh greens are scarce.

We will do this every year.

I have an abundance of swiss chard, which I like raw, but don't like it cooked.  Since I had so much, I made bundles of leaves, used rubber bands to hold the bunches together, and s-hooks to hang them from a strand of fishing line strung across the end of my porch.  Once they dried, I put them in the blender to make powder.  I store this powder in a repurposed glass spice jar in my spice rack, and sprinkle a little in just about everything savory that I make, including on top of salads.  Having it in the spice rack reminds me to use it often.

I dry nettle, mainly for use as a tea, but recently I used some to cover an aging soft cheese with for an experiment. The home-dried nettles dried either in a low oven or just in the air turn out green and lovely - so much nicer than the stale stuff in the shops, so I wonder if other greens could be treated this way for use in soups.

To dry them, I just make sure they are drying in a way with plenty of airflow, either a single layer (or stacked in alternate layers for 2-3 layers if there is lots of stem) and I put them either in the oven as it's dying down for the night, or on stainless steel cooling racks in a breezy place.

Some greens are really easy to grow in abundance in spring. Dandelions and some other weeds, for instance, are quite strong in summer but nice and mild in spring, and very healthy, so I think they would go well if carefully dried.

I think dried greens would be really good for making quick green smoothies too. A natural and free way to boost nutrition when there's not much growing outside.

Thanks, All!  I had been hoping for some recipe ideas, but this is opening my eyes to greens I'd never considered drying, for some reason.  

I'm curious, Jeremy, whether you can dry larger lambs quarters leaves than you'd eat fresh?  

It's encouraging, too, to know that some of these can just be air-dried.  This summer, I'll try drying lambs quarters, grape leaves, chard leaves, and probably the dreaded garlic mustard.  We usually eat all the dandelion and cabbage while still fresh.  Very much looking forward to making green crackers, and to slipping dried greens into curries and salad dressing.

Kate Downham wrote:I dry nettle, mainly for use as a tea, but recently I used some to cover an aging soft cheese with for an experiment. The home-dried nettles dried either in a low oven or just in the air turn out green and lovely - so much nicer than the stale stuff in the shops, so I wonder if other greens could be treated this way for use in soups.

To dry them, I just make sure they are drying in a way with plenty of airflow, either a single layer (or stacked in alternate layers for 2-3 layers if there is lots of stem) and I put them either in the oven as it's dying down for the night, or on stainless steel cooling racks in a breezy place.

Some greens are really easy to grow in abundance in spring. Dandelions and some other weeds, for instance, are quite strong in summer but nice and mild in spring, and very healthy, so I think they would go well if carefully dried.

I think dried greens would be really good for making quick green smoothies too. A natural and free way to boost nutrition when there's not much growing outside.

Just exploring your blog - starting with the post on greens, naturally!  https://thenourishinghearthfire.com/category/homestead/

I have grown broccoli microgreens on shelves in the basement and extra production went into a dehydrator until dry, then zipped for a few seconds in a food processor to make microgreen powder.  I found it to be a good soup broth flavor ingredient. I would add a few teaspoons into any veggie type stew.  I don't know what the nutrient level is of dried microgreens but it may be pretty high, because fresh broccoli microgreens have very high nutrient levels.

My 3 cents on powdering anything (greens or not) is not to powder too much, and to keep whatever one plans to powder in its original form and vacuum sealed.
Powders turn hard. Some quicker tan others.
I powder greens/herbs or what ever I want to powder, enough for 2 weeks and keep it in airtight glass jars.
Sometimes I just have to sneak in some nutrition and in powder form works just great

This is something I mentally stumbled upon late last summer and started experimenting with.  I think there is huge potential here not just for "normal" greens we eat but also for various wild edibles that don't quite have the mouth feel we'd like.  Which is a fancy way to say they are too tough, fibrous, or some such thing that can be completely negated by pulverizing it into a fine powder.  

For example, there are the grape leaves already mentioned.  I did some of those and need to do more next year.  I also found queen anne's lace (wild carrot) greens to be wonderful for this.  I was harvesting them when they were still fairly flexible and tender, but kinda fuzzy.  If the plant was big enough you can peel the tender stems for a nice fresh treat.  However, I found I could quickly harvest piles of the greens, dry them out, and turn them into powder.  The plants would put up new stalks pretty quickly too, like in a few days it seemed.  Then I could harvest them all again.  

I get a lot of wood sorrel in my garden too.  The leaves are always great but the tiny stems aren't that pleasant to eat from a texture standpoint.  I found I could harvest piles of them, dry, and powder making for easier processing.  This next year I want to do plantain as well since the long fibers in the leaves make them less appealing when fresh.

My thinking is that this technique could be a good way to produce more calorie dense food from what is normally very low in calories compared to the physical bulk.  I realize in modern life we don't tend to look for increasing calorie density since the processed food industries already do way too much of that!  However, in a living off the land sort of mentality this is an issue.  I love too that the nutrient density should also be very high, though clearly not as high as if one were to eat all those greens fresh.  However, that is the real issue, we likely won't or maybe even can't eat the volume of fresh greens you could eat as dried and powdered greens.  Does this mean that in the end eating these would yield significantly more nutrition?

As Dian noted though, one of the issues is altering our diets in ways to find uses and recipes for this potential abundance.  That's something I'm working on.  In addition to things already mentioned I've also found I can use a lot of these to make flavored rice dishes.  

Years ago I was doing something similar to use lots of greens for making a healthy "cracker".  I did a blog post about it if anyone is interested.  I've been thinking I need to try something like this again but using tons of dried green powders instead with something binding them all together like flax meal or hummus, which I could then spread thin and dry or bake until crisp.

I second the idea of processing your leaves into powder on an as needed basis. It's always seemed to me that the powder would lose nutrients way faster than whole leaves. I have no idea if that's true or not, but that's my thinking.

I have a set up with old window screens hanging from the ceiling that I use to dry greens all growing season. They take 2-4 days to fully dry, depending on the weather. I do radish greens and kale, cause that's what I have the most of. When they're dry I put them into mason jars. I lay the leaves flat and squish as many in as I can.  I pack them in tight enough that when I take the lid off a full jar, the leaves all push out the top.  Since I'm laying them flat, they stay largely intact, even with all the squishing.  They do take up a lot more space that way, but I like having options.

I crush them up just a bit to cook in soups or throw in with pasta or grain. I powder them to use as flour in savoury pancakes, which is the only "baking" I do nowadays. I don't like the taste of the radish greens in smoothies, but the kale is good. The only problem I have with it is it gives the smoothies a grainy texture I don't like if I put much in. I use a coffe grinder to powder it, and I guess it doesn't get it fine enough. I figured out that 5g dried kale is the equivalent of about 35g fresh. I don't like much more than 5g dry in a small smoothie. Normally I could easily lose 100g in a smoothie if the kale was fresh. It's a good addition in the winter when fresh greens are in short supply, though.

Because of the unpleasant texture in smoothies, I wonder how nice green powder would be in soups. I'd rather have bigger pieces, I think. I have tried the powder in pasta sauce, and didn't like the texture.

David Huang wrote: *snip* wild edibles that don't quite have the mouth feel we'd like.  Which is a fancy way to say they are too tough, fibrous, or some such thing that can be completely negated by pulverizing it into a fine powder.  *snip*

The leaves are always great but the tiny stems aren't that pleasant to eat from a texture standpoint.  I found I could harvest piles of them, dry, and powder making for easier processing.  *snip*

I can use a lot of these to make flavored rice dishes.  

Years ago I was doing something similar to use lots of greens for making a healthy "cracker".  I did a blog post about it if anyone is interested.  I've been thinking I need to try something like this again but using tons of dried green powders instead with something binding them all together like flax meal or hummus, which I could then spread thin and dry or bake until crisp.

Why didn't using the stems occur to me?  I'd heard that sochan stems are edible, but I've yet to try them.  And plaintain is everywhere!  Geez.  Okay: green crackers and green rice, here I come!

Jan White wrote:I second the idea of processing your leaves into powder on an as needed basis. It's always seemed to me that the powder would lose nutrients way faster than whole leaves. I have no idea if that's true or not, but that's my thinking.

*snip*

Because of the unpleasant texture in smoothies, I wonder how nice green powder would be in soups. I'd rather have bigger pieces, I think. I have tried the powder in pasta sauce, and didn't like the texture.

I like this idea - and I'll try both, and see what the family complains about the least. :P

Katie Dee wrote:I have an abundance of swiss chard, which I like raw, but don't like it cooked.  Since I had so much, I made bundles of leaves, used rubber bands to hold the bunches together, and s-hooks to hang them from a strand of fishing line strung across the end of my porch.  Once they dried, I put them in the blender to make powder.  I store this powder in a repurposed glass spice jar in my spice rack, and sprinkle a little in just about everything savory that I make, including on top of salads.  Having it in the spice rack reminds me to use it often.

Katie, do you dry the stems as well?

Dian, Yes, I dry the Swiss Chard leaves on the stems.   I store the dried whole leaves in a 5 gallon bucket with a lid until I need more powdered leaf, and then grind up as much as I think I'll use in a reasonable time.  At the point where I'm powdering them, I can include the stems or not, depending on how energetic I am that day.  I usually include everything in my powdered chard.  

I hope everyone is aware that swiss chard, along with many other garden greens, is a good source of Vitamin K.  There are a few medical conditions where Vitamin K should be avoided, so please read up on the benefits, precautions and possible medication interactions and/or ask your doctor before using this concentrated  form of garden greens.  

Love this thread, I have spent so much on Super Greens in the past.

I know it's a bit late, but for those who find the gritty nature of a powder to be unappealing, you may want to consider letting the powder / flour soak for a little while to reconstitute somewhat.  That's what we find works better for using tomato powder (haven't done it with greens ourselves).  I expect it to be fine in soup or stew where it gets more time to stew and absorb moisture.  Something like a smoothie may not have enough time, so the grittiness remains.

Dian Hong wrote:

Kate Downham wrote:I dry nettle, ...
so much nicer than the stale stuff in the shops,
.

Just exploring your blog - starting with the post on greens, naturally!  https://thenourishinghearthfire.com/category/homestead/

Great blog!

I brought nettles onto my land about five years ago and in the last couple of years they've taken off!

I've dried herbs of course

I am inspired by Jeremy's preservation of wild spinach (lambs quarters ) because by the end of the season I am tired of them and in winter I only consume frozen cooked spring greens, the same with nettles.

Grinding the dried leaves is a fabulous tip.

I am also curious about when to harvest the nettles and spinach for drying? How mught seedy tops work?

So not to go overboard, how many pounds per person per winter month if used a lot?

By the way, I buy powdered green tea and hide it in yogurt with cranberry sauce and a bit of honey.