Judith Browning

Maybe broaden to making something with those three ingredients plus an acid from the list Nicole posted or maybe plus one other ingredient of any kind?
I browsed the links to Leigh's recipes and they all have additional ingredients.

I'm at a loss for making any food that has only flour, water and baking soda....interesting to try though🤔

Respect Mother Earth.
Love one another.
Be truthful.
Give to your brothers and sisters.
Be gentle with each other.
Be happy.
Everything is so simple,
and we make everything so complicated.
That’s why we’re confused.

Vickie Downey
(Tewa//Tesuque Pueblo Elder)

Wow! That's really sad.

Could it have been something in the wood chips rather than a disease?  I don't know herbicides but maybe one that kills woody growth?
Is it just the woody bushes damaged and not the other green plants growing around them?

reread and saw that your comfrey is affected also.

and this sounds good!

Pickled perilla leaves
10 Tbsp soy sauce, regular (I use naturally brewed kikkoman soy sauce.)
1 tsp Korean chili flakes (gochugaru)
1 tsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp spring onion, finely chopped
(Optional) 2 Tbsp green chilies or red chilies, finely chopped. Place the perilla leaves in stacks in a large (glass) container (with a lid). Spread (about 1 Tbsp worth of) seasoning sauce on top of the perilla leaf. Repeat this process for every 3 leaves for the rest of leaves.Close the lid and move the container to the fridge. You can start eating this from the next day. Serve it with a hot bowl of rice.
 

from https://mykoreankitchen.com/korean-pickled-perilla-leaves-kkaennip-jangajji/

thanks Teresa!
When I searched here it seemed like a lot of threads were how to get rid of it so I didn't bother with them.

Judson's one though I'm saving for when I have enough data at the library to watch a video.

The cucumber salads in the substack have caught my eye, especially end of the season cukes and we're getting tired of the same old cucumber salad!

Have you toasted the leaves for tea as it mentions?

In ancient China, the leaves and seeds were used to combat heat, soothe bloating, and cool the body, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine. The leaves were toasted and brewed into a tea, known as 紫苏饮子, or 熟水, which was a popular street drink during the Southern Song Dynasty. In a Ming Dynasty book on healthy lifestyles1, perilla leaves were used in a variety of ways: marinated with cucumber and eggplant, added to plum and papaya jam, and cooked with carp.  

  You can make a simple syrup with perilla to flavor your summer drinks, or add it to a fresh tomato salad. Perilla works wonderfully in noodle soups and as a flavorful wrap for grilled meats!  

     Ingredients
1 English cucumber (350 g/ 12 oz)

8-10 perilla leaves

1 Thai chili

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp light soy sauce

1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

More salt to season

Instructions:
Slice the cucumber at an angle into thick 0.5 cm slices. Mince the garlic and Thai chili. Clean and dry the perilla leaves, stack and roll them tightly into a cigar, and thinly slice.

In a frying pan, heat 1 tbsp oil over medium heat and add 1/8 tsp salt. Then, add the cucumber slices and fry for 3-5 minutes, until the edges are slightly golden.

Add the Thai chili and garlic and fry for a few seconds until fragrant. Add the light soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar, and season with more salt as needed. Quickly mix and serve.

I almost began another thread and then found this old one I began in 2012!
I still have the wild perilla and now also this beautiful deep purple one from May's seed.

We need recipes.
So far we are just adding it to whatever we are already cooking but I'm sure there are better ways to enhance it's strong flavor?

this thread reminds me of something from years ago when a friends son told his grandparents 'all we eat is wheat and water' when, in fact, the foods served there were wonderful, although, yes, a lot of chipatis and other flat breads.

Anne, I'm assuming this is not an empty pantry necessitating this question but rather an exersize in working with limited ingredients?

A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space.
He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.
Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

Albert Einstein

We have two asian persimmons.
Both are out of sync with our weather and have had their first young leaves frozen repeatedly so that now, after more than five years one is growing from it's root stock which I think (hope) is american persimmon and the other is still growing above the graft and had a few unfruitful blooms this year.  Both are only around four feet tall.  They have become a novelty and I have no expectations but they can stay...any trees are welcome.


Our local American Persimmons leaf out late, quite awhile after last frost.

Anne Miller wrote:What can I make with just flour, water and baking soda as the main i8ngredients?

flour, water and baking soda as the 'main' ingredients or the 'only' ingredients?

I would need to know what type of flour?
whole wheat? unbleached white? corn flour? any of the seed or nut flours?

If white wheat flour I might make paste and then paper mache....baking soda might be a good ingredient to add since some recipes call for salt.

I think someone mentioned sourdough...the starter only uses a wheat flour and water, sometimes rye flour? and once a sponge is made some add baking soda to moderate the acidity and help the rise.

We used to make chapatis, rolled very thin wheat flour and water dough, maybe with baking soda...quite tough and chewy but filled a gap when we had a lot of wheat berries to grind....cooked them on the wood stove.

Another thought.....If the baking soda is intended as leavening then in order for it to work,, if no other ingredients are used, the flour and water will have to be acidified in some way.

I enjoy these 'what if' thinking exercises.
In the past we would run up short, like really really short on ingredients and have to take some risks in unknown directions to make a palatable meal,