Kate McKae

This has been a very interesting thread. I have saved myself too much reading because one of the pups got into last years pillowcase full of beans and they were all scattered. Since then I have decided to leave the bean behind as it took hours to pick these and I'd get a similar yield in weight to one bush bean. It was a fun experiment! My husband did say that these upset his stomach and that has affected my willingness to use them as well.

The hunt for a meaningful wild cold hardy protein continues...

I’ve sprouted caragana. It grows as a windbreak here on the prairies and I cook with the seeds. The seed portion is still hard when sprouted- is a mung bean the same?

I’ve been on another thread where we’ve been discussing the edibility of caragana, also known as Siberian pea bush. Great news! It’s made it to our household staples. We have a long windrow and I pick the pods before they burst, then keep them in a pillowcase where they dry and the seeds shake out.

So far I’ve make caragana and carrot top tabbouleh, and tonight was a caragana and cucumber salad with lemon dill dressing. Any other ideas for this tiny legume?

Caragana cucumber dill salad with a lemon mayonnaise dressing

My sympathies for your trip Myron.

I picked the caragana pods just b fire they were fully dry, then left them in a pillowcase in the sun to burst open over a few days. I had also left a sheet under some last year to catch the seeds when the pods burst naturally but want satisfied with the yield, though it’s FAR less labour intensive.

I have a quarter mile windbreak of caragana on my land and it grows abundantly in our area. I could never pick it all and I haven’t thought to keep track of yield. What I have seen is some bushes are laden with pods while others have hardly any. This is a good food when one wants a relaxing day picking pods in the sun.

I hope your season takes you where you want to be!

Myron, here is a caragana and carrot top tabouleh I made this afternoon. I cooked the caragana seeds in my instant pot, then used carrot tops and parsley for the greens. Added diced tomatoes, carrots, and onion. Oil and lemon and garlic dressing. It’s great!

Hi all! I am terrible at posting good pictures, but wanted to provide the update. I used the caragana in chilli! It was great! I cooked the I’m an instant pot without soaking for 3 mins (like mung beans). They had a really nice flavour- quite nutty and not bitter at all. No negative consequences to report. Thanks Myron for getting me going on this. We’ll harvest in full effort in 2022 and this will likely be a staples for us going forward.

Here they are just finishing drying in a pillow case and popping open. I am going to post pictures that compare what I got from laying a sheet vs picking. I am away for a few weeks now but there WILL be results posted when I've had a chance to eat them. I am so excited that they worked for you! Thanks for the bravery!

Okay Myron, I'm in. I set out a sheet under some bushes yesterday (they were all popping) and then also took an hour to collect pods by hand. I am going to compare the efficiency of each method. We have a long row of caragana here as a wind break on the farm so seeds abound.

I left the ones I picked in a pillowcase on the sundeck this morning to help them pop without them jumping all over the place.

I'll wait another week to see how your tummy is and then have you adventurous chef of a sister substitute in the seeds for lentils in some kind of summer salad.

I am so excited to follow this! Beans on their own would never be a delicacy. But if they are edible they could be included in soups, chili, and the like. Please keep sharing!