Let’s talk ‘horta’!!!
Picking ‘horta’ (i.e. Greek greens) is something many Greeks do all winter, especially those who have easy access to open fields. Ever since I was a small child I remember the whole family going out for half a day somewhere for a picnic and to pick horta. At the time, we lived in the Athens suburbs so it wasn’t something we did often. Now that I live in a semi-rural area a little further from Athens, picking horta is something I can do in the spur of the moment. The area where I live is surrounded by open fields. Sometimes, I just go on foot around the neighbourhood and come back with a full shopping bag in no time.
I recently posted on Facebook a short selection of photos that show various edible horta to be found in Greece. I encourage you to get a knife and go picking haha! They are soooo nutritious. But you need to go to the countryside to pick them – not in civic areas.
Choose open fields or mountains, away from roads. The further from road traffic you are the better. Exhaust fumes reach up to 200 metres and contaminate the soil with heavy metals.
If you have access to Facebook, you could check out the photos now. In the comments, I have listed the common names for each weed. I don’t have the English names on most of the weeds, but I identify them all with their common Greek names, if that helps some among you.
Those marked as ‘aromatic’ are best used in pies (hortopitta or spanakopitta). These should be used in low numbers when mixing them with dandelions to have them boiled. Same goes for gaidouragatho. Add only a few of those to the mix when cooking dandelions or the taste will not be as it should be…
Dandelion = Dent De Lion (Lion’s Tooth) Latin name: Taraxacum Officinale)
When I posted about dandelion on Facebook, a couple of my British friends said when they were little their parents used to tell them to stay away from this weed as it would make them wee the bed. I had a good chuckle about that and found it very peculiar. Makes me wonder about folk wisdom in this case. Surely, dandelion is a diuretic, but so is cucumber…
Perhaps… mothers in the old days knew how nutritious dandelion was so they put the kids off touching them so they could then go and cut them in pristine condition haha
HERE’S HOW THE GREEKS COOK DANDELION:
Dandelions, like all greens, need meticulous cleaning, First, you cut off the root with a knife, remove yellow leaves and other weed debris etc. Then you need to wash them thoroughly in a big tub of water (3 times at least with vinegar and salt in the water). Then you just boil them for 30 mins or so in salted water. Toss them a couple times with a fork while they boil. Drain well and enjoy with fresh lemon juice and olive oil. Fried fish or calamari go well with dandelions (we call them ‘radikia’ or ‘horta’). Alternatively, you can accompany them with an omelette, or just with some fresh bread, olives and cheese.
Make sure to keep some of the water as it’s chockful with nutrients, especially if the greens are wild, which means they are bitter. The bitterness in the water is a wonderful detoxifier for the liver. Have a warm mug with a bit of lemon juice, cool the rest and keep in the fridge for up to 2-3 days.
Warm up and have as hot tea with lemon juice. The health benefits are so generous in the case of dandelion.
I hope I have given you enough information (and some inspiration) so you can go out there and pick a batch. If anything, to enjoy that delicious hot bitter tea! Highly recommended!
‘Lapsana’ aka ‘vlastaria’. Latin names: Sinapis Arvensis or Sinapis Alba
Lapsana is the only weed among the ones I list on the specific Facebook post that must be picked on its own. No other weed should be cooked with it. You don’t need a knife for lapsana – you just cut off the ends of the stalks that have buds and leaves on them with your hand. And it must be picked before the flowers turn yellow. The greener the better. Sometimes, they have a blue tint. That’s fine too.
Just like dandelion, you can boil, strain, and enjoy lapsana with lemon juice and olive oil. This is by far my favourite weed to pick and eat. The water is not bitter, but I drink that too as a tea anyway. I am sure it’s nutritious in its own right. I waste nothing with lapsana as I love the taste so much.
Lapsana is found in the fields in the spring, whereas dandelions and all the other weeds that are cut with a knife are ready for the picking all through the winter and in the spring.
All this talking about horta inevitably made me think of skordalia. Greek garlic dip is utterly delicious, and typically accompanies horta (or boiled beetroots) along with fried fish.
GO HERE and get my skordalia recipe too. Now, you have all you need, LOL!
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