The 21st Century Matriarch

I was surprised when my daughter told me that southern magnolia petals were edible. My son-in-law has started a batch of kombucha using the petals for the flavoring. She brought two freshly picked petals from their tree for me to try. She and I ate one of the petals raw. They are very spicy…gingery with a hint of other flavors…pleasant. I put the second one in the refrigerator and used half of it to season a veggie stir-fry side for lunch the next day.

The flavor worked well with the mushrooms, carrots, and celery. The only other seasoning I used was onion flakes and a little salt. The flavor in the stir fry was milder than eating the petal raw…I enjoyed it because it was quite different than my usual stir fry seasoning. I slivered the other half of the petal and put it in a small container in the freezer to use later.

Most of the flowers are too high in the tree to harvest – but it is thrilling to utilize a plant for food that I always assumed was only ornamental. This seems to be the year for discovering edible plants well established around our homes (the earlier one was violets…they are much easier to harvest)!

I was pleased that tomatillos was on the list in the CSA newsletter for this week and were included in the medium share.

Last year I made green salsa. I might do that again although I am keen to try some new recipes this year. And there is a beauty to the husks that are removed….enough to prompt a Zentangle!

My first use of the pound of tomatillos I got this week was to include them as an added ingredient to a chicken stir fry I make frequently. I bought bell peppers to include but the onion and garlic scape were other items from the CSA. And I ate the stir fry over a salad of lettuce, fennel, and cucumber from the CSA too. I hope we are nearing the stage where I am not putting as much into the freezer from the CSA shares (my freezer is almost full of frozen veggies).

Other plans for the tomatillos: 1) raw in a smoothie with melon and 2) stir fry then folded into taco filling. Maybe I’ll get some hot peppers in coming weeks from the CSA and make green salsa again – but that will be a later share of tomatillos.