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Parts of plants that we use

Many parts of a plant can be used for culinary or medicinal purposes. The database gives more details on the use of each plant. In some cases one part of a plant may be edible while another part is toxic so care needs to be taken. Always look at the known hazards section of the database for each plant. Culinary plants are used for cooking and are used for their aromatic leaves; others have spicy seeds, stems that can be candied (Permeated, covered, encrusted, or cooked with sugar), or bulbs that have strong distinctive flavours. Some plants have been used as medicines for thousands of years. Plants may have both culinary and medicinal properties.

 

Angelica archangelica  Acorus calamus  Salvia officinalis  Calendula officinalis  Pimpinella anisum Crocus sativus Punica granatum
 Angelica stems are candied for cake decoration The root is candied and made into sweetmeat Sage, mint and parsley are grown for their leaves Pot marigold flowers are used to garnish food Seeds like Aniseed, can be used as culinary herbs, being added to food and drinks Many bulbs including garlic and onion are used for cooking Many plants have tasty fruit including Pomegranates, apples, oranges, and pears

 

To find plant parts that you can use try the following searches:

Stems

Root includes bulbs, corms, tubers, rhizomes etc.

Leaves

Seeds includes nuts, cereals, peas and beans.

Flowers

Bulbs (comes under Root)

Fruit

Other parts of a plant that can be used including the bark, manna, pollen, sap, and seedpods can be searched here

Now available: PLANTS FOR YOUR FOOD FOREST: 500 Plants for Temperate Food Forests and Permaculture Gardens.

An important new book from PFAF. It focuses on the attributes of plants suitable for food forests, what each can contribute to a food forest ecosystem, including carbon sequestration, and the kinds of foods they yield. The book suggests that community and small-scale food forests can provide a real alternative to intensive industrialised agriculture, and help to combat the many inter-related environmental crises that threaten the very future of life on Earth.

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FOOD FOREST PLANTS

 

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