Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) has been eaten in India for hundreds of years. I first came across the reference in Sir George Watt’s six volume ‘A Dictionary of Economic Products of India’ 1889-1896. In it he mentions that the seeds are eaten, having a nutty flavour, while the young leaves where used as a vegetable.
In this recipe, my friend Chris Holland from Wholeland, is going to be showing you how to make a spontaneous Himalyan Balsam seed curry using leftovers in his kitchen.
This recipe serves 2 adults and 1 nine year old child.
Step 1
Go out and forage for Himalayan Balsam seed. Harvest as much as you think you need for a curry.
The pods burst at the slightest touch, to the squeals of young children, who find this plant an amazing toy while out walking. Mind you, I find it fun to burst the pods and I’m 44!
Step 2
Depending on how dried the seeds are their colour will vary from a milky, soft white, right through to a dark black.
Chris and I have both found that you can eat the seed at any stage of their colouration. Try and remove as much of the green seed pod as you can. But don’t obsess over it, as you can see from the photo above, there is still quite a bit left in the seeds after Chris had cleaned them.
Step 3
Take 1 onion and slice it up.
Step 4
Now add a few glugs of olive oil.
Step 5
Add the onion and fry gently until translucent and soft.
Step 6
Take 1 swede and cut into small cubes about 1/2 inches square.
Step 7
Now this is where Chris “cheated”. You need to add some curry paste, and the best curry pastes I find are Pataks. Chris used the Balti curry paste for this recipe.
Step 8
Add 2 tablespoons of your chosen curry paste, and mix in and fry with the onion for 1 minute or so.
Step 9
Now add your Himalayan Balsam seed…
Step 10
… and stir in.
Step 11
Next mix in your cubed swede.
Step 12
Add hot water until it just covers the contents of your saucepan.
Step 13
Now slice up a couple of sticks of celery.
Step 14
Add the celery to your curry along with a small chunk of creamed coconut. The more creamed coconut you add, the thicker your curry will be.
Step 15
Take 1 or 2 tomatoes and chop.
Step 16
Thinly slice 1 red pepper, and then chop into small pieces.
Step 17
Add the pepper and tomato and simmer gently until the vegetables are tender. But cook for at least 15 minutes.
Step 18
Eat with white or brown basmati rice.
Aside
Chris’s son Mali looks on thinking his Dad is mad for eating such strange food. Especially as you won’t find Himalayan Balsam listed in any of the wild food books that are available.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
A great recipe but please remember that Himalayan Balsam is a non-native invasive species that is causing huge problems for our rivers and wetlands – by outcompeting native vegetation and leading to bank erosion in the winter when it dies back.
So please take huge care when collecting seeds not to make the problem worse, e.g. by collecting whole flower heads carefully into a bin bag and ‘popping’ the seeds out when you get home, and please please don’t encourage kids to burst them for fun!
That’s very true Emma, but eating them is one way to keep the population down. And yes I’m being serious. Next year when the new growth develops I’ll be experimenting with eating the leaves.
Short of spraying them, which I wouldn’t advise, there’s not much else available to keep their population from spreading. I say eat them.
This is a classic example of how we have removed ourselves from the landbase, where wild plant eating humans and animals kept things in balance, by grazing. Remove that connection and problems happen as you have described.
Also irrespective of whether kids (or adults) pop the seed pods, they eventually pop open on their own accord.
Am a countryside ranger. Many folk call us about Him. Balsalm and have often wondered whether there was a way to use it that went some way to helping to reduce the problem. So it’s nice to see this recipe.
When wild food collecting they say to leave a young replacement for the thing you are using, to perpetuate it in the wild. With this plant you can do the complete opposite and remove any others in the area , BEFORE seed time (and even flowering time), by pulling them up!
Now if someone can find a way of SAFELY cropping or using Japanese Knotweed then they might be onto a fortune, as this costs local authorites a fortune to remove. The mereest bit of Jap Knotweed will produce a new plant – so even strimming it doesn’t help. Beware – it is illegal to re-seed or re-plant these two species.
cheers for your efforts re wild food.
Callum, regarding leaving plants to regenerate rather than plant-strip the whole patch, this is indeed very true. I always advise that folk only take a small amount of plant matter away with them, always leaving some for other foragers, as well as to allow the plant to regrow. If need be, find somewhere else where the plant grows more prolifically.
I am blessed and cursed with about an acre of the stuff, so did some research into the possibility of making use. I was happy to discover that at least the seeds are edible, and found them rather pleasant, not to mention fun to pop – and I am 52. I love the idea of eating a problem. However, I would stay clear of the leaves, as they contain calcium oxalate. Forgetting about that little fact, I did taste a young leaf last year, only to find my mouth burn.
One of the things to bear in mind when pulling the plants up (which is very easy), is to do it on a sunny day and lay the plants somewhere where they don’t get in contact with the ground. They can very easily re-root from almost anywhere on their stem.
Judy: Thanks for pointing out the calcium oxalate in Himalayan Balsam. Ken Fern from Plants for a Future mentions that “It can be harmful raw but is destroyed by thoroughly cooking or drying the plant”
This plant still needs to be researched more and can be placed in the “exotic” category of wild edible plants.
I wish I had known about this recipe before spending 3 hours with my conservation group pulling up the little blighters. We could have had free dinners for a week. How about a nice bowl of Japanese Knotweed trifle for afters?
I’ve got a patch of H.Balsam growing beside a stream not more than 50 feet from where I am writing this! I shall definately be collecting the seeds, (via the; bag the whole head method) and using them in curries and the like! Yummy!!!
Jap Knotweed are edible, the young shoots when they first pop out the ground make a great rhubarb substitute, for ecological reasons its best to get a gang together who all like the taste then pick every couple of days, no plant can with stand repeated cuting back to earth level.
The root of jap. knotweed is also very usable in various medicinal treatments nobably for treatment of lymes disease…
Karen – That’s interesting about using knotweed for the treatment of lymes disease I hadn’t heard that. I don’t supose you have a link?
More off topic, I want to draw this plant but can’t find it. Does anyone know where I could find it, easy access from south london or in suffolk?
Then I’ll gather some seeds and try that recipe.
Thanks!
Eating Himalayan balsam, an interesting idea. Does any one know whether or not this would kill all of the seeds? I’d hope that they’d be fairly unlikely to germinate after being cooked and digested!
Cyrise: Cooking I imagine would kill any chance of the seed being able to germinate.
While I most always appreciate seeing uses for plants that would otherwise be considered problematic, I am dismayed by your attitude, Robin, which strikes me as, as rigid as those who would demolish all but manicured lawns.
The Himalayan balsam is, in fact, taking over acreage here, (coastal Maine), and, despite repeated pulling, the seeding ability is so powerful that it is a continuing menace to other plant life.
Saying in response, “This is a classic example of how we have removed ourselves from the landbase, where wild plant eating humans and animals kept things in balance, by grazing.” It is absurd to use the Himalayan balsam as an example here.
And you read the Guardian?
Well JR, what do you expect from a lefty, Guardian reader who calls his children Mali.
Re cooking / digesting seeds preventing germination
This recipe sounds a great use for something so bad for our native plants however I’d still be concerned about whole seeds going into the sewage system? My brother in law drives tankers collecting waste etc & there was a range of veg “growing” in certain areas by outlets (lots of toms!) if they were ground up they’d be ok but guess that affects the texture/consistency of the curry?
Thanks for this, we have lots of wild Himalayan Balsam here. People go nuts about it, calling it an “alien” and hating on it, when in actual fact it’s been very beneficial especially for the bee population. A couple of years ago our honey bees suffered mightily, one of the few food sources for them at a late time of year was the balsam! It was alive with bees for weeks, when little else was flowering. It was a sight to behold. The next year people pulled the balsam at an early stage, and at the same time of year there was nothing growing but grass, bramble and nettle, there wasn’t a bee to be seen. it was pretty sad to see little food for them. There’s so many flora and fauna from other countries here now that I say go with the times & embrace the balsam. I know I do and it brings me more pleasure to see and smell the scent than anything our native plants do!
Also Kate Humble of Springwatch fame has said the balsam has helped her bees too, so it’s good to know not everyone is freaking out over a flower.
Dont worry about the seeds of balsam still being viable – cooking destroys their ability to germinate. The reason you see so many acres of tomatoes around sewage settlement sites is that people eat tomatoes raw – these uncooked seeds pass through us quite happily and will germinate.
I love the plant, sorry, but i do – and i love the way all the bees look frosted from the white pollen- i thought i’d discovered a new species when i first saw them!
Hello,
Thank you for such a wonderful article and to all the folk who left such brilliant comments. (& Who really cares about how much of a lefty Chris is(!), Mali is a lovely name and and he looks perfectly healthy on the curry!) Thanks also for Samantha Emily’s comment especially, since we should all have a passion for other creatures who are sharing the environment with us…
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