Comments on: Himalayan Balsam Seed Curry Recipe

By: Himalayan Balsam – Impatiens glandulifera – food for free – Dave Hamilton | The urban guide to being self sufficient'ish

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:13:26 +0000

[...] yet (in July 2009) as they are still only in flower where I am. However here’s a recipe from eatweeds.co.uk for a curry made from the [...]

By: Robin

Robin — Sun, 17 May 2009 07:24:18 +0000

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.

By: judyofthewoods

judyofthewoods — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:43:19 +0000

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.

By: Robin

Robin — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:18:55 +0000

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.

By: Callum

Callum — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:58:07 +0000

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.

By: Robin

Robin — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:13:01 +0000

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.

By: Emma Herrera

Emma Herrera — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:27:09 +0000

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!