Alexanders

The whole plant is edible, with a taste between celery and parsley – it is related to both – with a hint of lemon. The leaves, stems and young shoots can be used like celery, raw in salads or cooked in soups, though they benefit from blanching (mulching to prevent light) to reduce bitterness. The young shoots and leaves are also cooked and eaten with yoghurt, or eaten fresh as a salad. We use the young leaves mostly in salads and to make pesto.

In Turkey, where it is known as Baldiran or Göret, the roots are considered the best part – dug in winter, when the tubers are most fleshy, they are eaten cooked or fresh. The roots can be boiled and used in soups, and are also apparently excellent grated in coleslaw or tossed in salads, roasted like parsnips or deep fried.

The flower buds can used raw and the mature flowers used for tempura, and the large black seeds, which are easy to collect, can be used as a pepper substitute. All parts can also be used to make syrups, wine and beer.

The flowers of alexanders are fragrant and secrete copious amounts of nectar that is easily available to pollinators including flies, bees, beetles, butterflies and moths.

Producing a heap of biomass from Autumn through to spring, Alexanders is a great candidate for ‘chop and drop’ in a food forest system if you let is get established first.