The woods behind dad's place is loaded with them too. We haven't tried to relocate any of them. Just did our best to not OVER harvest them. Thrived all these years, so we must be doing something right. Sure enjoy them, though. Potato and leek soup is awesome. Some homemade venison keilbasa makes it next level. Have you successfully preserved them? We dehydrated some. Not the same.
Leeks are something that haven't ever been on my radar. Looking at pics of them, I believe I have seen them in some of my morel mushroom spots. Do you only mainly only use the bulb?
I use the entire plant. The leaf is better when smaller they make a tasty lettuce replacement on sandwiches and great green in salads. Sweeter than the bulbs. Great chopped up in soups and eggs too. Leeks do not last long in the woods once they are up, best to get early. Find ones the sun hasn't gotten to. You can tell difference by size of leaf and colour...you want bright green ones that are a bit more narrow. Soil conditions dictate the taste of them. We have a rich soil in the woods ,thus the numbers,that said those in the red sandy/clay are not as good as the more black loans . Some may have a blue hue to the outer skins...that are fine to eat. that is removed with outer "skin" when cleaning. Note will discolor your skin for a bit if your cleaning many. TIP!!! They come out at the same time,as trout Lilly. They grow together at times. We have those every where as well, beautiful. You don't want to confuse them, trout lily are named for there Brown speckled leaf. These are smaller than leeks . Trout Lilly developed a beautiful small yellow Lilly flower. Also when going out to dig leeks or shroom hunting, PLEASE pull all wild Chinese garlic. It's invasive and does not look like garlic smells similar though with a rounder scalloped leaf. I can't link a pic sorry. They produce from root and a zillion seeds. They will take over your good wild plants if left unchecked.
We just had some with kielbasa the other night. UN processed one to fix our gut bio after Covid. I have both processed jars I made and ones I haven't. I process some to stop fermentation and have a milder taste I love sauerkraut. I have dozens of cabbage plants waiting to go in the garden.
My family is Czech on one side and German on the other so I have to like sauerkraut. We have an antique crock we still use to make it
I make stir fry cabbage so damn good. You fry a pound of bacon in a pan take the bacon out, add 1/2 cup water and a cut up stick of butter on top of a chopped head of cabbage, cook till tender crumble the bacon and put it on top of the cabbage. Was my Mom's favorite.
I learned how to make it at a truck stop cafe in Nacogdoches texas when I was down there on a fire detail. We were on a good fire that day and didn't get to dinner till 9:00 they were out but they made me a batch and let me watch them make it.
Man does it get any better? I’ve got money coming from all over the world…no need for a powerball ticket…
Nacogdoches TX. Home of Clint Dempsey. Small town hero playing soccer barefoot to being an international soccer stud.
