How to identify and forage Texas wild mustard: bastard cabbage

Latin name: Rapistrum rugosum
Common names: Bastard cabbage, turnipweed, turnip weed, giant mustard
Season: Spring and early summer
Edible: Yes, entire above-ground plant
Flavor: Good to great
Nutritional: Yes, vitamins K, A, C, E and all the Bs, also copper and iron

Identification difficulty: Novice

Rapistrum rugosum, most commonly know as bastard cabbage, and less commonly as giant mustard, turnipweed or turnip weed, seems to be nothing more than a tall, cheerful yellow wildflower that paints Texas in swaths of color. 

But looks can be deceiving. 

Bastard cabbage is a wild mustard, (cabbage is in the mustard family), that gets it's common name from its highly invasive nature. Originally from Southern Europe, the Mediterranean and Northern Africa, bastard cabbage has spread to 17 U.S. states and has hit Texas particularly hard. 

Bastard cabbage has a deep, deep taproot that makes it hard to "root" out, (ha, ha, ha), and a habit of being one of the first things to flower in the spring, getting well-established before native plants can get a foothold. Indeed, it's rapidly displacing native wild flowers, like bluebonnets.

It's also edible and quite tasty when prepared correctly. So let's take a moment to get to know this invasive weed, you you too can try it!

Bastard cabbage identification 

Special note: Bastard cabbage is relatively easy to identify once its flowering, but can be more challenging before that. I recommend not harvesting this plant before flowering unless you have become fairly familiar with it, or are familiar with foraging mustards in general. 

After construction of apartment complexes, there are often
fields of bastard cabbage, which spring up in disturbed soil.

Location and season

One reason why bastard cabbage is so invasive is because it's one of the earliest greens we will see pop up in the season, usually by the first week of March hear in Texas. It gets a head-start on many native plants. 

Trails are another common place to find bastard cabbage.
Note the height and size of the mature plants.

Additionally, this is a ruderal species. That means that it's one of the first plants to get established if the ground is disturbed. In purely natural areas, disturbed ground is most common around creeks and in flood plains. But humans frequently disturb the ground for construction, road work, creating trails and pathways, in fields for seasonal farming, and for many other reasons. These are all good places to look for bastard cabbage--though don't eat it from near a highway or any other potentially contaminated area. It can also grow in and around trees that would usually provide too much shade for other plants, as bastard cabbage gets established before the trees leaf out.  

Plant size and shape

Bastard cabbage begins as a basal rosette, or a circular mat of leaves coming out from a central point, flat against the ground. Very quickly those leaves start to build up, creating a "fluffy" circle. 

When mature, plants will reach around 3' at the very tips of their flower stalks. They will be quite leafy for about 2/3 of their height, then be almost bare branches with just tiny leaves and flowers. The diameter of the leafy base will be between 1' and 2 1/2'. 

4-petaled yellow flowers in oval-shaped clusters

Flowers and fruits

The flowers are the most distinctive part of bastard cabbage, and I recommend not foraging them until they flower, at least not until you are quite familiar with the plant. 

Flowers are around 1/3 to 1/2 inch, bright yellow, have 4 petals in a cross shape. They grow at the ends of the central stalk or the ends of side branches in oval-shaped clusters.

Flowers appear by mid-spring (late March/early April in Texas) and the plant will generally be done flowering by late spring (May here in Texas). 

The flowers leave behind small, teardrop-shaped fruits, the size of a pencil lead, which will cling to the stalk until they ripen in to seeds. 

Stalk and branches

The stalk for bastard cabbage is light green and looks like it has textural striations along it. There aren't any red spots, though right before the plant bolts, the junction between the baby branches and the main stalk might look a little reddish or orangish. 

Right before the plant bolts the main stalk will have a green flower bud, and the baby branches will also have tiny buds (see the area circled in red). The stalk will be about 1/4" in diameter at this point. 

The branches are never directly opposite each other, they are always slightly offset vertically. But they will always alternate which side of the stalk they come off of. 

When the plant bolts (begins its reproductive phase), the central stalk will shoot up about a foot taller than the leafy base. The green buds will turn into yellow flowers, and the baby branches will grow out, making the whole plant multi-branched. 

When mature, the stalk will thicken to 1/2" or 3/4" in diameter and become a brighter, almost lime green. The branches can be grow to be 1/2" thick. 

Incredible variation in mature leaf shape, size, number of lobes, lobe size, and edge texture. 

Leaves

Bastard cabbage has some frustratingly complicated leaves. At the base of the plant and in the basal rosette, leaves will be quite large, from 8" to 12" long. They are often dark green and very wrinkly, but can also be medium green and unwrinkled. They have a long central mid-rib that is light green or white. 

The mature leaves are always deeply lobed, but sometimes those lobes can be more or less even in size and there can be many of them (above right), other times they can appear more as a spoon shape--with one giant lobe at the end of a long leaf stalk, with only tiny, barely noticeable lobes running along the stalk (above left). 

Just like leaf shapes, leaf edges also vary greatly. Edges will be scalloped, small toothed, large toothed (like a saw blade), wavy or even nearly smooth, though never fully smooth. 

To make things even more complicated, many of the smaller leaves near the top of the plant will be triangular or lanceolate and may or may not have any lobes. 

This is why it's important to use more features than just leaf shape at first. 

Many, but not all, mature leaves will have textural bumps.

Bastard cabbage plants will always have several leaves that are covered in tiny, textural bumps. But not EVERY leaf will have this feature. They are more common on mature leaves, and may be significantly less obvious than on the example above. 

Foraging and Identifying EDIBLE black nightshade berries

Latin Name: Solanum nigrum, Solanum americanum and Solanum ptychanthum
Common Names: Black nightshade
Season: Summer through mid fall (northern states/Canada), early summer through fall and early winter (southern states/Mexico)
Edible: Yes, ripe fruit (see note about young green leaves)
Flavor: Excellent 
Medicinal and nutritional value: Undetermined, probably similar to tomatoes 

Identification difficulty: Intermediate

Warning: The plants known as "black nightshades" are in the nightshade family, which has some infamously poisonous and deadly members, including deadly nightshade, Atropa belladonna. The plants we will be discussing today are more closely related to tomatoes and eggplants, and have fruit that is edible when FULLY RIPE and cooked. Unripe fruit has been known to be deadly poisonous, especially to children. Even though we will go over how to safely identify and forage these plants, especial care should be given whenever foraging the nightshade family, and you must consult with several reliable sources regarding identification and safe consumption of these plants. As always, this blog is intended as a guide, but not the sole guide. 

Nightshade. The very name is nearly synonymous in our cultural consciousness with poison. This is odd because, unless you have an allergy, there's a good chance that you eat nightshades most every day. 

Tomatoes, potatoes, yams, eggplant, sweet and spicy peppers, these are all fruits in the nightshade family that are readily eaten in North America and Europe. Central and South American countries frequently eat even a wider variety of nightshades, including groundcherries, tomatillos, and naranjilla. In Southeast Asia one could also find goji berries among the list of commonly eaten nightshades. 

The plants we are going to talk about today are members of the genus Solanum, specifically Solanum nigrum (European black nightshade, African black nightshade or Old-World black nightshade), Solanum americanum (American black nightshade, glossy black nightshade or new-world black nightshade), and Solanum ptychanthum (Eastern black nightshade or Indian black nightshade). The three species of black nightshades are in the same genus as tomatoes, (Solanum lycopersicum), potatoes, (Solanum tuberosum), and eggplants/aubergines (Solanum melongena). 

Collectively, these plants are called black nightshades in North America, a name which encourages confusion and fear with another black-fruiting nightshade called deadly nightshade, or Atropa belladonna. In Europe, these species are sometimes known as garden huckleberries, but the name huckleberry refers to a completely different plant, related to blueberries, in North America. 

In honor of spooky season, I thought it would be fun to share this post in October. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Black nightshade caution and controversy

I'm trying to get more confident at identifying
black nightshades at this young stage so that I may 
try the cooked young leaves. 

There are many sources, including some very official ones, that will tell you that the fruit of black nightshade plants is poisonous. Many state websites state that the ripe fruit is less poisonous than the other parts of the plant, but poisonous nevertheless. Some people say they eat the ripe fruit raw, and still others say it must be cooked. 

Additionally, there are many sources which will tell you that the young leaves and stems are edible cooked and used as a pot-herb in many parts of the world. Still other sources will tell you that the plants may be edible in say, Africa, but become poisonous in North America. There is also the possibility that these nightshades might hybridize with other members of the genus Solanum, and that's why people have found poisonous leaves. . .

So what to believe? Well, I don't know everything, so I am only sharing with you here what I DO know. and that is that I have eaten the fully ripe, black berries, both completely raw and fully cooked and have suffered no ill effects. I have not eaten the young green leaves, but if I do I will let you know. I will not make any statement I have not personally tried myself. 

That said, I would be willing to try young black nightshade leaves, as I trust the sources who say they are edible, but personally I find the young plants difficult to distinguish from other, potentially poisonous nightshades. The plants are hard to tell apart before the flower buds form, and once the flower buds do form, you shouldn't be eating the leaves any longer. 

Mature old-world black nightshade plant, Solanum nigrum, growing on my own property,
portion of a woman's size 10 foot (mine) for scale.
Plant is covered in flowers and both ripe and unripe fruit. 
Photo taken north of Dallas in late May.

Mature American black nightshade, Solanum americanum, growing in one of the most disgusting alleyways in downtown Dallas TX, and absolutely loving it.
Covered in flowers and fruit (I didn't eat, given the location).
This picture was taken in mid-December.

Black nightshade identification

A special note on identification

The three "black nightshade" plants are different but have overlapping features, which makes grouping them together into one ID post rather tricky. Solanum nigrum and Solanum americanum are the most different, and Solanum ptychanthum is kind of like a mix between both features. In fact, some speculate that S. ptychanthum might be a hybrid species from intermixing between the native and introduced plants. Regardless, I will do my best to specify which features are the same and which are different between the species. 

• S. nigrum, commonly known as black nightshade or European black nightshade is native to Eurasia but has spread throughout the Americas, Australia/Indonesia/New Zealand, and parts of Africa.
• S. americanum, commonly known as American black nightshade or glossy nightshade, is native to northern South America, Central America, the southern and west-coast states of the United States, and--surprisingly--Australia. It has spread beyond it's native range and can be found throughout the Americas, and has been introduced to many warm-climate regions of the world, including the Mediterranean and many parts of Africa. 
• S. ptychanthum, or eastern black nightshade is found throughout North America and into Central America. Whether it is native or not is debatable. If it is not native, it is debatable where it originated. There is speculation that it is a hybrid species between S. nigrum and S. americanum. Despite having a larger range than S. americanum, it is less commonly encountered than either of the above species. 

In my experience in the US, S. nigrum is far and away the most abundant of the black nightshades, followed by S. americanum (most abundant on the east coast), while S. ptychanthum is quite rare. Indeed, I am not 100% sure when I have identified it and that I wasn't actually finding a weird S. nigrum. 

S. ptychanthum leaves looking a bit more lanceolate than either other black nightshade, 
but with features that resemble the other 2, including some scalloped edges like S. nigrum,
but also some smoothness at the end of the leaf, like S. americanum.

Black nightshade plant and stem features

• Black nightshade is a weedy looking plant, not much more than 2 feet tall, often much shorter, and between 8 inches and 4 feet in diameter. 
• Black nightshade is multi-branching, and will grow stretched out where conditions are less than ideal, but will grow full and bushy where it has good soil and shade. 
• Black nightshade stems are green (S. americanum) or green with red/purple branch nodes (S. ptychanthum and S. nigrum). In some cases of heavy sunlight, S. nigrum and S. ptychanthum will have fully red-purple stems.
• Black nightshade will reach its full size somewhere in late spring, but will not fruit until summer.

Purple/red blotches at the stem joints of S. nigrum; also note the unripe fruit, (which is poisonous),
with calyxes that are smaller than the berry.

Scalloped leaves on S. nigrum; S. americanum has smooth leaf edges.

Black nightshade leaf features

• Black nightshade leaves are generally diamond-shaped or pointed-egg shaped. Leaves are shorter on the side attached to the petiole (leaf stem) and elongated after the widest part of the leaf. In poor growing conditions these leaves can be more lanceolate.
• S. nigrum leaves can be quite large when mature, as large as a deck of cards. These leaves will have large scallops on the leaf edges. S. nigrum leaves are a solid bright green to emerald green with a prominent central mid-vein. Veins branch off the mid-vein and angle forward to the leaf edge. 
• S. americanum leaves are around 1/3 to 1/2 smaller, not much larger than an extra-large chicken egg, at the largest. American black nightshade leaves are emerald green and may have a "mottled" light green pattern, like a turtle's shell. S. americanum leaves have a central mid-vein, and the veins that branch off angle forward, but they don't go to the leaf edge, instead they curve into the next vein. 
• S. ptychanthum leaves have features resembling both S. nigrum and S. americanum. 
• Leaves do NOT appear as a compound leaf, which is to say, they do NOT appear like multiple leaflets growing off a central leaf stem. (More on this later)
• Most black nightshade leaves are lighter on the underside than on the top, but only slightly. The undersides are definitely not silvery or white. S. ptycanthum, however, can have purple or dark grey on the underside of the leaf.

Both S. nigrum (left) and S. americanum (right) exhibiting what
I've termed "fractal threes" leaf growth. Many nightshades grow leaves like this.

"Fractal threes" leaf growth

Many plants in the nightshade family exhibit a leaf growth that I call "fractal threes" -- I'm not sure if there is a scientific name for the term. If you look at the image directly above, you will see that leaves grow in sets of 3, which then continually add in triads. 

The image of  S. nigrum (left) has 3 large leaves, but the 2 bottom leaves have grown 2 more leaves each, making them into new sets of 3. Additionally, the  2 smaller leaves on the top set each have tiny little leaves growing, again producing sets of 3. Unfortunately, many other nightshades, including poisonous ones, also exhibit this feature. 

Another detail of the repeating patterns of threes in nightshade leaf growth,
this example is S. nigrum

Black nightshade flower features

• Black nightshade flowers have WHITE petals with yellow centers. Petals are not yellow, and especially not purple, blue, pink or burgundy. 
• Black night shade flowers have 5 petals, arranged like a traditional star--NOT a bell or tube.
• The petals of black nightshade flowers are straight at first, but eventually bend backwards, making the flower resemble a firework.
• The yellow anthers, at the center of the petal cluster, are quite prominent and stick out significantly. 
• Flowers grow in clusters, where each flower is on a stem, but the stems come together at a single point attaching to the branches. Together the flower stems bow slightly, reminding me of the ribs on an umbrella. 
• Flowers do not grow individually, nor do they grow in a line

Focus on the calyxes

Black nightshade calyx features

The calyx is a "whorl" or "crown" of sepals (flower parts) after the flower has seemingly died away. The calyx is most often green and will resemble a leaf formation to the untrained eye. The calyx appears on top of the fruit, where the fruit stem attaches. 

• Black nightshade berries have 5-part calyxes that are SMALLER than the diameter of the berry, and curve backwards towards the fruit stem. 
• The calyx looks like leaves forming a crown at the top of the berry.
• Black nightshade calyxes are green/dark green and not purple or reddish
• Calyxes are rounded on the ends, or come to soft points; they do not come to long, sharp points that look like daggers or claws.

S. nigrum fruit showing green fruit, partially ripe red/green fruit and 
fully ripe black fruit. Only the ripe fruit should be eaten.

Black nightshade fruit features

• Black nightshade fruits in summer and fall, into winter in the Southern United States. The plant will frequently have both flowers and fruit on it at the same time, helping with identification. 

• 

  Unripe fruit, which is poisonous, should not be eaten

  Black nightshade fruits are green when unripe and black* when ripe.
• Fruit ripens from green to dark green to purple-green to black. It never has a yellow, orange or red phase. If you find fruit in these colors you have the wrong plant.
• Fruit is small, slightly smaller than a pea (1cm/.4 of an inch) for S. americanum and S. ptychanthum, and slightly larger than a pea for S. nigrum. When green, fruit is the size of a pencil eraser. 
• Berries are shiny/glossy for S. americanum, and matte or dull for the other two species of black nightshade.
• Berries grow in clusters, NOT INDIVIDUALLY. The clusters hang from fruit stems, all of which come together at one point. The fruit also does not grow in a line. 
• Ripe black nightshade fruit are filled with tiny seeds that surround a central core (rather like a tiny tomato). Between the seeds the flesh is juicy and translucent, like a grape but softer and purple. 

* Some varieties produce reddish-orange fruits, but these do not grow in North America, and should not be eaten if found unless you trust a local expert to identify them for you. 

Very young black nightshade

Very young black nightshade leaves are edible, but resemble far too many other members of the nightshade family, including poisonous or deadly species. I currently avoid young nightshades and recommend the same for anyone who isn't very experienced. 

Purslane cucumber avocado yogurt gazpacho

As mentioned in my last post, my husband and I have a semi-wild, semi-cultivated space in our front yard that is covered in edible plants, both planted and wild. 

One of these plants that basically edges the entire length of the space is a favorite of mine--purslane! 

Purslane is one of the most nutritious wild plants that one can forage. It's a succulent native to North Africa and the Mediterranean, but has become either naturalized or invasive (depending on whom you talk to) in the southern United States. 

Purslane forms dense mats, becoming a succulent groundcover

Purslane has one of the highest concentrations of magnesium you can find in a plant, higher than spinach. It also has high levels of various anti-oxidants, calcium, sodium and Omega 3 fatty acids. It's actually one of the only terrestrial plants that has Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) fatty acid, most commonly found from animal sources. Generally vegan supplements use algae to provide this nutrient. However, purslane doesn't have enough of it to support your body's need all alone. It's just a fun fact!

Purslane also has high concentrations of oxalic acid, and so it shouldn't be eaten by those with liver or kidney disorders. 

I have a post all about purslane, including how to identify it, click here.

Personal story time

One of our many thriving basil plants 

Last Friday I had to undergo a total thyroidectomy. I am in recovery and doing extremely well. For example, I was given 7 days of double-dose  painkillers (omg!) but only ever took one pill at a time, and then only for 2 days. 

I've had to sponge bath since Friday though, and I am desperately looking forward to my first shower since the surgery. By the time this posts I expect I will finally have had one, I can shower again on Wednesday. My hair is a greasy mess, I can't seem to get it clean with a sponge bath. 

Anyway, I was told that I would need at least a week of cold, soft foods only, so the weekend before last I took some time to prepared a bunch of cold soups I could put in the freezer, and this gazpacho was one of them. Because I was freezing it, I didn't actually add the yogurt when I made it originally. Instead I mixed it in after defrosting. For this reason, my yogurt measurements might be a bit off. 

While mixing the soup, I was originally going to add cilantro, but tasting it as I was making it, I knew that was the wrong choice. I wondered out to the herb garden and decided that the freshness and subtle sweetness of Italian basil was required. 

Fortunately, the basil has been growing like mad this year. We have 6 very large, very full plants, despite making pesto every other weekend. 

Purslane, cucumber, yogurt & avocado gazpacho recipe

Serves 6-7 as a side or starter. Recipe can be halved

• 4-5 cups of roughly chopped purslane, about 1 large colander full
• 3 English cucumbers or 8 Persian cucumbers, roughly chopped
• 4 large avocados, just ripe or slightly underripe, skinned, seeded, and roughly chopped
• 1 medium lemon
• 8 medium fresh basil leaves
• 2 cups of water or unseasoned vegetable stock
• 1 clove of garlic, sliced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 5 cups of yogurt

Horseweed, lavender and parmesan savory shortbread

Over the past few years, my husband and I have been trying to fill in some holes in the landscaping of our front yard. During the bad winters of 21 and 22 several very, very, very large bushes died, leaving a bare area of more than 20 feed wide and about 12 feet deep in front of the dining room window. 

We didn't want to refill the area with more non-native, water guzzling landscaping bushes, and have instead been trying to find shrubs and perennial plants that fit our very restrictive list:

• 

  Early flowerbud on my surviving lavender

  Native or easy to naturalize, but without the risk of becoming invasive
• Low water or true xeriscape
• Good for pollinators
• Edible or medicinal (or both!)
• Grows densely enough that I don't have to weed

So far we have a large mat of native-to-the-southwest blanket flower (Gaillardia) surrounding the ginkgo tree (which fortunately survived), an English lavender shrub that was supposed to be 6 plants but only one survived, a seedling Feijoa (Acca sellowiana) which I believed had died twice but came back stronger each time, and a native-hybrid "hot lips" sagebush (salvia microphylla) which seems to be trying so hard to die and I just won't let it. There were supposed to be 3 different sages with 3 different flavor profiles, but this is the only one which has (so far) survived. 

Given all the plant deaths, what has survived covers barely 1/10th of the available space. But on the plus side, the weeds that have popped up in the remaining area are all edible. The crown jewel of wild plants in the space must be the very large black nightshade, Solanum nigrum, which produces an insane amount of fruit, but must be cut back repeatedly or it will fully engulf the salvia. Also popping up are wild lettuce, Asiatic dayflower, purslane, and some other nightshades I can't quite identify yet, but I think might be groundcherries (Physalis).

An ancient understanding of herbs

There is a historical tradition in many parts of Italy, that when it comes to curing meats, like capicola, you want to season the meat using the same herbs plants that the pig itself has been eating. So while a generic capicola curing packet might contain thyme, juniper and fennel, the small, local batches that have been done the same way for centuries will use ONLY fennel from the region, only thyme from the hillsides where the animals roam, and only the local juniper berries that fall and are gobbled up by the pigs. 

Horseweed & lavender,
I actually added a bit more than this

The thought behind this is that when things grow together it is both flavorful and healthful to consume them together. 

Why do I bring this up?

Well, this is what inspired me to make this recipe. You see, I saw the horseweed growing so abundantly in and around the lavender that I couldn't help but wonder if the two would taste good together. And the combination is WONDERFUL!

Savory shortbread recipes have been trending for a while. Or maybe they are past trending, I tend to only become aware of trends by the time they have largely ceased to be trends any longer. But regardless, they often contain thyme and rosemary. I do like thyme in small amounts, but I really don't care for rosemary. So I was excited to try the idea of the recipe with other herbs I enjoy. 

Savory horseweed, lavender and parmesan shortbread recipe

Makes 25-30 shortbreads, depending on size. Can be doubled or tripled.

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 8 tbs / 4 oz / 1 stick of butter (I used grass-fed European butter)
• 4 oz parmesan cheese, grated*
• 1/2 cup finely chopped, freshly picked horseweed and lavender, about 3/4 cup un-chopped
• 2 medium navel oranges, juice and zest
• Pinch of kosher salt (omit if using salted butter)

*Don't buy pre-grated cheese here, it's worth it to grate your own--and very easy to do in a food processor. Pre-grated parmesan has cellulous added to keep it from sticking together, and that will really mess with the subtle flavors here. 

Images a bit out of order, from left to right: 
The butter softened and whipped, the finely chopped herbs, and the zested orange. 
All of this was done in the food processor.