Vol 1, No 1     Page 2A
Spiny Thistle - (Cirsium horridulum)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)
April 2003
GRAPHICS INTENSIVE PAGE! GIVE IT TIME TO LOAD.

Page 2 (A & B) of this issue features two captioned slide shows on how to harvest and prepare Spiny Thistle (this page) and Sow Thistle (2B). The same principles can be applied to other thistles. Lots more information on thistles on Page 3.

When you get done seeing both slide shows, take the Poll on Page 3, indicating which format you prefer (automatic or manual) for future issues.

Automatic Slide Show
Harvesting and Preparing Spiny Thistle
Tools Required: Boots, thick gloves, machette or sharp knife, paring knife, sharp kitchen knife, cutting board.
Total field harvesting time: 3-5 minutes per plant.
Total home preparation time: 10 minutes per plant.
Yield: from 2 lb. stalk shown, approximately 18 oz. Harvest a dozen while you're at it.
Flavor: Mild, cool, crisp, juicy (similar to celery in texture and crunch).
Storage: freezes well. Keeps in refrigerator for several days.
Serving Suggestions : raw in salads or alone; add to stir fry, soups, stews, omelets; batter fry; or fill 3" segments with your favorite stuffing, bake for 30 minutes, top with cheese last 5 minutes. Yum!
Notes: Also edible are the young leaves, if you care to take the trouble to trim the spines off. Roots are edible, and can be boiled as a tea. Some thistles have a deep taproot worth digging up. Spiny thistles are all in the sunflower family, close relatives to the artichoke. Some part of the flowers, and the seeds, are also supposed to be edible but I've never tried it.
Medicinal properties: Various parts of certain thistles are said to have medicinal properties, particularly in liver regeneration and to cause a sweat. Follow links on Page 3 to learn more.


Spiny Thistle Baby


Some thistles have purple veins.
  

The spiny thistle's "signature" is:

  • Spines galore
  • clusters of several flower buds on a single upright stalk rising up from a central rosette. Some stalks branch into multiple stalks.
  • spiny flowers
  • plant grows in a rosette from a single center.
  • many but not all varieties have a downy fuzz on the leaves -- as in: "the leaves they all flew like the down on a thistle". Mature flowers produce feathery "thistles" that contain the seeds and blow away in the wind.

The flower stalk gets lanky as it grows and the leaves get tougher and tougher. The spines do not soften with cooking.

A spiny thistle's defense protects
the plant's juicy, delicious stalk.

Leaves range from very to moderately spiny.

 

 

 

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