Good King Henry

[noviceveggrower]

Hi,
I was looking in an allotment book and found Good King Henry. Or sometimes it is called mercer, lincolnshire spinach and poor mans asparagus according to the book.
Does anyone grow it?
According to the veg book there are so many "old fashioned" herbs out there people are forgetting about them and forgetting how good they are. Another one they suggest is Balm of Gilead so old its mentioned in the Bible.

[sparrow100]

Growing it next year - hoping it's tasty.

[Kristen]

I wonder about anything where you can harvest the top, as well as the root, as it seems to me that if you harvest the top you are stealing energy from the potential root ...

But I've never grown it, so don't know if that is actually an issue.

[mothhawk]

A lot of "old-fashioned" edible herbs are rightly 'forgotten' because they taste bleugh. But in "old-fashioned" days if you were poor, as in "the starving poor", you'd eat anything that didn't kill you, and not worry too much about taste. Most greens are good for you and full of vitamins and minerals, and nowadays if you have a bit of soil to grow stuff in, easy to produce, so we tend to grow for taste and productivity,and don't have to forage on weeds to keep the wolf from the door

[Alison]

I grew it last year but only ate the young shoots, quite tasty in a stir fry and would probably work ok in a salad too

[noviceveggrower]

I grew it last year but only ate the young shoots, quite tasty in a stir fry and would probably work ok in a salad too

The book I have says use the shoots between April and June steam like asparagus. The stop cutting for a bit. Then when it has plenty of leaves cook it like spinach. Good to know about a stir fry as I quite like them

[Rustybean]

Good king Henry ! It may sound a interesting crop but if you let it seed it will spread everywhere - one of the most prolific weeds I have everywhere.


Sent from my

[Kristen]

I grew it last year but only ate the young shoots, quite tasty in a stir fry and would probably work ok in a salad too

Acid test, for me, would be "Would you grow it again?"

I've got a lot of things, tried once, which are definitely NOT on that list

[Alison]

Acid test, for me, would be "Would you grow it again?"

I've got a lot of things, tried once, which are definitely NOT on that list

Yes if I've got a spare space. It's not on my MUST grow list but I'd happily use it in the same way as I do with most cut and come again stuff, shove it into any spare space when I have time

[BertieFox]

I've grown it for years and it is truly perennial and comes back with no difficulty on heavy clay soil, right next to the polytunnel. It is pretty poor eating unless picked very young, and I have so much Swiss Chard growing around the place I tend to rarely eat it now, as the SC is so much better. As for the flowering shoots being 'like asparagus'...... in your dreams! They might look a teensy bit asparagus like but that is all. I guess it might be worth growing for something to eat after the Holocaust, but like many of these old veggies, there is a good reason why it's not often grown!

[elleme]

I was going to grow it until I had a sneaky nibble of a raw leaf when I visited a herb garden. I can't remember exactly what the taste was like but I recall I didn't like it - maybe too bitter. I have a small garden anyway and chard is a bit more ornamental. I wondered if the Good King Henry leaves were better cooked, but it sounds like that isn't the case.

[Ocelot]

I've grown it periodically. It has interesting shaped leaves, but not much to taste.

With regard to Balm of Gilead, there are a number of different plants going under the same name. the biblical one is though to be extinct. There is another (protected) plant, which is only grown in Palestine/Israel, and can't be exported. Finally, two other plants go under the name - one is the balsam poplar, which is a tree. The other is cedronella canariensis, which is a very good plant to grow (although on the tender side). I have loads.

[veggiechicken]

I have the cedronella canariensis too. Love the smell. Seems to self seed easily, but not invasive.

[Ocelot]

Yes, you once said you overwintered it outside. I find it self-seeds and takes readily from cuttings. I love the smell too.