Hollyhocks and Mallow Links

Every time I teach a workshop, I delve a little deeper and wider into the topic. I am talking about edible flowers on Thursday, and so I am mentally going through my garden to see what I could be eating. I knew that the petals of hollyhocks were edible, but was surprised to read that in some cultures the leaves are eaten as well.

In a blog about the flowers, trees and herbs of Jerusalem, Josephine Levin gives two recipes for using the leaves as well as how to eat the immature seeds of mallow plants.

"During the 1948 war for Independence when Jerusalem was under siege, many people saved themselves from starvation by eating wild mallow and hollyhock leaves, roots, seeds etc. In fact the Arabic words hubes for hollyhocks hubesa for mallows mean bread."

 In the blog Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook, Hank Shaw forages for mallow and makes his take on dolmades.

The Nerdy Farm Wife (great name, BTW) outlines five uses for Hollyhocks, including using them in a pretty soap.

And now I can refer you to a post I made earlier on the Malvaceae flowers in my garden.

Playing Rude

What is this tiny ghost

I see as I water the raspberries,

a honeybee covered headtotoe in pink mallow dust,

frantically she preens powder out of her eyes,

plops down on a hollyhock leaf to perform her ablutions,

then heads for a bud on the vulgar malva sylvestris,

tries to pry it open with her tongue,

craving still more.

Note: "Playing rude" is an expression I read in a story by a B.C. author Annie Scoones. I need to reread her books to find that reference, so please bear with me and try to track down those books--they're great.