Discover the Mauve Sylvestre, sweetness of the roadside
Everything in the mauve is soft: the rounded shape of its leaves, its harmonious flowers whose color has taken the name of the plant, its circular fruits that children call “cheeses” and nibble during their dinettes … I liked to practice this innocent tasting and always surprised the strange texture that hung my mouth. It is that the whole plant, from its roots to its fruits, contains in quantity of mucilage, a sticky substance – the term comes from “mucus”.
Whether you appreciate it or not, this particular compound, made up of long carbohydrate chains, has softening virtues which allow the mauve to heal all inflammation, external or internal, in the form of compresses or decorations. This is also why the mauve is deemed to be laxative, a property that we know how to take advantage since Antiquity. Thus, Cicero, in one of his many writings, claims to have been used to “letting go of the belly”, when the need was felt, consuming mauve soup.
Present in abundance on the edge of the paths, the mauve is an excellent wild vegetable, since everything is eaten at home. I like to add her young leaves to my salads, as well as the flowers that embellish them with their beauty.
A singular vegetable signature
These are the older leaves, carefully rid of their petiole, which serve me to prepare a local vegetable fondue, inspired by a traditional Egyptian dish, Molokhia. They can be implemented in many other more classic ways, alone or mixed with other wild or cultivated vegetables. The purple leaves present, because of their mucilage, the particularity of thickening the soups without the need to add starchy foods like potatoes. With flowers, I sometimes prepare delicate consumed with fine texture and bluish color: amazing and tasty.
As for the fruits, they can – with a lot of patience, because they are small – prepare like the Gombo, prized in African and Asian kitchens for its ability to link dishes and thicken the stews. Westerners are often put off by its viscous consistency, which the inhabitants of tropical countries love which relate to a good dose of chili … Only stems and roots could seem tough to some. Personally, I really like the mauve, in all its forms.
First publication of this text in the magazine Plants and health.
Recipe – Vegetable Fondue
For 2 to 3 people:
- 2 onions – 2 tablespoons of olive oil – 3 cloves of garlic – cumin – coriander (grains) – 400 g of purple leaves – water – 30 g of butter
1. In a thick background pan, brown the chopped onions in olive oil, with part of the garlic, cumin and coriander.
2. When the onions become transparent, add the purple leaves, washed and finely cut. Mix well.
3. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the leaves are reduced in mash. Watch from time to time and add a little water if necessary.
4. While the mauve cooked, brown in the butter the rest of the garlic, cumin and crushed coriander grain.
5. Pour the garlic and coriander in the mauve puree and place the dish in the middle of the guests. Each cut pieces of bread which he then dips in the vegetable fondue.
