Spring came!

Greetings to you my friends! I'm glad to be online again. Yesterday afternoon, there were constant failures of my Internet service provider. A couple of hours ago, everything was fine.

May today's post about the spring and my finds in the swamps.

A couple of days ago I ran here with a camera and photographed the ice cover of local channels. Today, everything has changed. contrary to the fact that drizzle rain, I went to the swamps. I wanted to re-take some pictures in a different perspective. I discovered the first flowers yesterday, but these were the only bright spots on the gloomy, gray soil.

This plant we call Mother and Stepmother, her name in Latin Tussilago farfara.

So far, only inflorescences have appeared. Leaves will appear later. It will be wide leaves, which on the one hand will be smooth, and on the other hand, they will be rough.

This plant is widely used in medicine as an expectorant and fortifying agent during colds.

Here in Ukraine, otherwise, it is not used. But, I lived in Moldova for a long time, and I know how to use this plant in culinary means.

The leaves are used to prepare the dish, which in Asian countries is called Dalma, and in the countries of the post-Soviet space - stuffed cabbage.

The leaves sing, pour over boiling water. They are wrapped in rice mixed with vegetable and minced meat. Then, everything is put into the cauldron, poured with a mixture of ketchup, milk and sour cream with spices, covered with a lid and sent to the oven for 2-3 hours. It turns out very tasty dish. Served with sour cream.

This dish looks like this, but in this photo, my girls made Dalma from grape leaves.

Interesting, healthy and tasty plant. The taste is special, it is different from the taste of grape leaves, but I love those and other leaves.

The next plant is young Nettle, or Urtíca.

It looks very textured in macro. Bright green leaves with red tint and needles, it is very beautiful. It is not only beautiful, it is tasty and healthy.

At a young age, such as in this photo, nettles can be fried with sour cream, in the same way that mushrooms are fried. The taste is very similar to the mushroom taste. Still, nettles can be added to various soups. This is a great vitamin supplement. In the spring, after winter, we especially need vitamins.

Colds, kidney diseases, diseases of the digestive system, nettles are a great fight against these ailments. In childhood, I remember, they gave me to drink nettle juice.

Nearby I found a family of meadow agarics or Marasmius oreades, they could be collected and sent to a frying pan. These are the first mushrooms I found this year. Except for wood mushrooms.

My next find was Sorrel, or Rúmex.

This is a source of acid. in childhood, we loved to collect these leaves and eat. The cramp kept our cheekbones in the ear, but it was delicious and fun. Today, instead of Sorrel leaves, children buy Shock chocolates with a sour taste. Sorrel is better and more useful. I love soups with sorrel.

The first days of spring gave a lot of positive emotions.

Soon, I'll be back here.

Photos taken with a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX300 camera
Author @barski
Ukraine