Japanese Knotweed...... Anyone Hungry?!

[Green man 1970]

Just seen a story on BBC West but I can't find a link to it yet........

 

A chap in the west country is apprently making crumbles, jam & beer out of Japanese Knotweed.

Anyone ever heard of this before, or even tried it themselves?

[s.varty]

Just seen a story on BBC West but I can't find a link to it yet........

 

A chap in the west country is apprently making crumbles, jam & beer out of Japanese Knotweed.

Anyone ever heard of this before, or even tried it themselves?

 

If you can eat knotweed, you could solve the worlds food shortage, imagine the harvests you could get in 1 year, no need to cultivate/fertilize/drilling & grows as fast as bamboo.

[RobRainford]

seems like you can use it for some types of food:

 

Japanese knotweed flowers are valued by some beekeepers as an important source of nectar for honeybees, at a time of year when little else is flowering. Japanese knotweed yields a monofloral honey, usually called bamboo honey by northeastern U.S. beekeepers, like a mild-flavored version of buckwheat honey (a related plant also in the Polygonaceae).

The young stems are edible as a spring vegetable, with a flavor similar to mild rhubarb. In some locations, semi-cultivating Japanese knotweed for food has been used as a means of controlling knotweed populations that invade sensitive wetland areas and drive out the native vegetation.[10] Some caution should be exercised when consuming this plant because it, similar to rhubarb, contains oxalic acid, which may aggravate conditions such as rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones or hyperacidity.[11]

Both Japanese knotweed and giant knotweed are important concentrated sources of resveratrol, replacing grape byproducts. Many large supplement sources of resveratrol now use Japanese knotweed and use its scientific name in the supplement labels. The plant is useful because of its year-round growth and robustness in different climates.[12]

Japanese knotweed is a concentrated source of emodin, used as a nutritional supplement to regulate bowel motility. The roots of Japanese knotweed are used in traditional Chinese and Japanese herbal medicines as a natural laxative. The active principle responsible for the laxative effect is emodin, present in its natural form as a complex of its analogs. Emodin has a mild laxative effect in doses of 20 to 50 mg per day.

Methanol extracts of the roots of Polygonum cuspidatum (Polygonaceae), traditionally used in Korea to maintain oral health, were shown to reduce the viability of Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus as well as inhibit sucrose-dependent adherence, water-insoluble glucan formation, glycolytic acid production and acid tolerance. The authors suggested that inhibitory effects may be mediated by the presence of alkaloids, phenolics and sterol/terpenes in the extract.[13]

 

 

Wikipedia

 

ALso look at http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Web%20Recipes/Apple%20and%20Knotweed%20Pie.html

Edited March 14, 2011 by RobRainford

[Treewolf]

If you want to get rich, find and patent a method for making road fuel from Japanese Knotweed.

[Green man 1970]

seems like you can use it for some types of food:

 

Japanese knotweed flowers are valued by some beekeepers as an important source of nectar for honeybees, at a time of year when little else is flowering. Japanese knotweed yields a monofloral honey, usually called bamboo honey by northeastern U.S. beekeepers, like a mild-flavored version of buckwheat honey (a related plant also in the Polygonaceae).

The young stems are edible as a spring vegetable, with a flavor similar to mild rhubarb. In some locations, semi-cultivating Japanese knotweed for food has been used as a means of controlling knotweed populations that invade sensitive wetland areas and drive out the native vegetation.[10] Some caution should be exercised when consuming this plant because it, similar to rhubarb, contains oxalic acid, which may aggravate conditions such as rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones or hyperacidity.[11]

Both Japanese knotweed and giant knotweed are important concentrated sources of resveratrol, replacing grape byproducts. Many large supplement sources of resveratrol now use Japanese knotweed and use its scientific name in the supplement labels. The plant is useful because of its year-round growth and robustness in different climates.[12]

Japanese knotweed is a concentrated source of emodin, used as a nutritional supplement to regulate bowel motility. The roots of Japanese knotweed are used in traditional Chinese and Japanese herbal medicines as a natural laxative. The active principle responsible for the laxative effect is emodin, present in its natural form as a complex of its analogs. Emodin has a mild laxative effect in doses of 20 to 50 mg per day.

Methanol extracts of the roots of Polygonum cuspidatum (Polygonaceae), traditionally used in Korea to maintain oral health, were shown to reduce the viability of Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus as well as inhibit sucrose-dependent adherence, water-insoluble glucan formation, glycolytic acid production and acid tolerance. The authors suggested that inhibitory effects may be mediated by the presence of alkaloids, phenolics and sterol/terpenes in the extract.[13]

 

 

Wikipedia

 

ALso look at Apple and Knotweed Pie

 

So thats a yes, then!!!:thumbup:

[APC]

Donkey rhubard isn't it?

[Green man 1970]

I'm going to have to try it out now.......... if I can find some!! The Five Valleys is thankfully free of any major infestation as of yet.

[RobRainford]

I'm going to have to try it out now.......... if I can find some!! The Five Valleys is thankfully free of any major infestation as of yet.

 

 

look along dual carrigeways, youll find bits along there where its blown off a truck and rooted. It is everywhere, theres loads round here.

[Green man 1970]

look along dual carrigeways, youll find bits along there where its blown off a truck and rooted. It is everywhere, theres loads round here.

 

The Stroud area really does have hardly any in it at the moment but I'm sure its going to change at some point. I spend quite a lot of time in and around Swansea, they seem to be suffering more than most areas. There is a churchyard down there which is now completely obliterated, not a single stone visible. Do you know when it was first introduced to the UK?

[Greg]

The Stroud area really does have hardly any in it at the moment but I'm sure its going to change at some point. I spend quite a lot of time in and around Swansea, they seem to be suffering more than most areas. There is a churchyard down there which is now completely obliterated, not a single stone visible. Do you know when it was first introduced to the UK?

 

 

It is disputed as to when the plant was first brought to the West and to the United Kingdom. The plant was first registered as Reynoutria japonica in 1777 by a Dutchman named Houttuyn. Its introduction to the West is likely to have begun circa 1823 when Philippe von Siebold is said to have brought the plant to his nursery in Leiden, Holland. Von Siebold sent the flower to the Royal Botanical Gardens Kew in August 1850 and was introduced to the gardens. It was planted at the Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh in 1854. The spread of the plant and its rhizome across the country can be attributed to a number of factors:

 

• The commercial sale of the plant, beginning in the 19th century, as at the time it was regarded as a fashionable ornamental plant.

• Traveling along watercourses

• Transportation by and on vehicles such as cars, trains and lorries. Some areas of vehicles, such as tires, are susceptible to picking up pieces of the plant and rhizome

• Fly-tipping

• Urban development: the transportation of soil and materials for the construction of roads and buildings distributed the rhizome around many modern urban areas.