Stuffed Cyclamen and Bread and Oil: Mediterranean Island Links
“Fava can also find its way into the stuffing of a very distinctive dolma which is made with cyclamen leaves.
The dolmades with cyclamen leaves are found in the islands of Dodecanese. The preparation that follows is from Symi island. A similar recipe is common in Rhodes, though it contains lentils instead of lathyrus. Of course one can prepare these dolmades using vine leaves even if their taste is altered.”
Just when you thought you’d reached the end of the dozens of different leaves that are stuffed around the world, here’s another. I can’t wait to try it next time I have a cyclamen on hand. This, including a recipe and more on fava beans, from the blog History of Greek Food.
EDIT. Mariana sent me this comment which I’m copying here in case readers don’t scroll down to the comments.
“In ancient years the cyclamen was especially known for its medical virtues (it contains a powerful purgative poison). Its tuberous Rhizomes (thickened roots) have cyclamin which is a toxic saponin, so never try to eat them. The leaves of Cyclamen graecum have a bitter- sweet taste.
The best known florist’s cyclamen, Cyclamen persicum, is an important edible wild plant in Iran and Palestine. Its leaves are also cooked filled with rice, minced mutton meat, spices and eaten with yogurt (Palestinian Za’ matoot, Iranian dolme). I do not know if the leaves of this species have different taste.
However, the Greek cyclamen recipe is old and almost forgotten. In fact, the use of local Mediterranean food plants stands at a crucial point. As you know, Eastern Mediterranean communities were very much centered around cultivated and wild food both for subsistence and profit. After World War II the consumption of wild plants and seeds changed following the socio – economic changes. Unfortunatelly the amazing traditional knowledge regarding wild plants resources has not been infused to the young generations and I wonder if it already is on the brink of disappearance.”
Well, it’s the florists’ cyclamen that I know of course. But for anyone who is interested in food history, or who is interested in local foods, foraging and the like, this is gripping information. The disappearance of plants from the diet because they can’t be commercialized or don’t taste quite good enough or become thought of as animal feed has happened through history. It’s probably happening faster now as Mariana indicates. But there are counter trends too. In Mexico there is a lot of interest in finding ways of cultivating formerly wild plants and of preserving niches in the diet or even finding new ones.
This was just one of two particularly interesting posts that dealt with the foods of the islands of the eastern Mediterranean that popped up on my computer yesterday. The other from the blog Organically Cooked deals with survival food in Crete, psomi me ladi, bread and olive oil, an interesting and non-romanticised look at one aspect of the “Mediterranean diet.”
The absolute basic, fall-back foods of a cuisine are always interesting. I never experienced times as hard as those Maria Verivaki reports. I think, though, the fall-back food for my English family would have been bread and a bit of hard cheese (and, of course, ultimately just bread and water). “Hard cheese” was the English expression for “tough luck.”
Olive oil was a huge luxury. It could only be obtained in tiny and expensive bottles about four inches high from Boots the Chemist (pharmacist) and it was supposed to be used only as a medicine.
We drizzled over the first lettuce from the early summer garden with a bit of salt (never vinegar as that would have masked the flavor) as a very special treat. No sloshing of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) into the cooking pan.
What does a cyclamen taste like? I only know the flower from an Israeli song I learned as a kid, which is also the only reason I know that the Hebrew word for it is rakefet.
Well Bret I’ll rattle that off at the next party when conversation fails. I’ve no idea what they taste like except that Mariana specifies not like grape leaves. But I have cyclamens in my garden in Guanajuato. They’re dormant right now so have neither leaves nor petals. But when they spring to life again in a couple of months I’ll try them. Imagine them scattered with some of those pretty pink petals.
E. David mentions stuffed cyclamen leaves in “An Omelette and a Glass of Wine”.
Rachel, thank you for hosting.
In ancient years the cyclamen was especially known for its medical virtues (it contains a powerful purgative poison). Its tuberous Rhizomes (thickened roots) have cyclamin which is a toxic saponin, so never try to eat them. The leaves of Cyclamen graecum have a bitter- sweet taste.
The best known florist’s cyclamen, Cyclamen persicum, is an important edible wild plant in Iran and Palestine. Its leaves are also cooked filled with rice, minced mutton meat, spices and eaten with yogurt (Palestinian Za’ matoot, Iranian dolme). I do not know if the leaves of this species have different taste.
However, the Greek cyclamen recipe is old and almost forgotten. In fact, the use of local Mediterranean food plants stands at a crucial point. As you know, Eastern Mediterranean communities were very much centered around cultivated and wild food both for subsistence and profit. After World War II the consumption of wild plants and seeds changed following the socio – economic changes. Unfortunatelly the amazing traditional knowledge regarding wild plants resources has not been infused to the young generations and I wonder if it already is on the brink of disappearance.
I was very interested to find this site as I am intending to prepare a short article on the use of cyclamen leaves in cooking for the Cyclamen Society Journal. Until reading this I had assumed that the species used would be Cyclamen persicum as this grows in Rhodes, Symi, Syria ,Israel etc. I was surprised to see the possible use of Cyclamen graecum as well. If anyone has any further knowledge of the use of these planrts in cooking,or for anything else in relation to food I would be very grateful if they could contact me. The only other use of the plant that I have encountered is in the Greek Peloponnese where the crushed tubers are used to poison fish to make them easy to catch.
Hi Melvyn,
This was all news to me so I’m no help. But maybe some of my readers are.
And do please let us know where we can read what you write.
You might have some luck if you search google books using the term “sow bread”.
Hello Rachel,
Interesting comment about the bread and water.
It’s true that edible leaves have fallen out of favour in the modern world as a staple part of one’s diet, given the variety of food we have at our disposal and how easy it is to obtain it now.
But foraging remains an integral part of the Cretan diet and Cretans are still prepared to pay a high price for seasonal greens, some of which are foraged, others cultivated.
I am constantly amazed when I discover that what I thought was a pretty flower or an out-and-out weed could possibly be considered edible. My garden does not contain cyclamens, but the piquant purlsane has now given way to the prickly nettle – I have promised myself to try it out in my pies this year. I wonder if I will be able to distinguish its flavour. It suffices that i know it is edible!
Although they contain saponins, apparently this can be reduced by boiling them in a copious amount of water and draining well. I have never attempted cooking with cyclamens yet because they are a protected species in Israel but it is a traditional Palestinian food. Here is an interesting article on this http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18474107
Sarah, thanks so much for the link to that interesting source.
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