Melde

[JJB]

Very happy to have found this website. Thank you.

My husband learned to eat "melde" from his grandparents who grew it in their vegetable garden in Germany. "Melde" is its German name, the only one we know. It is an old-fashioned vegetable that was once commonly grown but has practically disappeared. I have never seen it in the grocery store in Europe or in the US. It is similar to spinach in taste and in the way you cook it but with a more tender leaf than that of spinach. It grows to knee height, which means you get nice clean leaves.

Does anyone recognize it and know what it is called in English? I would love to be able to find seeds.

JJB

[sharwafarm]

Hi all,

Great new forum! Just what I need to stay glued even longer to the computer :D

I did a bit of googling on "Melde" and I do believe it is what we call "Orache" or "Mountain Spinach" (Atriplex hortensis) . Considering I don't speak any German ;) I used the "images" feature, your description and a leap of faith.

Although a difficult green to find seed for in the seed racks, it is carried in catalogs including our Host's. :D

[tazs67]

http://www.wssa.net/photo&info/larrymitich_info/lambsquarters.html

I did a search for melde and this is one link I found - it talks about the Anglo-Saxons eferring to common lambsquarters as 'melde' and I thought you might find it interesting, if not an answer to your search.

[ninette4au]

With my very poor school German, I did a google for
Melde Atriplex
Melde Chenopodium
Melde Amaranthus
and got many entries for all of them...

so it seems that the term Melde covers a number of "greens", some wild, some domesticated! But Orach (Atriplex hortensis) seems to be the most common one and the one corresponding most to the description you give of it.
Rose-Marie

[jrljames]

i ve just planted some sweetclover(memilotus off.) anyone else ever used it as a cover? does it really get 6 '?

[AndrewK]

Very interesting information, ninette! Thanks for the insight :)

[JJB]

Thank you all very much for your help! :D

I also found a German site which I forwarded to my husband (whose German is much much better than mine). Sharwafarm is correct and melde is indeed Atriplex hortensis.

I tried to find a photo too but could only find red melde. But when I asked my husband, he remembered that he had also seen red melde at one time though the seeds we had were for green melde.

It is an easy plant to grow and one of the first plants in the garden ready to harvest and eat. Much like spinach and quite delicious. I always left the plant intact and only pulled the prettiest leaves off. It did get aphids if the weather was too damp. J

[Train]

Very happy to have found this website. Thank you.

My husband learned to eat "melde" from his grandparents who grew it in their vegetable garden in Germany. "Melde" is its German name, the only one we know. It is an old-fashioned vegetable that was once commonly grown but has practically disappeared. I have never seen it in the grocery store in Europe or in the US. It is similar to spinach in taste and in the way you cook it but with a more tender leaf than that of spinach. It grows to knee height, which means you get nice clean leaves.

Does anyone recognize it and know what it is called in English? I would love to be able to find seeds.

JJB

Ya!
Chance to tep outta gharacter and show off a bit, Heheh
I grew that stuff, lots of it.Orach mountain spiniche.
Had a lot of fun with it. purple untill you cook it,
turns green in boiling water.
Very nice and very prolific seed production.
I had cases of seed from just one season.
Gave it up years back because it really likes
a much cooler climate than Houston.
Found that folks in this area used another strain
in pots for decoration.
The young leaves were tender and tasty.
It can be melded into other spinache, Heheh
Train