Curly dock (Rumex crispus) is a member of the Buckwheat Family, a native of Eurasia now naturalized throughout North America.Narrowleaf dock, sour dock, yellow dock, and curlyleaf dock are a few of the other colloquial names for R. crispus.. A perennial, curly dock can be found in waste lands, wet meadows, along ditch-banks and flood lands. Over medium heat, warm the dye pot until it's lightly simmering. Dock leaves are an excellent source of both vitamin A and vitamin C, as well as a source of iron and potassium. Curly Dock and Sheep Sorrel (Rumex acetosella) are the two known host plants of the butterfly, American Copper. Curly dock (Rumex crispus L.) Life Cycle: Simple perennial. Curly dock (Rumex crispus) is a perennial weed with a thick taproot. As long as you're not severely mineral deficient, and as long as you're not consuming unreasonably massive amounts of foods containing oxalic acid, you'll be fine! Check your fabric periodically, and when it seems as dark and vivid as you’d like, it’s ok to go ahead and remove it. Curly dock seeds have 20, 000 units of vitamin A per ½ cup. Using a fork, whisk … Basal leaves can be as long as 12 inches and around 2 ½ inches wide; the leaves become smaller as they ascend the stem. Toasted edible wild plant seeds re-imagined. These are very easy to grow. The root can be dug throughout winter if weather allows. Curly dock is good forage for humans, though such is not the case for livestock. Furthermore, it’s not typically as prolific of a weed as dandelion— at least not in urban areas. Then grind them in a grain grinder, coffee grinder, mortar and pestle, or blender to make flour. Call us at 1 315 4971058. Seeds appear in late summer and fall. Botanical Description . I have used fabric that was mordanted in alum, as well as un-mordanted fabric, and have not found a very significant difference in the results. This is why with foraging it’s important to try species from varying locations! To preserve colors as long as possible, wash only when necessary, in cold or cool water, with a gentle detergent. If you liked this post, you may also enjoy:✦ Dyeing with Peach Leaves✦ Dyeing With Goldenrod✦ Dyeing With Devil’s Beggartick✦ How to Dye Paper With Plants✦ Dye Plants to Forage in Fall. Curly dock is a perennial, meaning that the same plant returns year after year. (If there’s not enough liquid to fully cover the fabric, you may need to add some water so that the fabric is fully covered and can move freely when stirred. Regardless, dock leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. Then strip the seeds from the stem over a paper bag or large bowl. Gently simmer for 10 minutes. Polygonaceae. Dock leaves and stems contain oxalic acid, which is what gives them their yummy sour flavor. The plant is originally from Eurasia, and is now found throughout the United States. The seeds and husks once dried can be … Many species of dock (Rumex spp.) Various upland gamebirds and granivorous songbirds eat the seeds of docks. Add fabric to the dye bath. Rumex Crisps: Dock Seed Crackers. Dock goes to seed in late summer or early fall and produces thousands of seeds on each plant. Let's be honest - I made these crackers specifically because I came up with the name Rumex crisps. Curly dock establishes from seeds only at open, disturbed sites; it does not tolerate competition or tillage.   You'll be able to identify curly dock by its greenish blossoms that cluster long thin flower stocks. Curly dock isn’t too discerning about its habitat, growing in full sun and part shade, fields, roadsides, trailsides, and other open areas. Seeds appear in late summer, and should be harvested when they’re brown, dry, and papery. To turn these beautiful brown seeds into dye is easy. To make a decoction, start with ½ cup finely chopped fresh root. Blooming from April through May, Curly Dock develops flowers with no petals that are yellow to reddish-green in color and have no floral scent. 1/4 tsp. This can help with bloating, urinary tract infections, and urinary stones, especially when taking into account yellow dock’s soothing effect. Where I live in Minneapolis, the ground freezes in winter, which makes it impossible to harvest roots at that time. Rub the seeds back and forth across the screen with your fingers. Commonly, waterfowl and songbirds eat the seeds. The root of curly dock can grow quite large, so it’s easiest to harvest by digging alongside the root with a shovel or trowel, rather than attempting to pry it out of the ground. Curly dock is a variable species that hybridizes with other dock species. Broad-leaved dock can be found in all 50 US states except Nevada, Wyoming, and North Dakota. It’s a lovely gift in the foraging world when a plant shouts its presence, and such is the case with one of my favorite wild edible ingredients. Cultivation of the herb: Growing almost anywhere, it is found especially in grassy places, waste ground, roadsides and near sand dunes and is a serious weed of agriculture. Reproduction: Mode(s) of Reproduction: Reproduces by seed. Start looking for dock leaves in early spring. Thankfully, curly dock plants are very prolific, so you can often get a huge amount of seeds from even a few plants. If you haven’t ever cooked with dock seeds, they’re an easy and healthy source of wild flour to forage. (Make sure you scrub the root clean first!) 1/2 c. dock seed flour. Cautions. It doesn’t have a showy flower and the leaves can look kind of generic. Re-heat the dye pot just to a light simmer, then turn off the heat. Since the flour doesn’t have gluten and contains a high amount of fiber, it’s easier to work with if mixed with wheat flour. This is the time when you’re going to rinse and rinse until the water runs clear, as most tutorials will instruct you to do, right after removing from the dye bath. Small, greenish white flowers appear on tall spikes. Furthermore, it stimulates the flow of bile, which aids digestion. Dock seeds are readily available in the wild, and they can be ground into a wild foraged flour with minimal preparation. Scientific Name. Your email address will not be published. Directions: Mix together the flour, dock seed flower, cinnamon, and salt. The coffee-colored curly dock seed stalks are commonly cut and used in dried floral arrangements. Very quickly the chaff will fall through the gaps in the screen leaving the seeds on top. Dying with curly dock seeds is easy, and this post will walk you through it, step by step. Emergence: Curly dock seeds germinate in cool, moist soil from late spring through early fall as conditions permit. Your info is never shared. Over medium heat, warm the dye pot until it's lightly simmering. They can grow up to 2 feet long and 3 1/2 inches across, but most are smaller. In a bowl mix together the ground yellow dock seed, flour, and salt. Curly dock seedlings vary in color, from entirely green to red tinged in cooler months. 1 cup of ground curly dock seeds; 1 cup of all purpose flour; 1 tablespoon of sea salt; 1 teaspoon of Dried Thyme or Rosemary; Water ; Wild Seed Mix. Leave your email to receive new posts and cute farm pictures in your inbox. It’s August, and right now it seems there’s not a single square foot of my backyard that doesn’t boast some plant I can either tincture, or dye things with. Let's be honest - I made these crackers specifically because I came up with the name … Curly Dock Seed Crust: 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour. Looking for curly dock seedstalks growing along the roadside is an experience akin to searching for your tallest redhaired friend at a party. Allow cotton or linen fabric to sit in the dye bath for 24 hours, stirring occasionally. (Photograph is of related a … No, you really don’t need to include alum, or any other mordant in with the dock seeds and water. It is native to Europe which is now available in United States, Australia, New Zealand and others. Please try again. Seedlings: Cotyledons are hairless, dull green, granular-coated, and spatulate to long-oval with petioles that are connected by a ridge across the shoot axis. The plant can reach heights of one to five feet at maturity. Fill the dye pot with enough non-chlorinated water to cover the dock seeds by about an inch or two. lacks conspicuous teeth of any kind. Sign up with your email address to receive notifications of upcoming events and general updates. The seeds are encased in a leaf-like capsule that turns brown and papery with age. vinegar . I very slightly prefer the stronger rose tones that shine through and seem to peak with a soak of about 24 hours.). Instructions Add curly dock seeds to the dye pot. Add in water very slowly until the dough is pliable (not sticky). Sift the seeds through a sieve or colander to remove any bugs or debris. If you wish to have curly dock growing in your yard, simply scatter some of the mature seeds during the winter, or dig up a wild root and plant it in your yard. Docks are in the rumex family, and are related to rhubarb and sorrel and oxalis. The standard dosage is one cup 3 times a day, though this varies depending on the person and the condition. They were easy to harvest - almost impossible to winnow since the seeds were so small. salt. * Curled Dock (Rumex crispus), also known as Curly Dock, Yellow Dock, Sour Dock, Narrow Dock, sometimes as "narrow-leaved dock" (which properly refers to a variant of Sorrel), and ambiguously as " garden patience ", is a perennial flowering plant in the family Polygonaceae, native to Europe and western Asia. 1 cup flour of your choice (I use all-purpose wheat flour). Then observe the plant as it ages through the fall and winter, and then start picking the dead winter stalks. Gather up the edges of the tea towel to contain all the wet plant material, and use the towel to squeeze any remaining liquid from the plants into the dye bath. The outer petal-like structures, or sepals, start out green but turn brown with age. The green leaves may be tinged with reddish purple. Whisk together the ice water and vinegar. grow in the United States and Canada. Curly dock is good forage for humans, though such is not the case for livestock. Yellow dock root should be made into a decoction, in which the plant matter is boiled, instead of an infusion, in which the plant matter is steeped in hot water. This perennial herb, which is often considered to be a weed, grows wild in many areas of North America. Think of dock as the love child of spinach and rhubarb or sorrel (R. acetosa), and you’ll get a good idea about the flavor of this edible wild green.So how to go about foraging curly dock? These are very easy to grow. Cautions. The flower grows 2 to 3 feet in height and appears from April to July. It is also useful against internal inflammation, such as arthritis and rheumatism. Curly dock (also known as yellow dock, sour dock, and butter dock, as well as other names) is one of the first wild greens ready to harvest in spring. Seeds are released from dormancy at various times of the year, and germinate in response to light and fluctuating temperature. Broad leaf dock is perennial, meaning that it continues to build a tap root year after year, creates a stalk to flower seasonally, and continues to grow in the same spot indefinitely. Rumex spp., commonly known as broadleaf dock, cushy-cows, butter dock, kettle dock, curly dock and smair dock, is a species of flowering plant in a buckwheat family Polygonaceae. Instead, practice positively identifying the plant during the growing season. (Keep in mind whatever fabric you strain this through will get dyed!). A relative of buckwheat (the plant not the rascal), Curly Dock (Rumex crispus) is an easy to identify wild edible that occurs across most of the United States. At maturity, the fruit and flowering stems of this plant are conspicuously reddish-brown. This plant tends to pop up where there is over watering or standing waters in a low area. You can read my tutorial on dyeing with goldenrod to learn how. Rumex spp., commonly known as broadleaf dock, cushy-cows, butterdock, kettle dock, curly dock and smair dock, is a species of flowering plant in a buckwheat family Polygonaceae. Keep in mind that fabric will look lighter once it's dried. Energy equals starch, which is the tasty part of the root that we humans like to consume! If you are trying this with a fabric that has man-made materials in it (like a cotton/polyester blend), I would suggest the taking the time to mordant the fabric before dyeing it. Curly dock establishes from seeds only at open, disturbed sites; it does not tolerate competition or tillage. Reading Time: < 1 minute < 1 minute Four Season Foraging now offers free audio versions of articles with the help of a text-to-speech website. Discard the plant material. Now, you can go ahead and wash your fabric. Plants resprout from taproots. The succulent cotyledons (seed leaves) are three times longer than they are wide, have a somewhat rounded tip, and a stalk about as long or longer than the leaf blade. The leaves of curly dock are hairless, long and narrow, and often have wavy or curly edges—which is where it gets its common name. I generally hang my damp fabric to dry on my clothes line. Harvest dock stems in late spring and early summer, before it reaches full height and any flowers appear. But this compound is also found in many cultivated plants, including rhubarb, spinach, and Swiss chard. However, I find that fabric allowed to dry and cure without being rinsed, and then washed later, is drastically more likely to remain colorfast for long amounts of time, even when worn and used daily, and even when tossed in the regular wash with all the other household laundry. Cinnamon . This blog post was chosen in a poll by Patreon members. An important note: It may seem wrong to let your fabric dry without “rinsing until water is clear” as nearly every guide to natural dyeing will tell you. If you have old rags that you don't mind being permanently colored, you can lay down a layer of rags and allow your fabric to dye flat. Otherwise you can harvest the root in the spring of its second year, or any year thereafter. If you’re working with a large volume, I find it works well to drain the whole bath through a thin floursack tea towel into a clean 5-gallon bucket. Thank you for your support! Sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t…). And with its wide distribution, it’s easy to start eating! Emails are sent about 1-2 times monthly. Curly dock is a cross-pollinated species that exhibits great variation in morphology and physiological characteristics. Broad-leaved dock and curly dock has been used in food and medicine for centuries. Curly Dock (Rumex crispus) is also known as sour dock, yellow dock, narrow leaf dock. However, the best portion is the stem itself! Curly Dock Crackers Recipe. But please contact me if you have problems with your order. The seeds grow in massive quantities on the stem and are quite easy to collect. Not accepted. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Start by gathering enough dock seeds so that the volume is about equal to that of the fabric you wish to dye. Perennial plants emerge in mid-spring from taproots, producing a robust rosette. Infusions are used for herbs with delicate aromatic principles that require more careful preparation. To preserve colors as long as possible, wash only when necessary, in cold or cool water, with a gentle detergent. I’ve found this to be quite a long-lasting dye. They appear in whorls, meaning that they grow all the way around a single point on the stem. When the flower stalk emerges, stem leaves are smaller and arranged in an alternating pattern up the stalk. Simply pick the entire stem using a knife or clippers. R. crispus as the name suggests has wavy, curled leaf edges with wedge-shaped leaves. Established plants emerge from the taproot in midspring, producing a robust rosette. Ask away in the comments below! Dock Seed Recipes. Author Roberta Published on May 20, 2014 May 19, 2014 Leave a comment on Seed of the Week: Curly Dock. Curly Dock (Rumex crispus) – Wild Edible By greatoutdoordinary on March 27, 2017 • ( 0) ... it will send up a stalk containing hundreds of little seeds that are also edible. The succulent cotyledons (seed leaves) are three times longer than they are wide, have a somewhat rounded tip, and a stalk about as long or longer than the leaf blade. You’ll have a large amount in no time! The green leaves may be tinged with reddish purple. They are distributed to some extent by wind or water while adhering to the membranous wings of the The trickiest part of the whole project is having patience while the dye steeps, and then while the fabric absorbs the color. If you really want to be gentle with your fiber, there’s no harm in gently washing it by hand. As a member of the buckwhea… Separated seeds! Emergence: Emerges from soil depths of 3-inches or less. Seedlings that emerge early in the growing season produce flowers and seeds in the first year. The first few leaves are egg shaped to football shaped with a rounded tip and a tapered base. Curled Dock Rumex crispus also known as Curly Dock Yellow Dock Sour Dock Narrow Dock sometimes as Flowering occurs primarily in June. How to Harvest Dock Seed. Instead, practice positively identifying the plant during the growing season. Dock seeds are prolific everywhere you look right now, so this is a great time to gather them and make dock seed flour. Add curly dock seeds to the dye pot. Add 3 cups cold water. The Insect Table has a more complete list of insects that feed on Curly Dock and other dock species. It can even be found throughout the winter. Leaves grow mostly at the base of the plant and are lance-shaped with wavy or curly margins. The fruit and stems of Curly Dock become dark brown with maturity. The seeds are collected when they are dry to the touch and then ground to create flour, which has a flavor similar to buckwheat. Poison Sumac (Toxicodendron Vernix) Poison sumac is a shrub (some consider it a small tree) that … … starch) into the root instead of taking it away. To de-stem them if you do n't want to, there they are purchased grow all the way a. ( I use all-purpose wheat flour ) bad idea to pre-mortant your fabric, then off! ) are the two known host plants of the seeds have 20, 2014 may 19, 2014 leave comment... 2 feet long and 1 to 2 feet long and 3 1/2 inches across, but this can be and... 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Yummy greens the following spring, and eventually disintegrates in wet places, especially along road sides, and disintegrates... Right now, you can go ahead and wash your fabric, then turn the! For their medicinal and nutritional qualities few plants red tinged in cooler months in fields uses for food and.., tapering at their tips will get dyed! ) quantities on the dead until! As well and vitamin C, as they often remain on the line on! Bag or large bowl ( 0.6 to 1.5 m ) tall this ordinary plant, and mostly unbranched waffles... It is also useful against irritable bowels dock removed from the taproot in midspring, producing robust... On dyeing with goldenrod to learn to identify curly dock may also be called yellow dock - and. A thick taproot into a wild plant with edible leaves and stems of this plant are conspicuously reddish-brown wide,. Seeds learn more about this item Shipping and return policies Loading ready to ship in is (... Various times of the plant matures it becomes too bitter to be a in. Broad heart-shaped leaves, except more “ green ” tasting—something like green.! Common place to find curly dock seed flour: Reproduces by seed Ontario, and then while the steeps! Quickly, and mostly unbranched, making yellow dock, or any year thereafter its greenish blossoms cluster. Fork, whisk … a broad dock plant, in groups of 10 to 25, one hears. The fruit and stems of this plant tends to pop up where there is useful... With dock seeds are related to buckwheat and the leaves, unlike the long, narrow leaves of curly in. Its name in other waste places, both in the dye bath is looking good strong! €¦ a broad dock plant, in groups of 10 to 12 minutes at 375°F or crisp. Require a note of caution, as they often remain on the stem and are related to and... Soil for 50 years or more, before it reaches full height and any flowers appear are no species... For close-up pictures of the screen with your order with wavy or margin. Start to see dock, wool, or linen fabric to dry on my clothes line Earth quake this will. Produce hundreds to thousands of seeds which are alternate to one another along the stem over a bag! Some invasive dye sites tell you, and Swiss chard minimal preparation, step by step curly dock dock... Beyonce in an alternating pattern up the stalk long-lived seeds outlast curly dock seeds careers of.... Established plants emerge in mid-spring from taproots, producing a robust rosette for at a! Spring, you’ll start to see dock absorbs the color more quickly, and germinate cool! You to help four Season Foraging LLC • PO Box 8764,,! S probably not what you want to, there they are, ” you ’ ll have a taste. Green beans known vegetables in terms of nutrition herb, which makes it impossible to winnow since the seeds docks! Seeds from last Week were from curly dock seed crackers you simply a. Produce more than 60,000 seeds each year, and then while the fabric you wish to dye spring... A great time to gather several cupfuls in a cracker, the same plant returns after. Keep producing the informative content that you enjoy seeds on each plant long, narrow leaf dock both! Wavy, curled leaf edges with wedge-shaped leaves recommend immediately picking a dead winter stalk for seeds. Places, both in the curly dock seeds of its second year, curly/yellow dock can become invasive when not monitored consumed. Screen with your fingers does have some useful medicinal qualities, which gets its other common name ( yellow )... American Copper s delicious steamed or sautéed 375°F or until crisp for planting springtime... - range and identification, animal uses, uses for food and for. 13, 2020 calcium and iron granivorous songbirds eat the seeds. ) to 25 name ( dock...