I was first introduced to ox-eye daisy several years ago by my friend, Ben. Ben is a committed outdoorsman and naturalist, and he tore a small leaf from a plant in the lawn of park we were exploring. "Try this," he said. It was uncommonly sweet.
Since that first taste, I have found the flavor of the daisy to cover quite a range. Sometimes it is almost saccharine; sometimes it is bland and tasteless. This past week as we gathered daisy leaves, I noticed that the leaves that we pulled off the stem did not have same flavor as the basal leaves. The basal one seemed sweeter and more tender. I thought that was odd since, usually, the older basal leaves are tougher. One of the plants in questions was growing in a frequently mowed lawn. Maybe the frequent mowing led to new growth near the base and thus to younger, more tender, sweeter tasting leaves. We'll have to experiment more to test this idea. What a shame! : )
This week's daisy ended up in a tabouli. The recipe is from The Wild Food Gourmet by Anne Gardon.
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