Species name
Family
Local name(s)
Hamle kulitch (Amargna)
General description
The plant has large spinach
like leaves.
Edible part(s),
preparation methods and palatability
Young leaves are edible. The young
leaves are boiled in water and eaten alone or together with injera. Everybody
is collecting and consuming young leaves when in season at the beginning
of the rains when last season's food stocks are getting low or have already
been finished. Sometimes, when food gets really scarce, the older leaves
are collected and cooked as well. But they give an unpleasant very sore
throat.
Agroecology
Found in the
lowlands of the Tekeze River watershed.
Propagation
method(s)
propagates by ...
Sample location(s)
Siska
Kebele, Zequala Woreda (Wag Hamra)
Remarks
'Hamle
Kulitch' is connected with a couple of proverbs that illustrate its famine
food characteristic. People in Zequala Woreda use to say: 'If I survive
until July/August, I will survive until the next year due to 'Hamle Kulitch'.
This means that 'Hamle Kulitch' gets people through the pre-harvest time
during the rains, when food traditionally gets most scarce, until they
can harvest their crop in the coming Ethiopian new year, which starts in
September.
No Photo!
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