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!