A Blog from Greece – Life at The Lemon Tree on Crete
Ahhhhh, Horta - the valued Greek weed. The green weed that grows in the ground, walked over by most, apart from the Greek. The weed that keeps you healthy and young. It is pulled from the ground; after the rain when it is most lush and easiest to pick you can see the old Greek ladies wondering up and down the road with their buckets and bags at the ready. Sometimes when you are driving along the road it is hard to distinguish between the grass and the ladies on their knees picking the weed. It is amazingly wonderful in taste and flavour, something that resembles the dandelion with a crinkle cut edge like the English counterpart.

Our neighbour, Manolis has been giving it to us for many years now but I have always been interested in going out and picking it myself but never really known what to look for. On this fine day we had some friends visit, they were Charlie’s godfather and wife .They called and said they were going to pick some of this wonderful stuff so with interest I asked if I could join them I took Georgie with me, he was quite keen to walk off and do his thing and walk he did!

It was a lovely fine day with the sun shining; it is hard to believe that in the UK it was foggy, cold and wet. We were in light clothes; nothing too heavy, no coats but Georgie was in his jacket and his wellies and looked lovely as he always does. We strode up the track wandering in and out of the land in search of the delicious weed that can be served with meats or by itself. The taste is quite bitter but very bearable if you cook it in stock with potato, lemons, salt, pepper and onions - it is lovely. To me taste and texture wise it is like strong spinach with a hint of cabbage with the undertone of the cooked lemon lingering in the background - this is the only way I can describe it to someone who has not eaten it.

We rambled down track at quite a speed, most of it was unknown territory to me; I do not get out that much as I am in the business most of the summer period which I love. We soon found a patch of Horta, so I looked at what was being picked and soon began to fill my bag. Stephan was being pulled by Georgie to climb the mountain in the distance…. about a mile or so. I carried on walking leaving Stephan’s wife, Giota, to carry on picking her patch. I knew Georgie would want to go as far as he could and try to climb that mountain! Catching up with them, I checked they were okay, they were and so we carried on walking together and Giota caught up fairly soon. We picked a new patch and then left for our return. Charlie would be home on the school bus from school and it sounded a good idea to have a coffee and sit down.

When we got back Charlie and Anita were sitting down in the garden, writing and drawing and looking lovely sitting together. The sun was certainly doing its work it was almost like a summer’s day. We sat and had coffee and homemade cookies that Anita made on Sunday. Time was ticking by and our friends had to get going because they had to catch the ferry back to Athens later and so we said our goodbyes to them. We stayed out in the garden until about half three, it was amazing to believe it was nearly December and the weather was so fabulous; a good reason to be here.

This is my way with Horta - probably not the right way according to the Greek way but it is nice all the same!

Put Horta in sink, cover with water and add plenty of salt

Wash carefully and leave to soak for half hour –ish

Take out carefully trying not to stir the bottom up as you will pick up mud etc

Drain in sieve

Leave to drain 5 minutes

Put into boiling water add:

1 stock cube

2 halves lemon  

2-3 medium sized potato

A good measure of olive oil

Plus seasoning – salt and pepper

Cook until soft - about 20-25 minutes

Drain carefully and eat

Cooked Horta ideal with pork or chicken or equally by itself

When out collecting it you should always cut it, rather than pulling it. I found that if you pull it, you retain a certain amount of mud on it rather than a clean well trimmed root. Cutting it makes it easier to clean and prepare and saves time (this is why all the old ladies walk down the road with a little sharp knife in their pocket!)
You can also use it in curries and stews and casseroles or even make a soup with it, the latter will be a little different but nice and lovely with fresh bread and butter.

For a more detailed recipe and writing about Horta – see our earlier blog   on Green Winter Wild Vegetables.
And yes, I know what you are thinking – they look just like dandelion leaves….. And yes I know they do (and Anita always says – oh no! Daddy’s weeds!) But don’t be fooled, go on and give them a try! If a little old Greek lady hands you a bunch of what you might think are weeds, now you know what to do!

Our emphasis in these blogs from Crete is on food because that is what we do at The Lemon Tree, but we aim in these little blogs from Crete to also give a reflection of life in a Greek Village on Crete. Simply put, we live here; have a family here and a business. Thus we encounter daily both the joys and tribulations of life in a Greek village, some of which are familiar to the whole of Crete and Greece, some of which are unique to village life; some which villagers alike share or  are experienced by us as settlers in this land. Alongside these writings you will find recipes and ideas about food.

For previous blog articles please click on the link at the bottom of the ‘blog page’ and if you are searching for a particular food recipe such as curry or chicken  – then type in the keyword in the search box on the website and Hey Presto! This will bring up the recipes that contain this ingredient.

We write the blogs together; mostly the food stuff is Mark and some of the other bits are Anita or what we come to through general chat (or heated discussion, depending on the day….) Mark is dyslexic - he writes a first draft, hands     it over to Anita (who puts on her old English teacher’s hat) to redraft and develop, adding a bit here and there; this seems to work!
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