Japanese Knotweed Crumble is a modern British recipe for a classic wild food pudding of a japanese knotweed and apple base with an oat crumble topping. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Japanese Knotweed Crumble.
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I always seem to miss the Japanese knotweed when they're just emerging and tender. This year, I really wanted an early season crumble, using knotweed shoots as I normally would rhubarb. So I've been out a couple times a week to show where the dead stems show that knotweed is about. Finally, I got the right day and after an early morning forage (its the first week of March) and I've got the right day and the knotweed in the right environment (a boggy marsh) that the stems are abundant, and at about 4–6 cm long they're of the right length. So its an early Sunday morning and I'm out foraging for Japanese knotweed to make a crumble and some early ramson greens to prepare a stuffing for my roast chicken.
Normally I'd use butter for a crumble topping but I didn't have any, so I used a trick that I've developed and melted 2 tbsp peanut butter in 80ml oil (rapeseed in this case). This makes an excellent butter substitute for baking and you can use it to make a dish lacto free and vegetarian too.
For the Filling:
250g Japanese knotweed stem pieces (about 3–5cm long)
1 tart apple, cubed (leave the skin on)
50g sugar (I used a mix of jaggery and golden caster sugar)
1 1/2 tbsp cornflour
juice of 1/2 lemon
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 200C (180C fan/gas mark 6).
Combine the flour, oats, butter (or peanut butter mix) and sugar in a bowl, squash together with your fingers into a crumble texture, sprinkle over a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes, stirring and roughly breaking up halfway through cooking. This can be done up to 2 days ahead, and the crumble mix can then be stored in an airtight container.
Meanwhile, combine the Japanese knotweed stem pieces, apple pieces, sugar, cornflour and lemon juice in a large pan. Stir together and set over a medium heat. Cook until the knotweed stems just start to soften, then take off the heat and turn into your baking dish.
When the crumble topping is cooked, sprinkle it over the knotweed mixture, then place the baking dish in the oven for a further 15 mins until bubbling and golden.
Leave for 5 minutes to cool before serving with custard, cream or ice cream.
Whilst stewing, the Japanese knotweed stems broke down, rather like rhubarb would do and with the addition of jaggery and lemon juice the final flavour was not unlike a rhubarb and apple crumble. The final result was not at all unpleasant and I might go Japanese knotweed foraging again over the weekend then stew the stems down and store them in the refrigerator.
