But I gotta say, they are pretty much almost there. When I tried it, side by side with real meat, it was like 90, 95% there. It's at a point, were I'd defenetly take those in Burgers. They are pretty damn expansive, on the same level as organic Beef (from sources you know, were the animals were not tortured, had space and good food, could go outside and all of that), but better for the enviroment. They really should cut prices a bit... But damn am I impressed. I've tried ground Beef replacement from my supermarket one time. Wich was also redicolous in Pricing. It did stick AF in the pan (wich ground meat doesn't), it had a weird consistency and the taste was bloody fucking awefull. Impossible doesn't compare to that, since consistency was there and it tasted really damn good.
@@rosehabaduck4783 And demand grows, when prices go down. Spare me your beginners guide to capitalism. At that point I'm almost convinced they are just greedy. I sure understand they had a lot of time and money into research and testing to get the product right, but it is pretty done, out in the market and quite popular among their customers as well. In no way shape or form can it be that more expansive then the real thing, were you need to raise the cow, feed them shittons of Food, plus medical stuff, a lot of work. The baby cow costs a lot as well in the first place, unless you got your own breed, wich is quite expansive as well. And then everyone wants a share of profit, the "Butcher" (in cheap industrial stuff I'd say the meat factory), the Supermarkets, maybe the middlemans as well... Now industrial meat is still pretty cheap, wich is because the animals are treated like shit. Organic free range stuff were you can be sure they were treated right are damn fucking expansive (but defenetly worth it). A Plant based thing therefore, were there are no Animals and not a thousand middlemans involved COULD defenetly compete in price with industrial meat and still cut a profit. Wich they fucking must eventually. Seriously. Everyone, that buys industrial meat is aware, that those animals suffered (at least the most part). They buy it, because it tastes great, is affordeable and they are pretty damn good at hiding the idea of bad animal treatement in their mind. You don't need to convince people like me, who'll spare no expansive in meat to make sure the animal suffer. You need to convince those who'll buy inexpansive industrial meat and tend to eat tons of it. Compete in price and you'll get a pretty damn big market to conquer. Because we ain't talking about vegetarians or vegans here. They got that market. Get buyers of industrial meat on your side. They'll buy it, if it is not that overpriced.
It’s a tree that grows quite big. It’s fairly cold-tolerant despite having some tropical relatives, and Wikipedia says it grows in North Korea and can be grown in Northern Europe...
@@markiangooley I live in Northern Florida and have gotten plants from Wanderlust nursery and have not had success bc the plants get so shocked coming from there to here.
One reason is that it grows on a tree (though you can prune it to a bush) (this is actually in the mahogany family, believe it or not). Many farmers prefer annual crops, probably so that they can quickly switch production to meet anticipated demand. Tree nuts are produced at a much lower volume and sold at a higher price than peanuts.
Probably because you can grow it in your yard in Asia and pick it whenever you need it. That's why cruising through ethnic food stores is so important in expanding your food horizons and it's fun!
Because it's been used as a food ingredient, but not described by others as being beefy. Look it up; you'll see onion, garlic, earthy. Only this guy (who doesn't eat meat) seems to think it's beefy.
probably also an invasive species. They grow hella fast and I'm not sure there're things that actually eat them in other places of the world since they have a pretty distinct and pungent flavor.
Lol yeah, tho you'd be surprised how memorable tastes can be especially with Jared, and as hes said, we've almost all had slip-ups, I wouldn't know the texture of meat until my brother recently gave me the wrong food, now I know that kind is just harder mushroom
The first Idea I had for the Beef leaf was to put it in a salad and watch my friend's confusion and horror as they try to rationalize the beefy plant hidden in a normal salad.
LOL your eyes popping open at 1:35 and you exclaiming "YUP!" after a mere second of chewing it gave me a chuckle. Thanks for cluing us in to this leaf!
A heads up for anyone that wants to grow these, we have 3 trees of these in our backyard and they grow really really fast. As in over a meter a month fast if left unmonitored. You really only want to eat the fresh leaves as the older ones get pretty tough and lose a lot of its flavor, so keep an eye on them and probably cut off the top buds if you don't want them growing 2 stories tall in 3 months. As a side note, not sure if this is true or not, but all my relatives say that these leaves are very very high in nitrite, which can increase the risk of getting cancer. As such we only eat it occasionally in the form of stir-frying with eggs or making dumplings. Boiling supposedly gets rid of some of the nitrite so make sure you boil them before eating if you buy into that.
I looked it up re nitrite. Wikipaedia says : The leaves of T. sinensis has a relative high content of nitrite, which is about 157 to 160 mg/kg.[22] However, after boiling with water, the amount of nitrite left is only about 7 mg/kg, which is safe to eat. Thanks!
@@superdupergrover9857 so what you’re saying is... cows fed on this beef plant so it tastes beefier and then seasoning the beef with the beef plant for maximum beefiness?
I had the same thought!!!! Even as an additional thing in normal pho, but would also be great for vegetarian pho or in other noddle soups like ramen or tom yum
These are super easy to grow from seeds. They generally germinate in 1-2 weeks in my experience. I'm currently growing 4 plants indoors during the winter.
@@ThePickledsoul In the tropics, people do grow woody vegetables like chaya (Mayan tree spinach, a cassava relative) and Moringa. Just plant it away from your annual vegetable garden, where you would plant other large bushes, and prune the cr*p out of it to keep it small. Maybe invest in a wood chipper.
Same. Although I'll probably have to start from seeds. Fully formed saplings seem hard to come by here in Sweden. But maybe seedlings will be more managable to begin with!
Jared! I am SO THANKFUL to have seen this episode! I am the land and animal steward on our small, organic, NO-KILL farm here in the Missouri Ozarks. We have 235 chickens and four livestock guardian dogs to protect them as they graze through our gardens, orchard, vineyard and compost-production yard. We rescue meat rabbits and give them an awesome, organic pasture to graze and lounge. This tree looks AMAZING and it grows in USDA hardiness zones 6-11! So cool! Thank you for giving the link to the nursery! We’ll be growing thus tree very soon! THANKS!!!
I would describe the taste like roasted beans with a little onion and also black pepper notes. Normally the young shots in spring not the older leaves are eaten. And most important feature missed in this video is that this tree is a true mahogany tree and the only one thats cold hardy so the wood its precious too.
Thank you! I've heard that exact same description before. Strange, but I have never tasted anything vegetarians say tastes like meat (or chicken) that has even remotely tasted like meat.
Toon has such a unique flavor! It's rather unusual the first time you try it. Definitely has a brothy/oniony flavor while not exactly matching either one.
Steak in my salad is the best thing ever. I had to buy it, plus a couple other things. My husband now feels that you are also an enabler of my love of all things plants, and my need to try new things.
My partner brought some from the plant they have at their place! It's really good! I can see the comparison to beef, but as a meat-eater it tastes like powdered beef stock (maybe like Knorr or OXO or something) but far milder. It's savoury, a little salty, tastes kind of like onion and the aftertaste is kinda like parsley. My partner advised blanching them and putting them in an omelet. Really good! Interestingly the red colour disappeared as we blanched it. I enjoyed this a lot and hopefully the plant does well at their place. I wonder if the leaves could be dried to preserve them.
I’ve found that a cube of knorr vegetable bullion tastes like knorr beef bullion if you add 1-2 tablespoons of MSG, 1 bay leaf and a teaspoon of brown sugar. I use it to mess with my vegan friend (religious reason, much less annoying), I am a bit of huge meat eater and when I do that mix for a leaf curry he always becomes suspicious. Especially when I put semi-dried half fermented tofu in there (it starts acting like cheese). He always thinks it’s paneer (I cube it so it looks more like it just to mess with him).
I’m vegetarian and my parents grow this in Sydney. One of the best things you can do with the leaves is to chop it up finely, heat up some neutral oil (like sunflower) then pour over the chopped leaves. It turns it into an oil you can use in various dishes like fried rice, noodles etc. I make a delicious dish with soy protein, black beans, soy sauce and toona oil, so delicious. I found some today and soooo happy I can make it again soon, it has been 10 years since I’ve cooked with this plant cos I was living in London and didn’t see it anywhere.
OMG I have this tree growing in my backyard lol ! We thought it was a pesky useless tree since animals don't like eating the leaves nor does it's fruits/flowers attract birds or bees. I'll have to check the taste for myself now. Thank you !
I need to try that. I haven't eaten meat for about 25 years. I was an adult when I became vegetarian, so at times I must admit I miss savory flavor. Lately I have enjoyed certain mushrooms and Vegemite to get a savory taste. Those leaves would expand my options. Thank you for making this video!
This is a common seasonal vegetable in China. They sell for several times the price of tomatoes in February and March. There is a strong special aroma, not as exaggerated as coriander, but of course a lot of people don't like it.
As a chef, I've gotta say I love your channel. Been around for a long time, and videos like this teach me new things and I love it. Not anywhere close to a vegetarian myself, almost the opposite, but I appreciate knowing about this herb for my friends who are. Thank you!
I want this to be a place for vegetarians and meat eaters alike. Vegetarians can use this on tofu to make a meat substitut. Meat eaters can put the beef leaf on actual beef and make it even beefier!
@@WeirdExplorer keep doing what you're doing! And to have someone like smarter every day as a supporter? You're doing great. And as always I look forward to the next video :)
@@WeirdExplorer first thing i thought of doing was making like a chile Colorado, but with Jack fruit and this... might end up as a decent vegetarian meal.
@@WeirdExplorer Do you know if it retains its beefiness when dried? I mean, the leaves sort of look like fresh bay leaves (but not as tough I guess, since you chewed and swallowed one!). If drying doesn't cut it I guess you could freeze them? My experience with kaffir lime leaves is that the frozen ones are 10x more potent and vibrant than the dried ones (which are still nice!).
@@elleboman8465 Drying appears to make it lose most of its flavor. It is recommended to freeze them. When you can't find them fresh they are often frozen or salted. "Toona paste" is also a common use for toon leaves from what I gathered from the internet. I'll check my local 99 Ranch next time i'm there to see if they have the fresh leaves or toona paste.
Oh, goody .. another plant to work into my agroforestry designs 👍😊😋 Sadly, they are sold out right now, OH NOES!! but, they have the ability to notify me whenever Toona, and a few other items that ive been looking for, are back in stock *cheers*
Dude, I’ve been a subscriber since you were at around 25000. I’m really happy to see your channel grow! Excellent, interesting review of a plant I have ZERO experience with!
Hey Jared, have you ever tried/reviewed Myrtle (Myrtus communis)? The fragrance of the flowers smell like hot dogs, the seeds kind of too. A tea out of them just kind of tastes like hot dog water lol I never tried the leaves though, but knw they use them to cook meats with as well.
I make "meaty broth" from mushrooms & browned onions. Another vegan broth we like is started off with lemongrass then uses coconut milk & cashew butter, plus some secret herbs & spices. A little bit of blackstrap molasses also helps give any dark broth an increased depth of flavor. Now I want to try this beef leaf, too.
I grew up eating this in northern China. The leaf you ate is way overripe. You want tender spring shoots, including leaf stems and leaves, or even the tender wood part. You might want to pick some tips from summer, but definitely not this time of the year. It is a tree that grows very fast. In the spring, its leaves and stems are sold in Asian markets for $10~$20/lb if you are lucky enough to see some here. So I grow it in my backyard. It grows very fast and doesn't require any care. BTW, This tree looks almost identical to tree of heaven, which is not edible.
Intresting. So is the immature leaf pink or red or is that a different species of tree? Someone said that the leaf Jared is eating doesn't look familiar to them. I've read that spring is the season to pick them, and that it's also called a flamingo tree. Onions but less pungent and browned onions, I have read as descriptors but I haven't seen beef yet. Maybe the older leaves taste more like beef?
@@let_uslunch8884 Depending on the exact species, it is either red or yellowish green. Old leaves have rough texture and taste more like grass. I think its taste is pretty unique. I don't think it tastes like beef at all. Here is pic: www.epochtimes.com/b5/18/4/28/n10345265.htm
@@kefeng6805 yes I saw some pictures just like that! They look a little bit more like a succulent plant that has some juice in it. I could make a nice stir fired greens dish with that. Unique as you say and oniony can be agreed upon by everyone, and beef tasting might be a little more debatable looks like. Between you and me if it doesn't taste enough like beef to meat eaters when they get the leaves in Jared might have to let his mustache come in and change the name of channel 😂 I am a little bit nervous for him.
my friend turned vegan and really missed beef ramen (he used to put beef inside it and it tasted great) so he looked online for any vegan beef stock recipes and found one with toon leafs so he tried it and told me that it tastes just like the beef ramen but without the meat
OMFG, SO perfect for my Veggie pasta sauce that I make with TVP Mince. The 300 gram bag of TVP cost just $2.50 CDN here in Hamilton Ontario, so this was a really cool video, and I could imagine people not being the wiser if you don't tell them they're not eating animal protein.
I grow up in China. We had bunch of 香椿 (beef leaf) bushes in the backyard. My dad would chop it up and make a salad as a side dish or put it in dumplings. Can confirm it tastes pretty good, but I never realized that it had a beefy flavor until I watched this video.
I was talking with my old man who grew up in far northern Norway about your quest for cloud berries. He said that by far the best berry - and plant overall - he knew was a berry we call "Field Berry" in English usually "Arctic Bramble". Though he was unable to explain the flavor. I think you should try to hunt it down!!!
We make vegetarian burgers out of rolled oats, Not Beef broth, nutritional yeast and other yummies. They are SOOO GOOD! I bet these leaves would be excellent for making the broth for cooking the rolled oats. I’ll have to try it! Thanks!!! 🙏🏼
Thank you for trying this and sharing a source for ordering. I've had my eye on this tree for a while but was chicken to pull the trigger because I hadn't tried it. It will be added to my garden this spring when they ship. :)
i showed this to my dad, he grew up in an area of Shaanxi where it was super common. He recommends that you're supposed to eat it when the leaves are even younger, when they're "reddish"/brownish in color. Maybe you could do a video revisiting this one?
I did some googling around, and I found a research article which gives an explanation. One of the key odorants in toona sinensis is (E,E)-2,4-Decadienal , which is also in butter, beef, chicken, among other things.
I’ve heard that the leaves are edible (though I was told they’re best eaten very young) but although I’ve wanted to have a tree I never got one and never tasted the leaves.
Hold up, you’ve been a vegetarian since age 4? That’s pretty astonishing. Makes me wonder if it started as a health concern, or if you parents were strictly vegetarian as well and raised you that way, or if it was still personal choice?
@@quitlife9279 Not obviously, if thats the case then he probably would have been a vegetarian since he was born. Ive been a vegetarian since i was 5 and i started because i didnt want to eat animals anymore.
@@Paxess Most likely then. His parents likely became vegetarians when he was 4. I don't know about your childhood situation but most parents simply aren't so obliging to the dietary whims of a preschooler if it directly goes against the rest of the family.
@@quitlife9279 Still dont think so, i know several vegetarian parents who dont force their kids to adapt the same diet. (All vegetarian parents i know actually). Still interested in his reason though!
@@Paxess Only way to know for sure is to hear it from him lol. Unless he is a liar, then we'll never know the truth, and we can't know if he is lying or not, so we can never know. But were you the only vegetarian in your family back then?
As the resident vegan who loves making savory soups in the winter this seems pretty great, will research further! Thanks for the video. Also, was there a Caterpillar on one of the leaves in the beginning that you knocked off?
Imagine adding this to a veggie stock and making a ramen out of that. Or using the toon to flavor tempeh or tofu and using that in a reccipy to help add protine and meaty savoryness. those sound like really really good uses.
Let me ammend that statement. I tasted two of my trees today and they definitely include in their complex flavor profile a distinct note of stearic acid, which is a major component of beef fat. Possibly not the only plant source of stearic acid, but certainly the only one I have found. I have two geneticly distinct trees and one is sweeter and more onion-like, and the other is slightly bitter, beefier and reminiscent of deviled egg, perhaps slightly fermented. If anyone would like to try them just holler.
I'm a horticulturist & botanist by profession and research unusual food plants. I've grown Toona sinensis for years, and enjoy it. However, folks should know a few things about it, to avoid getting poisoned. Only very young, tender spring leaves should be eaten. The typical cutoff date for harvest in the mid-Atlantic region is April 15, but the shoots should be short and very brittle. The very young growth, grown during cool-cold weather tastes a lot better. The edible parts contain a potentially toxic level of Nitrite, which can harm organs or potentially cause cancer. To mitigate this, drop the chopped Toon in boiling water (a good amount) and blanch it for 60-80 seconds. This step dilutes the nitrite levels considerably. Don't eat a large amount of it, just to be careful. Keep the tress hacked into a short shrub shape or they'll grow 60-80 feet high. I do not apply nitrogen fertilizer, which, in theory, might raise nitrite/nitrate levels in the plant.
Recipe ideas for the beef leaf?
tea
I wonder if mixing it with tofu would allow you to make a imitation hamburger
I wonder how that would taste in a marinara? I’ll bet it would add a good flavor to the tomatoes!
ETA: Oops! Vince already posted this idea! 😝
Beef Stew. =D
bread
What's your favourite cut of beef?
Jared: Leaf
It's the one time you can contribute an answer as a vege(taria)n
@@ketsuekikumori9145 a vegen?
@@DroppedMyMarbles same shit
Funnily enough, the Swedish word for a super thin or flattened steak (minute steak) is "lövbiff", literally: leaf beef
@@Mya_9393 +--- take that heathen
You know I'm going to have to try this!
Looking forward to the video. Glad you watch this channel too!
Me to bro.... wasn't expecting the guru here.... Can't wait for your vid on it....
Yes. Make it soon.
Lots of possibilities with this one!
yes
The young shoots taste like garlicy peanuts and look amazing in salads, they're bright pink.
I have been a professional cook for years. One of my goals is to replace the Caesar salad. This herb may very well do that.
Thank you for the insight!
@@jimmyg7100 You'll never replace the precious Caesar salad! It's too simple to defeat.
@@Sun-ut9gr No fucking joke. I have to try though. It needs to die, and someone needs to do the killing. =D
I am okay with cooking traditional meals.
Impossible Burger wants to know your location
With Onions and hold the cheese Plz
But I gotta say, they are pretty much almost there.
When I tried it, side by side with real meat, it was like 90, 95% there. It's at a point, were I'd defenetly take those in Burgers. They are pretty damn expansive, on the same level as organic Beef (from sources you know, were the animals were not tortured, had space and good food, could go outside and all of that), but better for the enviroment. They really should cut prices a bit...
But damn am I impressed. I've tried ground Beef replacement from my supermarket one time. Wich was also redicolous in Pricing. It did stick AF in the pan (wich ground meat doesn't), it had a weird consistency and the taste was bloody fucking awefull. Impossible doesn't compare to that, since consistency was there and it tasted really damn good.
@@sagichdirdochnicht4653 the prices will go down when there's more demand for it
@@rosehabaduck4783 And demand grows, when prices go down.
Spare me your beginners guide to capitalism.
At that point I'm almost convinced they are just greedy. I sure understand they had a lot of time and money into research and testing to get the product right, but it is pretty done, out in the market and quite popular among their customers as well.
In no way shape or form can it be that more expansive then the real thing, were you need to raise the cow, feed them shittons of Food, plus medical stuff, a lot of work. The baby cow costs a lot as well in the first place, unless you got your own breed, wich is quite expansive as well. And then everyone wants a share of profit, the "Butcher" (in cheap industrial stuff I'd say the meat factory), the Supermarkets, maybe the middlemans as well...
Now industrial meat is still pretty cheap, wich is because the animals are treated like shit. Organic free range stuff were you can be sure they were treated right are damn fucking expansive (but defenetly worth it). A Plant based thing therefore, were there are no Animals and not a thousand middlemans involved COULD defenetly compete in price with industrial meat and still cut a profit.
Wich they fucking must eventually. Seriously. Everyone, that buys industrial meat is aware, that those animals suffered (at least the most part). They buy it, because it tastes great, is affordeable and they are pretty damn good at hiding the idea of bad animal treatement in their mind.
You don't need to convince people like me, who'll spare no expansive in meat to make sure the animal suffer. You need to convince those who'll buy inexpansive industrial meat and tend to eat tons of it. Compete in price and you'll get a pretty damn big market to conquer.
Because we ain't talking about vegetarians or vegans here. They got that market. Get buyers of industrial meat on your side. They'll buy it, if it is not that overpriced.
Herbs can be grown faster than beef.
As a consummate omnivore that enjoys cooking, this may be going in the garden next spring.
It’s a tree that grows quite big. It’s fairly cold-tolerant despite having some tropical relatives, and Wikipedia says it grows in North Korea and can be grown in Northern Europe...
@@markiangooley I live in Northern Florida and have gotten plants from Wanderlust nursery and have not had success bc the plants get so shocked coming from there to here.
Consummate means to have sex with something.
You have sex with your food?
Disgusting.
@@ChaosBW the adjective is different than the verb
it's a big tree if you don't prune it into a hedge.
Why is this not more common? This seems super useful.
One reason is that it grows on a tree (though you can prune it to a bush) (this is actually in the mahogany family, believe it or not). Many farmers prefer annual crops, probably so that they can quickly switch production to meet anticipated demand. Tree nuts are produced at a much lower volume and sold at a higher price than peanuts.
Probably because you can grow it in your yard in Asia and pick it whenever you need it. That's why cruising through ethnic food stores is so important in expanding your food horizons and it's fun!
Because it's been used as a food ingredient, but not described by others as being beefy. Look it up; you'll see onion, garlic, earthy. Only this guy (who doesn't eat meat) seems to think it's beefy.
@@madthumbs1564 he also uses words like "meaty" and "savoury"
probably also an invasive species. They grow hella fast and I'm not sure there're things that actually eat them in other places of the world since they have a pretty distinct and pungent flavor.
1:36 "YUP! That is very meaty tasting."
2:04 "I haven't eaten beef, I don't know if I've ever has beef."
Classic vegetarian move.
I NEVER trust what any of these "tastes just like meat" videos have to say.
@@HavokBWR sure but considering its regularly used by meat eaters as well I'd be more inclined to believe the comparison in this case
100% agree
Lol yeah, tho you'd be surprised how memorable tastes can be especially with Jared, and as hes said, we've almost all had slip-ups, I wouldn't know the texture of meat until my brother recently gave me the wrong food, now I know that kind is just harder mushroom
Seems like somebody is missing an opportunity to market this under the name Beef Leaf.
Definitely a better name than what I came up with....cow chow😂
In finland (and probably other countries) have a thin cut of beef that is called "Lehtipihvi" and it literally means leafbeef.
Either that or "I Can't B'Leaf it's not Beef!"
@@K.D.Meyers oh my god XD
@@mingingg same in Sweden: lövbiff.
Just one leaf and immediately “WOW!”
That’s so interesting.
This is exactly what I was thinking
He's so qUiRkY
Right? Didn't even take a second
The first Idea I had for the Beef leaf was to put it in a salad and watch my friend's confusion and horror as they try to rationalize the beefy plant hidden in a normal salad.
Did you try this? love to hear response
@@YoMamaRice it just taste like green onion in a salad!
I'm going to hit up wanderlust nursery. The plug is working! Keep sending this man stuff to recommend for me to grow!!
Missed opportunity on naming the leaf! They should have just called it "The Beaf" - LOL
I personally think we should just leaf the name as it is
Sounds like a pokemon.
LOL your eyes popping open at 1:35 and you exclaiming "YUP!" after a mere second of chewing it gave me a chuckle. Thanks for cluing us in to this leaf!
A heads up for anyone that wants to grow these, we have 3 trees of these in our backyard and they grow really really fast. As in over a meter a month fast if left unmonitored. You really only want to eat the fresh leaves as the older ones get pretty tough and lose a lot of its flavor, so keep an eye on them and probably cut off the top buds if you don't want them growing 2 stories tall in 3 months.
As a side note, not sure if this is true or not, but all my relatives say that these leaves are very very high in nitrite, which can increase the risk of getting cancer. As such we only eat it occasionally in the form of stir-frying with eggs or making dumplings. Boiling supposedly gets rid of some of the nitrite so make sure you boil them before eating if you buy into that.
Very helpful; thanks!
I looked it up re nitrite. Wikipaedia says : The leaves of T. sinensis has a relative high content of nitrite, which is about 157 to 160 mg/kg.[22] However, after boiling with water, the amount of nitrite left is only about 7 mg/kg, which is safe to eat. Thanks!
So it would be good to use in cured meats. Got it.
So if you add this to beef....will it taste.. beefier?
it would tip the beef scales
But also feed it to the cow
@@superdupergrover9857 so what you’re saying is... cows fed on this beef plant so it tastes beefier and then seasoning the beef with the beef plant for maximum beefiness?
AND THEN FEEDING THE BEEF-PLANT BEEF SEASONED BY THE BEEF PLANT TO ANOTHER COW FED ON BEEF PLANTS
@@anotherworldhopper5344 Heresy it may be, but there is such a thing as too much.
This is going to be interesting to put in beef pho, increase the savoury flavour while trying to keep the broth clear
I had the same thought!!!! Even as an additional thing in normal pho, but would also be great for vegetarian pho or in other noddle soups like ramen or tom yum
These are super easy to grow from seeds. They generally germinate in 1-2 weeks in my experience. I'm currently growing 4 plants indoors during the winter.
As a vegetarian who misses the flavor of meat, I guess I'm going to be adding this to my garden next spring.
Better be a big garden. It's a tree.
@@ThePickledsoul Well, gonna be a bit more crowded. Roll over chicken-of-the-woods.
@@ThePickledsoul In the tropics, people do grow woody vegetables like chaya (Mayan tree spinach, a cassava relative) and Moringa. Just plant it away from your annual vegetable garden, where you would plant other large bushes, and prune the cr*p out of it to keep it small. Maybe invest in a wood chipper.
@@ThePickledsoul I grow mine in a pot as a bush
Same. Although I'll probably have to start from seeds. Fully formed saplings seem hard to come by here in Sweden. But maybe seedlings will be more managable to begin with!
Jared! I am SO THANKFUL to have seen this episode! I am the land and animal steward on our small, organic, NO-KILL farm here in the Missouri Ozarks.
We have 235 chickens and four livestock guardian dogs to protect them as they graze through our gardens, orchard, vineyard and compost-production yard. We rescue meat rabbits and give them an awesome, organic pasture to graze and lounge.
This tree looks AMAZING and it grows in USDA hardiness zones 6-11! So cool! Thank you for giving the link to the nursery! We’ll be growing thus tree very soon! THANKS!!!
glad to hear it
I would describe the taste like roasted beans with a little onion and also black pepper notes.
Normally the young shots in spring not the older leaves are eaten.
And most important feature missed in this video is that this tree is a true mahogany tree and the only one thats cold hardy so the wood its precious too.
Thank you! I've heard that exact same description before.
Strange, but I have never tasted anything vegetarians say tastes like meat (or chicken) that has even remotely tasted like meat.
Yeah the young leaves are definitely better.
@@ohsweetmystery It's a very unique taste, but definitely not meaty.
I appreciate that you arent a preachy vegetarian, you spoke kind about both diets
Mmm i wanna taste beef leaf
This is so cool!!! Thank you Sauce Stache for bringing me here ❤️
I'm glad you're finally trying more of these temperate fruits and vegetables!
Toon has such a unique flavor! It's rather unusual the first time you try it. Definitely has a brothy/oniony flavor while not exactly matching either one.
Steak in my salad is the best thing ever. I had to buy it, plus a couple other things. My husband now feels that you are also an enabler of my love of all things plants, and my need to try new things.
*evil laugh*
@@WeirdExplorer best reaction ever! Lol
My partner brought some from the plant they have at their place! It's really good! I can see the comparison to beef, but as a meat-eater it tastes like powdered beef stock (maybe like Knorr or OXO or something) but far milder. It's savoury, a little salty, tastes kind of like onion and the aftertaste is kinda like parsley.
My partner advised blanching them and putting them in an omelet. Really good! Interestingly the red colour disappeared as we blanched it. I enjoyed this a lot and hopefully the plant does well at their place. I wonder if the leaves could be dried to preserve them.
These vids are the midnight owls jam. I always look forward to a new one and still tackling the backlog of vids you have.
Lol the concept of this video is absolutely hilarious.
Perfect for making a vegetarian beef stock
Oh man, that’s an amazing use for this plant!
I’ve never been vegetarian but this has really peaked my interest, I need to make this
Exactly ! 👏🏼
I’ve found that a cube of knorr vegetable bullion tastes like knorr beef bullion if you add 1-2 tablespoons of MSG, 1 bay leaf and a teaspoon of brown sugar.
I use it to mess with my vegan friend (religious reason, much less annoying), I am a bit of huge meat eater and when I do that mix for a leaf curry he always becomes suspicious. Especially when I put semi-dried half fermented tofu in there (it starts acting like cheese). He always thinks it’s paneer (I cube it so it looks more like it just to mess with him).
@@SecretLars Nice, thanks for sharing. Try slipping your friend some Burmese tofu ( Made with besan ) in place of paneer and see if he notices
I’m vegetarian and my parents grow this in Sydney. One of the best things you can do with the leaves is to chop it up finely, heat up some neutral oil (like sunflower) then pour over the chopped leaves. It turns it into an oil you can use in various dishes like fried rice, noodles etc. I make a delicious dish with soy protein, black beans, soy sauce and toona oil, so delicious. I found some today and soooo happy I can make it again soon, it has been 10 years since I’ve cooked with this plant cos I was living in London and didn’t see it anywhere.
Great idea!
My grandma used to marinate toon sprouts in salt in every spring to make pickles. The unique frangrance and taste is a kind of taste from my childhood
Wow, your channel has grown significantly since last I was here...right on!!! People are finally catching on!
I love this channel.
OMG I have this tree growing in my backyard lol ! We thought it was a pesky useless tree since animals don't like eating the leaves nor does it's fruits/flowers attract birds or bees.
I'll have to check the taste for myself now. Thank you !
I need to try that. I haven't eaten meat for about 25 years. I was an adult when I became vegetarian, so at times I must admit I miss savory flavor. Lately I have enjoyed certain mushrooms and Vegemite to get a savory taste. Those leaves would expand my options. Thank you for making this video!
Asian cuisines in general have solved savory flavours in about a thousand other ways already. Black bean paste, soy sauce, miso etc.
Revolutionizing veggie cooking.
Never heard of that before, thank you for introducing me to another amazing plant yet again lol
This is a common seasonal vegetable in China. They sell for several times the price of tomatoes in February and March. There is a strong special aroma, not as exaggerated as coriander, but of course a lot of people don't like it.
@@林幼蕖 Thank you! Cool info :)
Have never wanted to try something from a video so much
As a chef, I've gotta say I love your channel. Been around for a long time, and videos like this teach me new things and I love it. Not anywhere close to a vegetarian myself, almost the opposite, but I appreciate knowing about this herb for my friends who are. Thank you!
I want this to be a place for vegetarians and meat eaters alike. Vegetarians can use this on tofu to make a meat substitut. Meat eaters can put the beef leaf on actual beef and make it even beefier!
@@WeirdExplorer keep doing what you're doing! And to have someone like smarter every day as a supporter? You're doing great. And as always I look forward to the next video :)
@@WeirdExplorer first thing i thought of doing was making like a chile Colorado, but with Jack fruit and this... might end up as a decent vegetarian meal.
how is this herb not world wide in super markets :O
Yeah this one should be everywhere.
@@WeirdExplorer Do you know if it retains its beefiness when dried? I mean, the leaves sort of look like fresh bay leaves (but not as tough I guess, since you chewed and swallowed one!). If drying doesn't cut it I guess you could freeze them? My experience with kaffir lime leaves is that the frozen ones are 10x more potent and vibrant than the dried ones (which are still nice!).
@@elleboman8465 Drying appears to make it lose most of its flavor. It is recommended to freeze them. When you can't find them fresh they are often frozen or salted. "Toona paste" is also a common use for toon leaves from what I gathered from the internet. I'll check my local 99 Ranch next time i'm there to see if they have the fresh leaves or toona paste.
it's invasive where I live
I live in the Levant
This is very cool. I can’t believe I haven’t heard of this till now
I like the Wonkaish intro! Man I’ve learned so much from you... I hope you discover more!
Oh, goody .. another plant to work into my agroforestry designs 👍😊😋 Sadly, they are sold out right now, OH NOES!! but, they have the ability to notify me whenever Toona, and a few other items that ive been looking for, are back in stock *cheers*
I just tried frying eggs with this and out of curiosity looked it up. Of course you'd have a video about it already!
Who remembers "Where's the Beef"?lol
Wanderlust nursery is great. Highly recommended. Had a great experience ordering from them.
Great to hear!
Dude, I’ve been a subscriber since you were at around 25000. I’m really happy to see your channel grow! Excellent, interesting review of a plant I have ZERO experience with!
That looks so cool, Jared! I’m vegan and would love to try those! I’ll check out the website. 👍✌️
Hey Jared, have you ever tried/reviewed Myrtle (Myrtus communis)?
The fragrance of the flowers smell like hot dogs, the seeds kind of too. A tea out of them just kind of tastes like hot dog water lol
I never tried the leaves though, but knw they use them to cook meats with as well.
Thanks 😮, I've been curious about this plant. Perhaps someday I can grow one.
I make "meaty broth" from mushrooms & browned onions. Another vegan broth we like is started off with lemongrass then uses coconut milk & cashew butter, plus some secret herbs & spices. A little bit of blackstrap molasses also helps give any dark broth an increased depth of flavor. Now I want to try this beef leaf, too.
Boom, there's a nursery near me that sells these. Got myself on the waiting list for spring.
Vegetarian since 4? The lore!
Great rhyme, good time 🌝
Excellent one.
I grew up eating this in northern China. The leaf you ate is way overripe. You want tender spring shoots, including leaf stems and leaves, or even the tender wood part. You might want to pick some tips from summer, but definitely not this time of the year. It is a tree that grows very fast. In the spring, its leaves and stems are sold in Asian markets for $10~$20/lb if you are lucky enough to see some here. So I grow it in my backyard. It grows very fast and doesn't require any care. BTW, This tree looks almost identical to tree of heaven, which is not edible.
Intresting. So is the immature leaf pink or red or is that a different species of tree? Someone said that the leaf Jared is eating doesn't look familiar to them. I've read that spring is the season to pick them, and that it's also called a flamingo tree. Onions but less pungent and browned onions, I have read as descriptors but I haven't seen beef yet. Maybe the older leaves taste more like beef?
@@let_uslunch8884 Depending on the exact species, it is either red or yellowish green. Old leaves have rough texture and taste more like grass. I think its taste is pretty unique. I don't think it tastes like beef at all. Here is pic: www.epochtimes.com/b5/18/4/28/n10345265.htm
@@kefeng6805 yes I saw some pictures just like that! They look a little bit more like a succulent plant that has some juice in it. I could make a nice stir fired greens dish with that. Unique as you say and oniony can be agreed upon by everyone, and beef tasting might be a little more debatable looks like. Between you and me if it doesn't taste enough like beef to meat eaters when they get the leaves in Jared might have to let his mustache come in and change the name of channel 😂 I am a little bit nervous for him.
And the best part? ITS A COLD CLIMATE PLANT WOOOOO!
my friend turned vegan and really missed beef ramen (he used to put beef inside it and it tasted great) so he looked online for any vegan beef stock recipes and found one with toon leafs so he tried it and told me that it tastes just like the beef ramen but without the meat
OMFG, SO perfect for my Veggie pasta sauce that I make with TVP Mince. The 300 gram bag of TVP cost just $2.50 CDN here in Hamilton Ontario, so this was a really cool video, and I could imagine people not being the wiser if you don't tell them they're not eating animal protein.
very awesome find another thing i want to grow very much so there is so many wonderful items you can use this for
I grow up in China. We had bunch of 香椿 (beef leaf) bushes in the backyard. My dad would chop it up and make a salad as a side dish or put it in dumplings. Can confirm it tastes pretty good, but I never realized that it had a beefy flavor until I watched this video.
Oh interesting, I didn't know that it was eaten raw as well
Thank you!
As soon as I saw this video I just got up and immediately told my brother bc beef leaf makes me smile
If this could impart strong beef flavor you could use some sliced dehydrated rehydrated Lions main mushroom for the meat like look.
I was talking with my old man who grew up in far northern Norway about your quest for cloud berries. He said that by far the best berry - and plant overall - he knew was a berry we call "Field Berry" in English usually "Arctic Bramble". Though he was unable to explain the flavor. I think you should try to hunt it down!!!
Meat addict recovery center:
-Jared, would you like to share your story?
-It all started with one simple leaf, then everything spiraled down.
We make vegetarian burgers out of rolled oats, Not Beef broth, nutritional yeast and other yummies. They are SOOO GOOD! I bet these leaves would be excellent for making the broth for cooking the rolled oats. I’ll have to try it!
Thanks!!! 🙏🏼
Thank you for trying this and sharing a source for ordering. I've had my eye on this tree for a while but was chicken to pull the trigger because I hadn't tried it. It will be added to my garden this spring when they ship. :)
Interesting, never tried this one but now I am intrigued ...
i showed this to my dad, he grew up in an area of Shaanxi where it was super common. He recommends that you're supposed to eat it when the leaves are even younger, when they're "reddish"/brownish in color. Maybe you could do a video revisiting this one?
I did some googling around, and I found a research article which gives an explanation. One of the key odorants in toona sinensis is (E,E)-2,4-Decadienal
, which is also in butter, beef, chicken, among other things.
wow! that explains it
Whoa, and pretty cold hardy!
Good plant ,gretings from Ecuador🌱
Me : *reads first time* tastes like... BEEZ?
*reads again* ohhh beef....
WAIT BEEF?
haha
@@WeirdExplorer omg hi-
Sounds delicious
Hey! I always enjoy the vids!
Glad you like them!
I wander how it could enhance the taste of a veggie meatloaf. Will give it a try. Thank you Weird Explorer!!
Why isnt this more available ? Ive never seen this in the uk.
Better off just sticking to the real thing
@@ArthurShelby-PB i dont eat beef. Thats why i wish i could get these leaves.
@@ArthurShelby-PB red meats are related to several health problems, so no.
I think we're all just discovering it. Honestly can't even find a ton on the internet about it.
@@boaz08 - Who cares? We all die at some point. Live life and enjoy what it offers.
Instantly plans to use the leaf in my beef recipes 😁
Amazing.
I’ve heard that the leaves are edible (though I was told they’re best eaten very young) but although I’ve wanted to have a tree I never got one and never tasted the leaves.
Damn that looks really good
I'm gonna have to try and find this. Hopefully fresh, maybe from the Chinese market in my city... thanks for giving us ideas!
Hold up, you’ve been a vegetarian since age 4? That’s pretty astonishing. Makes me wonder if it started as a health concern, or if you parents were strictly vegetarian as well and raised you that way, or if it was still personal choice?
obviously raised by vegetarian parents.
@@quitlife9279 Not obviously, if thats the case then he probably would have been a vegetarian since he was born. Ive been a vegetarian since i was 5 and i started because i didnt want to eat animals anymore.
@@Paxess Most likely then. His parents likely became vegetarians when he was 4. I don't know about your childhood situation but most parents simply aren't so obliging to the dietary whims of a preschooler if it directly goes against the rest of the family.
@@quitlife9279 Still dont think so, i know several vegetarian parents who dont force their kids to adapt the same diet. (All vegetarian parents i know actually). Still interested in his reason though!
@@Paxess Only way to know for sure is to hear it from him lol. Unless he is a liar, then we'll never know the truth, and we can't know if he is lying or not, so we can never know.
But were you the only vegetarian in your family back then?
anyone else misread the title as "Tastes like Bees!"?
no
Beads?
Jacob Goodman no
Let it bee.
OMG me too 😂
As the resident vegan who loves making savory soups in the winter this seems pretty great, will research further! Thanks for the video.
Also, was there a Caterpillar on one of the leaves in the beginning that you knocked off?
Your reaction 😂. I never heard of this plant. If I can find it, I'll cook phở with this.
I'm buying seeds right now! Thank you 😊
omg i need this in my life
Imagine adding this to a veggie stock and making a ramen out of that. Or using the toon to flavor tempeh or tofu and using that in a reccipy to help add protine and meaty savoryness. those sound like really really good uses.
This WHY, in a subscriber... he's the best!!!
Grown in Seattle??? That's where I live, so I'm going to see if I can grow this. Sounds very interesting.
This is super popular in northern parts of China. People make a "stir-fried pesto" out of it and put it on everything.
Cool channel. Subscribed!
I grow toon and eat it seasonally. Toon tastes like beef only if beef tastes like slightly burnt onion.
Let me ammend that statement. I tasted two of my trees today and they definitely include in their complex flavor profile a distinct note of stearic acid, which is a major component of beef fat. Possibly not the only plant source of stearic acid, but certainly the only one I have found. I have two geneticly distinct trees and one is sweeter and more onion-like, and the other is slightly bitter, beefier and reminiscent of deviled egg, perhaps slightly fermented. If anyone would like to try them just holler.
it'd be great for any backpackng recepies
Onions and beef? So...beef stew then? that's awesome😄
I'm a horticulturist & botanist by profession and research unusual food plants. I've grown Toona sinensis for years, and enjoy it. However, folks should know a few things about it, to avoid getting poisoned. Only very young, tender spring leaves should be eaten. The typical cutoff date for harvest in the mid-Atlantic region is April 15, but the shoots should be short and very brittle. The very young growth, grown during cool-cold weather tastes a lot better.
The edible parts contain a potentially toxic level of Nitrite, which can harm organs or potentially cause cancer. To mitigate this, drop the chopped Toon in boiling water (a good amount) and blanch it for 60-80 seconds. This step dilutes the nitrite levels considerably. Don't eat a large amount of it, just to be careful.
Keep the tress hacked into a short shrub shape or they'll grow 60-80 feet high. I do not apply nitrogen fertilizer, which, in theory, might raise nitrite/nitrate levels in the plant.
Delicious...?
I would definitely try it