June 7: White Avens -- a chocolate substitute?

White Avens is one of those plants which is easy to overlook. The flowers aren't particularly impressive and sometimes look rather raggedy.

White Avens

But this plant has hidden virtues -- the roots are supposed to be a substitute for chocolate! For other avens plants the root is supposed to taste like cloves.

This I had to try, so I pulled some White Avens and cleaned off the root, which looked like a ginger root and smelled like dirt. Undeterred, I grated the root and microwaved it with a cup of water. To my surprise, it did make a tea which tastes a bit like chocolate, especially when I added a bit of sugar.