More Iron Than Spinach. 5 Foods From 1 Plant. Why Was It Erased?

What if medieval farmers grew a vegetable with more iron than spinach and more protein than kale—that came back for 20 years without replanting?

For over eight hundred years, from Benedictine monasteries to Lincolnshire cottages, European families planted Good King Henry once by their back doors and harvested three different vegetables for decades. Spring shoots like asparagus. Summer leaves richer than any spinach. Flower buds cooked like broccoli. The same plant. The same roots. For twenty years.

Then came the seed industry. And by the 1950s, it had vanished from American catalogs.

Not because it failed. Because a vegetable that lasts twenty years doesn't support an industry that requires annual seed sales.

In this video, I reveal the forgotten story of Good King Henry—a perennial vegetable that fed medieval Europe for centuries but disappeared from American gardens the moment it became unprofitable. You'll discover why its deep roots pulled minerals that modern crops can't reach, how Swiss Alpine villages still cook it today, and why the seed industry erased every perennial vegetable that made farmers too independent.

00:00 SUBSCRIBE
ACT ONE: THE FORGOTTEN VEGETABLE: 01:13
ACT TWO: THE THREE HARVESTS: 03:28
ACT THREE: THE NUTRITIONAL DIFFERENCE: 05:59
ACT FOUR: THE GREAT DISAPPEARANCE: 08:05
ACT FIVE: WHAT WE LOST. THE REAL COST: 11:37

HISTORICAL SOURCES REFERENCED:

Benedictine monastery garden records (9th-12th century)
Lincolnshire agricultural documentation (16th-19th century)
Swiss Alpine traditional cooking preservation
British cottage garden historical surveys
American seed catalog archives (1940s-1950s)
Chenopodium species nutritional research
Medieval botanical family documentation (Chenopodium bonus-henricus)

🌱 WHERE TO FIND GOOD KING HENRY:

While major American seed companies abandoned Good King Henry, British heritage suppliers still maintain it:

Good King Henry seeds: Search UK heirloom seed companies (Chiltern Seeds, Thompson & Morgan, Real Seeds Wales)
Available internationally with shipping
Plant once, harvest for decades
Still grown in Swiss Alpine villages and British cottage gardens

(I don't link to specific suppliers to avoid affiliate appearance, but search "Good King Henry heritage seeds UK" or "Chenopodium bonus-henricus seeds")

💬 JOIN THE CONVERSATION:
Have you ever tasted Good King Henry? Would you plant a perennial vegetable that lasts 20 years instead of buying spinach every spring? Let me know in the comments! If you've grown any perennial vegetables like Tree Collards, Sea Kale, or Skirret, share your experience—this knowledge is disappearing and your story helps preserve it.

🔔 SUBSCRIBE for more videos exposing what medieval farmers knew that modern agriculture buried. Every week, I reveal forgotten agricultural practices that worked too well to be profitable—and how you can reclaim them.

#MedievalAgriculture #PerennialVegetables #GoodKingHenry #ForgottenCrops #SustainableGardening #HeritageSeeds #HomesteadGardening