Chickweed (Stellaria media)
As I was weeding the salad garden yesterday, I found several small clumps of chickweed (Stellaria media). Appropriate that it was in the salad garden, because fresh, young chickweed makes a fabulous addition to a spring salad.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Oh god. I know where this is going. I am so *not* going to start “wild harvesting” lamb’s quarters and dandelion greens. And skeptics? I know where you’re coming from.
In fact, the original manuscript for my book included a sidebar on edible weeds, which I scrapped when I realized that as crunchy as I enjoy my granola, I’m not a let’s-make-“coffee”-out-of-this-dandelion-root kind of gal.Part of my hesitation, I think, is that weeds are often found in the unfriendliest of environments. At the side of the road, at the base of street trees (dog urine, anyone?), industrial wastelands… And then there’s the fact that invasive species such as Japanese knotweed may have been treated with a chemical herbicide. Who wants to take their chances with that?
But growing in my garden, in soil of which I know the heritage? I’ll eat that.
So here we go: a very select list of edible weeds.
Chickweed (Stellaria media), a low-growing annual with small star-shaped white flowers, has a mild flavor that is extremely tasty in a salad.
The young leaves of the common yellow-flowered dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) can be used in salads or sautés. Its roots can also be harvested, dried and roasted to make a coffee substitute (or so I hear. I’ll stick with my Americanos, thanks).
When cooked or dried, stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) are edible! Use only the young leaves (and wear thick gloves when harvesting). Use in place of spinach or other greens in soups, quiches, and sautés.
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is a sprawling annual that can be served raw in salads or sautéed.
Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum) is brutal in the garden, but this rhubarb-flavored thug makes a decent pie filling. Collect the shoots in the spring when they first emerge and are still tender, then strip off the leaves and slice up the shoots. Steam or boil the shoots and serve like asparagus, or use them in a pie or cobbler.
meemsnyc says
For some reason, for me, I just can’t get over the fact that they are pests / weeds in my garden.
Yan says
try the dandelion roots Andrea! trust me! …just toss a few in your oven while you’re baking something else and pull them out to grind when your house fills with the most AMAZING chocolaty smell. the good smell alone will convince you! mmm
Andrea Bellamy says
Meemsnyc – Eating them: it’s the ultimate revenge!
Yan – You’ve convinced me! I’ll try it. :)
Erin says
Andrea, I just got your book at the library it is great. I have the soil experiment going with my grandson. I entered to win a copy of “Sugar snaps and Strawberries”, but if I don’t its on my wish list! If I have time at the kids nap time I’m going to put a picture of our experiment and a link to your give away on my blog. In part I don’t want to share this I want to win! But that is selfish so I’ll try and find time to spread the news. A new reader from the Oregon Coast, Erin
jake says
Great blog, envious of the left-coasters here in the Alberta foothils. Earliest outdoor planting i never before the end of April here, but the indoor seeding can start.
I agree with Yan, I dried a tray of dandelion roots last spring when I was cleaning up a patch in the garden – it seemed a waste to just toss them in the compost. Then I roasted them (dark) and ground them in a coffee grinder – a nice toasty, rich, earthy flavour. I love coffee, but nice to have a small stash of local, organic, free beverages – mint, bergamot, chamomile tisanes, and dandelion root coffee. I ordered seed for root chicory to try this year…
Rob says
I have an affinity for eating weeds. IMHO a weed is only a weed if it is not edible. I just ate a chickweed and baby lettuce salad!
betsy says
I have to say dandelions and the like are quite tasty in spring! I used to teach an edible and medicinal plants class at a camp I ran and to entice kids to eat the dandelion greens, we’d bring some ranch dressing on the walk. The comments I loved the most were ” I’m never going to let my dad kill the dandelions in our yard again!” and “wow, can I have another?”
Granted, the ranch dressing helped, but it was great to get kids thinking outside the “produce section” and there are a lot of tasty treats to be had right in your own back yard (yes, we did cover the poisonous ones, too…safety first!).
Love this!
thanks for the post!
Jacqui MacNeill (Escents Aromatherapy Essential Oils) says
It’s great to encourage people to eat their weeds rather than just pulling them and throwing them out. This is sustainable living at its best! :)