Did you know that some weeds we are always worried about in our yards and Gardens are actually good for you, and can be delicious if prepared properly? Be sure to identify the edible weeds correctly (The ones described here are easy to spot.) Avoid harvesting from anyplace you suspect pollution — such as from vehicle exhaust, lawn pesticide, or doggy business. And remember that edible does not mean allergen-free.
Here are 9 good edible weeds to start with-
DANDELION
Dandelion is one of the healthiest and most versatile vegetables on the planet. The entire plant is edible. The leaves are like vitamin pills, containing generous amounts of vitamins A, C, and K — far more than those garden tomatoes, in fact — along with calcium, iron, manganese, and potassium. The leaves are most tender, and tastiest when they are young. This happens in the spring but also all summer long as the plant tries to rebound after being cut or pulled. You can add them to soup in great abundance. Or you can prepare them Italian style by sautéing with a little olive oil, salt, garlic, and some hot red pepper. You can eat the bright, open flower heads in a lightly fried batter. You can also make a simple wine with the flowers by fermenting them with raisins and yeast. If you are slightly adventurous, you can roast the dandelion root, grind it, and brew it like coffee. It’s an acquired taste. You might want to have some sugar on hand.
PURSLANE
If you’ve ever lived in the city, you have seen good ol’ Portulaca olearacea, or common purslane. The stuff grows in cracks in the sidewalk. Aside from being surprisingly tasty for a crack dweller, purslane tops the list of plants with omega-3 fatty acids, the type of healthy fat found in salmon. If you dislike the bitter taste of dandelion greens, you still might like the lemony taste of purslane. The stems, leaves, and flowers are all edible; and they can be eaten raw on salads — as they are prepared worldwide — or lightly sautéed. You should keep a few things in mind, though, before your harvest. Watch out for spurge, a similar-looking sidewalk-crack dweller. Spurge is much thinner than purslane, and it contains a milky sap, so you can easily differentiate it. Also, your mother might have warned you about eating things off the sidewalk; so instead, look for purslane growing in your garden, or consider transplanting it to your garden from a sidewalk. Also, note that some folks incorrectly call purslane “pigweed,” but that’s a different weed — edible but not as tasty.
LAMB’S QUARTERS
Lamb’s-quarters are like spinach, except they are healthier, tastier, and easier to grow. Lamb’s-quarters, also called goosefoot, usually need more than a sidewalk crack to grow in, unlike dandelion or purslane. Nevertheless, they can be found throughout the urban landscape, wherever there is a little dirt. The best part of the lamb’s-quarters is the leaves, which are slightly velvety with a fine white powder on their undersides. Discard any dead or diseased leaves, which are usually the older ones on the bottom of the plant. The leaves and younger stems can be quickly boiled or sautéed, and they taste like a cross between spinach and Swiss chard with a slight nutty after-taste. Maybe that taste combination doesn’t appeal to you, but lamb’s-quarters are ridiculously healthy. A one-cup serving will give you 10 times the daily recommended dose of vitamin K; three times the vitamin A; more than enough vitamin C; and half your daily dose of calcium and magnesium.
PLANTAIN
Plantain, like dandelion, is a healthy, hardy weed that is ubiquitous in the city as broken glass. You know what it looks like, but you might not have known the name. Part of the confusion is that plantain shares its name with something utterly different, the banana-like plantain, whose etymology is a mix of Spanish and native Caribbean. The so-called weed plantain, or Plantago major, was cultivated in pre-Columbus Europe; and indeed Native Americans called it “the white man’s footprint,” because it seemed to follow European settlers. Plantain has a nutritional profile similar to dandelion — that is, loaded with iron and other important vitamins and minerals. The leaves are tastiest when small and tender, usually in the spring but whenever new shoots appear after being cut back by a lawnmower. Bigger leaves are edible but bitter and fibrous. The shoots of the broadleaf plantain, when green and tender and no longer than about four inches, can be described as a poor-man’s fiddlehead, with a nutty, asparagus-like taste. Pan-fry in olive oil for just a few seconds to bring out this taste. The longer, browner shoots are also tasty prepared the same way, but the inner stem is too fibrous. You’ll need to place the shoot in your mouth, clench with your teeth, and quickly pull out the stem. What you’re eating are the plantain seeds. The leaves of the equally ubiquitous narrow-leaf plantain, or Plantago lanceolata, also are edible when young. The shoot is “edible” only with quotation marks. You can eat the seeds should you have the patience to collect hundreds of plants for the handful of seeds you’d harvest. With time being money, it’s likely not worth it.
CHICKWEED
One of the not-so-ugly weeds worth pulling and keeping is chickweed. Identified by purple stems, fuzzy green leaves, and starry white flower petals, this weed is a fantastic source of vitamins A, D, B complex, and C. It also contains minerals like iron, zinc, calcium, and potassium. Chickweed (Stellaria media) has a cornsilk-like flavor when eaten raw, and tastes similar to spinach when it is cooked. Chickweed nourishes the lymph and glandular systems and can heal cysts, fevers, and inflammation. It can help neutralize acid and help with yeast overgrowth and fatty deposits, too. Additionally, chickweed can be finely chopped and applied externally to irritated skin. Steep the plant in ¼ cup of boiling water for 15 minutes, and chickweed provides benefits similar to dandelion root. Speaking of dandelion…
CLOVER
Other than the occasional four-leafed clover hunt, this common lawn weed goes mostly unnoticed, even though it is becoming popular as a lawn replacement altogether. Clover is an important food for honeybees and bumblebees, and clover leaves and flowers can be used to add variety to human meals as well. Small amounts of raw clover leaves can be chopped into salads or can be sauteed and added to dishes for a green accent, and the flowers of both red and white clover can be eaten raw or cooked, or dried for tea.
MALLOW
Mallow, or malva, is also known as cheeseweed, due to the shape of its seed pods, and can be found in many lawns or garden beds across the US. The leaves and the seed pods (also called the ‘fruit’) are both edible, either raw or cooked, and like many greens, are often more tender and palatable when smaller and less mature. The older leaves can be used like any other cooked green after steaming, boiling, or sauteing them.
WILD AMARANTH
The leaves of the wild amaranth, also known as pigweed, are another great addition to any dish that calls for leafy greens, and while the younger leaves are softer and tastier, the older leaves can also be cooked like spinach. The seeds of the wild amaranth can be gathered and cooked just like store-bought amaranth, either as a cooked whole grain or as a ground meal, and while it does take a bit of time to gather enough to add to a meal, they can be a good source of free protein.
STINGING NETTLES
It sounds like a cruel joke, but stinging nettles — should you be able to handle them without getting a painful rash from the tiny, acid-filled needles — are delicious cooked or prepared as a tea. You may have brushed by these in the woods or even in your garden, not knowing what hit you, having been trained all your life to identify poison ivy and nothing else. The tiny needles, fortunately, fall off when steamed or boiled. The trick is merely using garden gloves to get the nettles into a bag. Nettles taste a little like spinach, only more flavorful and more healthful. They are loaded with essential minerals you won’t find together outside a multivitamin bottle, and these include iodine, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, silica, and sulfur. Nettles also have more protein than most plants. You can eat the leaves and then drink the water as a tea, with or without sugar, hot or cold. If you are adventurous — or, you can collect entire plants to dry in your basement. The needles will eventually fall off, and you can save the dried leaves for tea all winter long.
Info by Christopher Wanjek
