Weeds Can Feed

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Weeds Can Feed

By John D. McCann

When we have guests over for dinner, we usually like to start with a salad. As the salad is placed on the table, new guests will often query, "Gee, that looks so nice, but what is it?" Our salads don't often look like ordinary salads presented at your normal table and is often full of color. Yet the contents are rarely identifiable by the ordinary observer. I will usually retort, "Just weeds... Wait till the main course, we will probably have more."

Most people just don't realize the plethora of weeds around their yard, and the healthiness of their consumption. Weeds that are often pulled up around the yard and garden can be as healthy and delicious as the vegetables grown in the garden... and the weeds are free for the taking.

In the early spring, you have the young Dandelion greens. The leaves of the dandelion are so toothed that it got its name from the French which means "lions tooth." Dandelions are well known, and usually dreaded, as the fuzzy headed yellow plant that tends to take over your lawn. But in the early spring, before they form those yellow flowers, and are still in the small rosette of leaves stage, they are not yet too bitter to eat. At this time, the small leaves, especially the pale whitish portion just below the soil, can be a great addition to salads, adding a little olive oil, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. As a potherb, these young leaves can also be boiled or steamed for 5-10 minutes. Either way, they are full of vitamins A & C. They cook down, so collect plenty if you are using them as a potherb.

The Dandelion Flower and the leaves.

As the season progresses, and the flowers appear, dandelions become to bitter to eat. However, you can still use the yellow flower heads by dipping them in batter and deep frying them, like a fritter. As a last resort, you can bake the roots until brown and then grind and use as you would commercial coffee. Although a little bitter, it can be used as a coffee extender in an emergency situation, by mixing it with your commercial blend.

The Common Blue Violet is spring flower which, on our property at least, seems to flower everywhere. Although somewhat bland in taste, both the leaves and flowers add a nice touch, with the blue flowers contributing a nice color to the completed salad. They are rich in vitamins A & C.

The Common Chickweed is another weed that appears everywhere and can be eaten all year long. If you remember where it is growing, you can even find it growing under the snow and harvest it. Common chickweed makes a nice addition to a salad and can be boiled or steamed for about five minutes for use as a potherb.

A close-up of the Chickweed Flower and the plant with leaves.

An often overlooked weed is Purslane, which grows well in every garden and many other areas around the yard. It is a smooth prostrate plant with reddish-green stems, with small paddle-shaped leaves. It has leaves and stems that have a sweet-sour flavor and are mucilaginous. They are rich in vitamins A & C as well as calcium and phosphorus. They make a great addition to a salad raw and can also be cooked and pickled. The seeds can be used as well to make a nutritious flour.

Purslane with it's paddle-shaped leaves and reddish-green stems.

Once salad is completed, there is an abundance of other weeds that just keep filling our pots with steamed or boiled greens. In the spring, we can't wait for the Ostrich Fern Fiddleheads. Still all curled up at the heads, they are great steamed, and don't forget to leave some of the stems attached. They are as good as the fiddleheads. Unfortunately, once they uncurl, they become poisonous.

Fiddleheads of the Ostrich Fern ready to pick and ready to cook.

One of my favorites, all summer and early fall is the Asiatic Dayflower. Often ignored, this little beauty is my preferred steamed potherb. My next favorites are Stinging Nettles, Galinsoga, and Lambs-Quarters, and Amaranth. Lady's thumb is an acceptable potherb and the young leaves can also be used in salad. There are many more, such as plantain, but the above are superior potherbs in my opinion.

The Asiatic Dayflower is my favorite potherb.

A pot of Asiatic Dayflower and a view of how it cooked down after steaming.

Although I recommend wearing gloves for picking Stinging Nettles, once they are

boiled or steamed, they lose their sting. A great potherb!

Galinsoga will take over a garden if you don't weed it or eat it!

Lambs Quarter is a good potherb that also seems to grow everywhere.

If you are lucky enough to have Jerusalem Artichoke on your property, you are in for a treat. It can be considered a true survival food and one of the best! Although the flowers are pretty, it is the tubers underground that is edible. Some of these tubers, getting as large as a medium size potato, can be eaten raw by slicing them thin and adding them to a salad. The tubers can be substituted in recipes that call for potatoes. Locate them while they are still flowering, them dig up the tubers throughout the fall, and even the winter if the ground unfreezes.

A close-up of the Jerusalem Artichoke flower and a handful of tubers.

All of these plants grow wild around our property and they often provide almost as much eating as our garden. For those used as potherbs, like spinach, they all cook down so pick a lot. As you can see, weeds are everywhere, but are not all bad. They can be a healthy addition to any meal and are free for the taking. Remember, weeds can feed!

Warning: Never pick and eat a plant that you have not 100% identified as edible. There are many reference books and field guides which can help in the identification of edible plants. I also suggest a plant walk with an expert to help in the correct identification. On the east coast I recommend Wildman Steve Brill, and on the west coast, Christopher Nyerges.

We hope you enjoyed this article and, as always. Be Prepared To Survive!

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