Edible Weeds?
Posted: November 8th, 2011 | Author: Chuck | Filed under: Around the House | No Comments »
As a gardener I’ve always been amazed at the vast number of weeds that plague most gardens! And to add insult to injury is the sad fact that these weeds all seem to thrive, even during droughts, and tend to outgrow the very plants we baby.
We do not use industrial chemical pesticides, weed preventers, or fertilizers in our yard. It’s all organic.
As a lover of nature and having an interest in human history relating to herbs I’ve realized that there are some wonderful culinary uses for many of the weeds that grow in our yards. Here are a few:
Chicory Root – cultivated in Egypt for 5 thousand years and found along roads throughout the United States, but it’s not a native plant. Yes, this weed was purposely brought to North America. Chicory grows as a thin, usually tall stem with small leaves and star shaped blue flowers with a violet cast. Easy to spot along most roads when in bloom. The root of this plant can be washed, roasted, ground fine and used as an additive to coffee. I’ve always thought this added BOLDNESS to my coffee, but it is more of an acquired taste. The leaves, when young, can be chopped fine and added to salads. The taste of the leaves is strong and ‘green’.
The stem, leaf, and flower of the Dandelion plant are considered edible. This lawn pest is native to Greece and like the chicory plant it is also not native to North America. Brought here as a food plant, it quickly escaped and spread across the land. As a child I often took great delight in helping spread this plant. Through the ages some names of the plant have been: Herba Taraxacon, Swine’s Snout, Irish Daisy, puffball, Priest’s Crown and Lion’s Tooth. Most everyone has heard about dandelion wine, made from fermented flowers and tastes like sherry. The young leaves of spring are very tasty in salads, older leaves can be steamed like spinach. And like chicory, the roots can be dried, roasted, ground and added to coffee.
Common Blue Violet anyone? The flowers of this plant are rich in vitamins A and C. An early spring bloomer, the flowers can be added to salads and have a slightly sweet, nutty flavor. Several ancient Greek legends concern violets, and the flower was the political emblem of Napoleon Bonaparte. Experiments carried out in the 1960′s indicated that violet extract actually damaged tumors in mice. Many of my neighbors wonder why I grow this ‘weed’ in the garden.
Queen Anne’s Lace or wild carrot can be found in most open uncultivated fields and in the untended corners of my garden. This is another import that has naturalized throughout the United States. Yes, the seed of the domestic carrot allowed to naturalize devolves into this plant. The roots are usually pencil sized, white fleshed and stringy, these roots are generally not considered worth gathering – but in a pinch can be harvested, cooked and eaten. The taste is very mildly carrot like. It is the second year of growth that sends up the seed stalk. Sometimes two to three feet tall, it blooms from late May until mid September. The small white flowers are densely clustered on the main stem, called a ‘terminal umbril’, and can be as large as a small plate. Very lacy and beautiful while in bloom, hence the name.
Wild Garlic likes to hide in stands of grass. The smell of freshly mowed garlic certainly overpowers the green smell of new mown grass! I’ve used the green tops of these odorous weeds as a substitute for garlic in cooking and in salads. Many healthy attributes are associated with the use of garlic – it helps fight infection, detoxifies the body, enhances immunity, lowers blood fats, assists against yeast infections, helps asthma, cancer, sinusitis, circulatory problems and heart conditions, but best of all it can be a tasty substitute in cooking.
A note of caution: Every year many people across our great land misidentify herbs and are sickened, some very seriously, by exposure to dangerous herbs. Allergic reactions can also result. The herbs I’ve described above are fairly easy to identify, but caution must always be taken – if you are in doubt, do not use.
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