Edible Weeds

[kevinkimers]

It is close to that time of year again to break out the lawn tools and prepare for the growing season. Landscaping check list:

Dust off Lawn tools
Grab lawn bags
Rake up leaves and debris
Pull and toss weeds..... wait! What!??

Put down the weeds and back away slowly!

Take a look at those weeds, did you know that most are edible and are better for you then some of the store bought vegetables? I grew up on eating some of those weeds and let me tell you, they are good. I found a site that list quite a few of the edible weeds that are out there. So before you do something as heinous as toss those weeds to the side... try to identify them to see if they are edible and add them to your food stores. If nothing else, it will save you a little money to supplement your vegetables with these free goodies.

Edible Weeds

 

[zigs]

Yep, love some Chickweed fried in butter with sea salt and ground pepper

 

[Pat]

I know dandelions are used to make wine. I have seen some asian people pulling weeds in the public areas that are over grown for some weed that they eat, I don't know what the name of the plant they are pulling up but to us it is a weed to them it is part of their diet.

 

[zigs]

Dandelion wine is lovely

Could have been Fat Hen, grows on disturbed ground.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Hen

 

[Shimus]

Thanks for posting this thread like you said you would. That list in indeed quite extensive and over half of those I would have never thought had edible roots or shoots or even a purpose aside from a trash bag. Yay for insight!

Looks like I got some more ideas to throw in salads, soups, and stews.

 

[galmal]

We moved to a new house when I was 13. Our new front yard was full of cress and my mother would go out and pick it in the afternoon for dinner. I was mortified. What if the neighbors saw? What if they thought we were so poor that we had to eat the yard? I thought I would be scarred for life!! Now, I would do the same thing.

 

[Rosyrain]

The edible weeds I know of around here are dandilions, cat tail, and stinging nettle...apparently you can make a soup from it and it will not sting you. I know that there are a lot of greens around here that can be used as a substitute for lettuce, but I need to do some research on them before I poison myself.

 

[zigs]

The edible weeds I know of around here are dandilions, cat tail, and stinging nettle...apparently you can make a soup from it and it will not sting you. I know that there are a lot of greens around here that can be used as a substitute for lettuce, but I need to do some research on them before I poison myself.

Try picking a whole branch of a nettle plant and searing it over a fire/bbq

 

[kevinkimers]

There are also parts of vegetable plants that we would typically through away that are edible too, such as pumpkin leaves. They are high in vitamins and work great to replace bread in sandwiches or added to salad. They have a bitter taste so go light with it.

I haven't found a good list of parts we throw away that are edible yet. If anyone knows of a list online, please do post it. I am looking for a very through one with pictures.

 

[Shimus]

I would have never thought to use pumpkin leaves for anything. I'll have to give it a shot in short doses like you said. I love pumpkin.

 

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?TDBCB 5 July 2014 Purslane Juicing
Portulaca oleracea (common purslane) is free growing in my garden as it does all over the world.It has much inherent nutrition and can be utilized in salads, or cooked like spinach, or juiced as I preserve the plant.The stems, leaves and flower buds are all edible.
The plant are selected, washed, cooked until soft and blended into a slurry. The slurry is strained through a 2 mm food mill screen, then the residue is put through a Champion juicer to extract most of the nutrients. The juice is then placed in liter jars, and pressure canned at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage at room temperature. Today 21 liters were processed.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?VCJQR Portulaca oleracea seeds. The tiny black seeds are one of the most important bush foods of inland Australia, containing up to 20 per cent protein and 16 per cent fat. Joseph Maiden (1889) reported that Aboriginal people ‘pulled up the plants, throwing them in heaps, which after a few days they turn over and an abundant supply of seed is found to have fallen out’. The seed is processed by grinding it on a flat rock with a hand-held stone. The resulting flour is made into a damper, cakes cooked in ashes.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?IHDFN Description of this amazing plant.

 

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?AXHPS 5 July 2012 Collecting Purslane Seeds
One and one half cups of Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seed was collected. The tarp screen method works well. The seeds are very small. Annotated photographs depict the procedure.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?EKMQM 1 July 2012 Threshing Purslane.(Portulaca oleracea)
An experiment is being conducted to collect the seeds of the Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)plants.The Aborigines of Australia were observed putting purslane in a a pile and collecting the seeds after the plants dried.The seeds are touted as to being highly nutritional.I decided to attempt collecting the seeds, and improve on the Aborigine system.There is enough energy left in he vegetation to produce seeds after they have been removed from the soil. Over the last week it was observed that the puslane had flowered.The seeds are very small and fall through the screen mesh with room to spare.This is ideal, since all I need do is scoop them off the tarp, when all the seeds drop.

Construction of the set-up. An impervious tarp platform was constructed using fence posts, rebar, and plastic ties. A fibre glass screen was placed over the tarp, and the purslane plants laid on top. The seeds fall through the screen mesh and rest on the tarp. An ideal situation. The plants will be shaken each day and time will determine when threshing is complete.

 

[Rosyrain]

Zigs- Do I just put them on a grill and cook them up like I would another vegetable?

Some leaves are said to taste like the berries that are produced by them. The other night I was watching an episode of Mick Dodge and he was making wine from local berries in Washington. The deer had gotten to one of the plants before he did and so he picked the leaves saying that the profile would be the same as the berry when added to his wine...I think it was "sala" berries, does this sound familiar to anyone?

 

[zigs]

Only need heating to destroy the stinging hairs, so you could grill them, don't eat them after the start of june though, unless you got shares in a toilet paper company