Wild thing
One thing I forgot when I did my “learn to feed yourself” series was the abundance of food we have right outside our doors. (otherwise known as eating the “weeds” or “wild food”)
Many of our so-called “weeds” were either used by the indigenous peoples for centuries, or else were brought here by immigrants. Much of what you see around you is edible.
Now I have to do the public service announcement: 1) don’t eat something if you’re not sure what it is. (Good advice even for the stuff at the grocery store!) and 2) don’t eat something near roadways, in chemically treated lawns or in/around polluted water. (yuck)
Anyway, here’s some easy to recognize tasty foods:
- Dandelion
Dandelion leaves can be cooked like greens, the flowers can be used to make wine, and the roots, when roasted and ground, make a good decaf substitute. And they’re everywhere! Your neighbors will thank you for pulling them.
- Purslane
These are amazingly good cooked, and the young leaves can be used in salads.
- Sow thistle
Sometimes people mistake these for dandelions, but if you look at the two pictures, they’re different creatures. These are good cooked as greens.
- chickweed
This is great in salads! Very mild taste, like lettuce.
Those are the ones I eat most often. Take a close look at your weeds, and see if you can find the edible ones!
There are books and websites for plant identification, but the best way to learn if a plant is edible is to talk to someone who knows! Look for forager or wild food groups, your county extension, a local college botanist, or the old timer in the neighborhood who’s knowledgeable about plants. You’ll get to meet others and have fun too.
May 25th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Great post!
May 26th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Too funny, I just posted about finding wild Asparagus and then read your post about wild foods. Must be that time of year. I modified my post and linked it to yours since they’re related.
I can’t wait for my purslane to come up. Do you plant seeds for yours or just hope for the best? I wanted to keep seeds last year, but didn’t have a chance. This year for sure.
Great post.
P~
May 27th, 2008 at 10:40 am
I just see what shows up. Last year there was purslane everywhere, this year, I haven’t found any yet.
Where do you get purslane seeds?
May 28th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I’ve not bought them before but you can get them http://www.territorialseed.com/prod_detail_list/s. I just discovered Purslane last year so I am waiting to see if it comes up again this year. I think I have seen a couple of sprouts popping up, so we’ll see. If it does grow, I may save some seeds for next year.
P~
June 17th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Didn’t know purselane was edible as it grows like weed everywhere in community garden. A Vietnamese lady told me you can eat raw or steamed but wan’t sure. TomatoMania ( a Yahoo group)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TomatoMania/ ,
has many FREE ( up to 12 varieties w/ postage & handeling) seeds, in their seed bank. Its always good to share some extra seeds/ postage w/ Janet, in their seed bank as well :).