Lazy Hazy Summer Issue July-September 1995 · Vol.2 No.4

Eat Your Weeds

By Michael Sillers

Have you ever eaten anything you found on the ground? What about in the ground? In your backyard? Even if you don't have a vegetable garden, there are many weeds you can eat. here are some you might find locally. Make sure you collect your meal from an area that is not polluted with pesticides, herbicides or any other dangerous substances.

Anyone who's had rosehip tea knows how delicious the fruit of roses are. The best rosehips are the largest. Cut them in half and scoop out the bitter seeds, or puree them and strain out the seeds. Rosehips add a delicious tangy flavour many fruit teas. They have a lot of pectin so they thicken nicely into a jelly or jam. Rosehips provide massive amounts of vitamin C as well as beta-carotene, B3, D, E, malic and citric acid, fructose, sucrose and zinc.

Rose petals, although not as tasty, can be used to make a salad more attractive.

Dandelions are probably the best known edible weed. The leaves are best while the plant is young; they tend to get bitter once the flowers appear. Use them in salads or sauteed.

The roots are good all year. They make a fine addition to soups. Simmer them for a long time to remove some of the bitterness if you plan to eat them on their own. The flowers are good dipped in batter and fried or made into wine.

Dandelions contain iron, calcium, vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6, B12, C and D, biotin, inositol, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and zinc.

Most lawns that haven't been poisoned with herbicides have at least some plantain. This plant has broad, irregularly round leaves and a spike of small seeds growing in the center. The young leaves can be used in salad or as a pot herb. Plantain helps reduce "bad" cholestral.

Burdock roots are often used in Chinese food. Use the first-year root, before the stalk on which the burrs grow form.

Wood sorrel looks like clover except the flowers are small, five-petalled and radially symmetrical. The leaves are heart shaped, not oval like clover. Shamrock is a member of this family. Use wood sorrel in soups and salads.

Common purslane is the fleshy plant that hugs the ground in gardens and other areas of broken earth. It is a scourge to most gardeners but is delicious steamed or sauteed with a bit of Worchestershire sauce.

Most people are familiar with stinging nettle, the plant that leaves you with the stinging bumps after you've touched it; use gloves to harvest. The leaves and small stalks are fabulous as a pot herb. When the plant is cooked, it no longer stings.

All of these plants are easily identifiable and do not closely resemble anything poisonous.

For more information on edible weeds, take a look in Toronto Public Libraries in the 581 section.

Sauteed Dandelions

• 3 cups onions, chopped

• 3 tablespoons light oil

• 4 cups dandelion leaves, chopped

• 2 cups carrots, grated

• clove garlic, minced

• 1 tablespoon tamari soy sauce

• pepper to taste

Sautee the onions until soft. Add dandelions, carrots, garlic and soy sauce. Cook another 10 minutes.

Purslane Burgers

• 8 cups potatoes

• 1 1/2 cup water

• 3 cups purslane leaves and stems, chopped

• 3 cups mushrooms, fried

• 1 cup onion, finely chopped

• 5 eggs

• 2 teaspoons rosemary

• pepper to taste

Cook potatoes. Mash. Add other ingredients. Bake on an oiled cookie sheet for 15 to 20 minutes at 300 degreees