U eat weeds?

hi
so far we've stuck to dandylions, greens...but this year i want to try d.wine, and we pick poke sallat in the spring.

i want to plant camomile this year so i can dry it for tea. it's so expensive in the stores.

debbie

 

I've tried dandelions, but can't seem to cook them so they're not bitter. My great aunt cooked some for me one time and I loved them! But I don't know her secret.

However, one of my favorite "vegetables" is fiddleheads. I pick them in May and freeze some. I'm down to my last quart. Is it almost May?

Yep, I'm a weed-eater, and proud of it.

 

ever heard the term"cook in 4 waters"?

i don't remember where i saw it,
but it was talking about cooking different greens.

basically it meant cook, drain 4 times.

hope this helps, if i'm wrong
somebody straighten me out.

pokey

 

We eat a prickly thing down here. It's called chadrea, but it looks linda lke thistle, and hurts of you touck it i the wrong spot. We get it around this time on side of the road, or in any open field. We go out and get a lot of it Mardi Gras day, and it's a main thing we eat Mardi Gras night. The men go and find them and knock off all the prickley leaves, and cut them while the women skin them to get the last layer of pricks off. Most people call it a weed, and round up it. We just eat it.
Roo
BTW-we cut it into circles(it's hollow) and eat it with a vinegar and pepper mixture. It's similar to celery. It must be picked before the stalks even start to turn purple.

 

I got brave last spring and cooked up some young stinging nettle greens. I can't remember if I steamed or sauteed them, but they were pretty tasty, and no, they did not sting after they were cooked!

 

Prickly pear cacti: fruit and pads.

poke salet.

wild onions.




mc

 

there is a book out there called "Eat the Weeds" published around world war 2...

had recipes... ways of identifying edilbles... heheh.. the book even had a recipe for tumbleweeds..

would love to find a copy of that book again...

Lynn in texas

 

dandelions, the greens,flowers. We've even lightly roasted the root, grind/chop and make a coffee like drink but I like the greens better.
Chickweed, lightly steamed
Plantain(young narrow leaf) taste better
Wild creasy greens, taste simalar to collard greens.
Cattails, roots, shoots
Some weeds are tasty!

 

Dandelions: early season salad green for me. I pick the young leaves from the center of the crown. The flowers are edible as well.

Purslane: Nutty flavored succulent.

Violets: both leaves and flowers.

I've walked through nettles down by the river but have not returned to try them. I also saw some oriental folks picking what I assume was watercress down by the river also. That too is on the list.

Check out an oldy but goody by Eull Gibbons: Stalking the wild asparagus. His book provides great info on both dandelion and cattail.

 

The whole plant is pretty much edible from top to root, the tops before they turn brown and get fluffy can be roasted or steamed like corn on the cob. The pollen can be collected off the tops and added to flour for pancakes or bread, it's full of protein and turns a dark to bright yellow.
New, young shoots can be eaten like fresh bamboo shoots raw, very good too!
The roots can be eaten raw or boiled, they're is alot of stringy fibers but pretty good. If you want to take time and pound or smash the roots in a tub of water to separate the fibers and let the starch or meat as I call it settle to the bottom, this can be cooked "like potatoes" it does taste a little bit like paste that way but edible. Or after it settles in the tub, pour off the water and dry the starch and use like flour.
HTH
T

 

I have hundreds of recipes for 'weeds' but don't have access to many of them these days - the weeds, that is!

Dandelion leaves can become tough and bitter when old. To keep them sweeter for salads and teas, remove the older leaves, then cover the plants with a box to keep out the light for several days before using the fresh young leaves.

If you've got plenty of 'weeds' around your place, they can be safely eaten, as long as you are 110% certain of their identity. Too many poisonous plants closely resemble edible plants to take a risk of collecting from the wild. I recommend avoiding collection of roadside plants, because they are so exposed to pollution, and get a lot of chemical runoff.

 

I've had dandelions since I was a kid - with a sauce made of bacon grease/flour/vinegar and sugar and put over potatoes - yum.

Always went dandelion digging with my grandparents to a nearby pasture. The best ones are young and underneath the cow "flops" Just kick it aside and discover the dandelion underneath. Be careful of the ones that stick to your shoe though. :haha:

I've gathered stinging nettles in my jacket (you can't touch them!) take them home and cook them like spinach - they are really good!

 

I haven't tried fried dandelions, but I have another aunt who has. She liked them. They supposedly taste like fried clams. But I don't like those, so I probably wouldn't like fried dandelions. I have made dandelion wine, but I did't like that either. I think because the recipe I had called for oranges, and I didn't care for orange wine.

I had a golden retriever who would go out on the lawn and graze. She would eat dandelion blossoms one after another.

 

OK, this is bringing back memories of the weeds I've eaten over the years. I tired cattails. They had a distinctive flavor, kind of grainy, if I recall. I gathered some young shoots, and sauteed them. Never went back for more, but if I were hungry, I know they're at least edible.

My daughter had a project for school. We made some "wild trail mix" of sorts. It had acorns (we have the really bitter ones here), apples, honey, and I can't remember what else. Now it wasn't too bad. She took it in to class and had a few brave tasters. One claimed we were trying to poison her!

This same daughter was staying with grandparents down on an island on the coast one summer. They gathered mussels from a tide pool and steamed them. She liked them even though they were slimy with a crunchy center. :no:

Rose hips: I was gathering some of these by the road side one day when the man on whose property I was gathering came out and inquired what I was going to do with the hips. I told him I was going to make some jelly. A day or two later I saw him again and he asked how my jelly turned out. I told him it didn't turn out so well. So what did he do? He went home and made some and brought me a jar! What he did was add some apple peelings to the recipe. His was nice and clear, perfectly jelled and had a wonderful apple flavor. What a nice neighbor he was!

When in the woods, there are always teaberries to be had. Pick either the berries or the leaves and chew them. Very tasty. I think it's sometimes referred to as wintergreen.

I can't think of any more right now.........


Thanks for the tip Pokey. I might try them again this spring.