Stalking the Wild Greens

Care should be taken if you are gathering from the wild. To the inexperienced eye, some inedible plants may look like edible ones. Always check with an experienced herbalist before eating food you have gathered in the wild. Do not gather from roadside ditches as they may be contaminated with a number of harmful chemicals from the automobile exhaust and from herbicides that the friendly (Ha!) local highway department sprays. When trying a new plant, taste a little and wait to see if your body has a reaction to it. The plants listed below have been enjoyed by many people for many years.

Parts used: root stock, leaves. Introduced and naturalized perennial with a rosette of sharply lobed leaves, a strong tap root and yellow flowers. Found in lawns, pastures and open places. Uses: salad, cooked green, cooked vegetable, fritters, coffee. Edibility: outstanding taste and texture, abundant.

Here's a great way to solve the weed problem in your lawn, eat them. Dandelions are delicious. When my Dad first immigrated to the U.S., he told his new friends in North Louisiana about Dandelion salad and other dishes that he had eaten in France and he was thoroughly rebuked by these country fellows who had never heard of eating a weed! Europeans have been eating these nutritious plants for years, but here in the U.S., we'd rather kill them with herbicides that harm the environment. So I say, let's start a movement to stop using herbicides and start eating those pesky lawn weeds. Almost the entire plant is edible, even the root and it also can be used to get a pale yellow or tan color to dye textiles. Dandelion greens are more nutritious than Spinach. (Tull, 1987)

It's best to dig up the whole plant from late fall to spring and it is at its tastiest before the flowers emerge. The very young, tender greens can be thrown into salads. The older leaves and scrubbed root can be boiled as a pot herb. Dandelion flowers may be fermented for wine and the scrubbed root can be toasted until brown and brittle and ground to be used as a coffee substitute.

Recipes

Dandelion Soup from Mountain Breeze

* 2 qt. dandelion greens, loosely packed
* 2 qt. chicken soup (any kind)
* 1 lb. ground beef
* 1 egg
* 2 Tbsp. bread crumbs
* 2 Tbsp. minced parsley
* 1 Tbsp. minced onions
* 1/4 tsp. salt
* 1/8 tsp. pepper
* dash of nutmeg
* 3 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese
* 2 Tbsp. sour cream

1. Bring chicken soup to a boil.
2. Add dandelions.
3. Cook gently.
4. Rice or fine noodles can be added (1/2 cup rice or 1 cup noodles).
5. Make tiny meat balls out of remaining ingredients.
6. When greens are tender, add meatballs and cook gently 10 minutes or until meatballs are thoroughly cooked.
Serve hot with crusty French bread

Dandelion Fritter Recipe by Kimberly Gallagher
"This time of year, one of my favorite activities is making and eating dandelion flower fritters."

• First of all I love gathering the dandelion flowers - just the tops for fritters. They are easy to pick and so bright and cheery on a sunny day. Usually, I want to pick more than I need, just because the gathering is so fun. Do pick them in the sunshine when they are open, and when you have time to make the fritters right after gathering.
• Bring your basket of flowers inside, find a bowl, and mix together one egg and one cup of milk. Stir in a cup of flour and your fritter batter is ready to go. (If you like your fritters sweet you can add a little maple syrup or honey.)
• Now, prepare a skillet on the stove with gently warmed olive oil - keep it over medium heat.
• Take one of the flowers and hold it by the greens at the base of the flower petals. Dip the petals into the batter and twirl until the flower is covered.
• Drop it into the skillet, flower side down. Continue dipping and dropping flowers, checking the first ones every once in a while to see if they are brown. When they've lightly browned, flip them over and brown them on the other side.
• * When they're brown on both sides remove them from the skillet and drain the excess oil on paper towel.
• For a sweet treat, drizzle them with maple syrup, honey, jam, or powdered sugar. For savory fritters try dipping in mustard or adding some savory herbs to the batter.
• A second method for fritter making is to pull the dandelion flower petals from the green base and add the petals to the batter. Then you can cook them up just like pancakes.

Cream of Dandelion Soup from Prodigal Gardens Medicinal Herbs and Wild Foods

4 cups chopped dandelion leaves
2 cups dandelion flower petals
2 cups dandelion buds
1 Tbsp butter or olive oil
1 cup chopped wild leeks (or onions)
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups water
2 cups half-n-half or heavy cream
2 tsp salt

1. Gently boil dandelion leaves in 6 cups water. Pour off bitter water. Boil gently a second time, pour off bitter water.
2. In a heavy-bottom soup pot, sauté wild leeks and garlic in butter or olive oil until tender.
3. Add 4 cups water.
4. Add dandelion leaves, flower petals, buds, and salt.
5. Simmer gently 45 minutes or so.
6. Add cream and simmer a few minutes more.
Garnish with flower petals.

THE EARTH LAUGHS IN FLOWERS - 'DENTS DE LION' by dequilla

Weeds of the South (Wormsloe Foundation Nature Book)
Amazon: Click to buy

Another great book from Wormsloe Foundation featuring "weeds" of the south. One man's weeds are another man's wildflowers. You'll find many beautiful wildflowers in this colorful and informative book.

Parts used: leaves. Small prostrate or erect plant with small, white flowers and paired leaves. Found in waste places, gardens, roadsides. Uses: salad, cooked green. Edibility: outstanding taste and texture, abundant.

Chickweed is a cool weather ground cover that is the bane of lawn lovers everywhere. So here is another "weed" that can be eaten, not sprayed. It is a native of Western Europe and has naturalized all over the United States. Down here in the South it melts away by late May when it heats up, but until then it can be enjoyed by both humans and birds. The whole plant above the ground is a good source of vitamin C and was once used to treat scurvy. It's great in salads or cooked with other stronger greens.

Recipes

From Prodigal Gardens Medicinal Herbs and Wild Foods

Lemony Chickweed Feta Salad

5 cups tender Chickweed greens
4 oz Feta cheese, crumbled
1 clove garlic, minced or crushed
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper (lemon pepper is best)

1. Toss Chickweed greens and feta cheese together.
2. Mix up the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a separate cup or bowl.
3. Add dressing just before serving.
Note: This salad does not keep well at all, so make only what you are going to eat when serving.

Spring Salad
Spring flowers add a special beauty and charm to this salad, the recipe is endlessly adaptable to whatever is available on your foraging expedition. This is a recipe I like to use on my wild food walks.

3 cups Chickweed
3 cups grated carrots (4 or 5 medium carrots)
Add any of the following:
*Watercress
*Violet leaves and flowers
*small Dandelion leaves and flower petals
*chopped Wild Leeks

Toss everything together. You can serve it marinated or with dressing on the side. Sprinkle with Violet flowers and Dandelion petals.

Creamy Chickweed Dressing
This recipe is truly yummy (and healthy)!

½ cup olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice (or vinegar)
1 tsp honey
2 cups fresh Chickweed greens
¼ tsp salt
1 garlic clove
dash of pepper
½ cup yogurt

1. In blender or food processor, blend all ingredients but the yogurt thoroughly.
2. Add yogurt, and blend gently until smooth.

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