How to Turn Garden Weeds into Delicious Meals

July 1, 2020 7:37 AM

You know those plants and weeds you see every day growing outside your home? They may not look like much, but if prepared properly, they can be transformed into a delicious and nutritious meal. [SLYT]

Dr. Bill Schindler, a chef and professor of archeology and anthropology at Washington College, explains how we can forage for greenery from the most unlikely places and prepare a meal that is both good for you and tastes great.
 

posted by querty (23 comments total)

Here's something I learned recently - local conservation groups are great sources of information for information on foraging! Pretty obvious in hindsight, but if you're interested in learning more about what grows in your area I bet there's an organization near you that focuses on a very small geographic area. For example, I bought this book that (while not exclusive to this area) focuses on what you can find in northeast Massachusetts.
posted by backseatpilot at 8:13 AM on July 1, 2020

My neighbor's father is a retired professional botanist. He's been kind enough to make maps of our shared property, marking the species of various perennial plants, trees and shrubs that were planted here before any of us current owners moved in. And he's directed us towards which "weeds" are indeed edible, among other helpful tips and suggestions. I tried some of the edible ones and was generally unimpressed... perhaps edible, but not very palatable. The couple I've tried are leafy greens. I think the key to enjoying them would be to harvest them when they are first sprouting, but I'm not keen enough yet to recognize which weed is which until they've matured... so I've eaten leaves that are likely on the tough, mature side.

I'm lucky enough to live in a 4-unit condo, an old brick building with a front, side and backyard. Me and my one neighbor have been planting vegetables, mostly tomatoes and cucumbers along with decorative flowers and perennials. Been doing this for about 1.5 years now, and it's a lovely change of pace. Prior to this, I lived in various high-rises and mid- rises for over 25 years. This has been the first 1.5 years I've had to take the trash out to the alley versus stuffing it down a garbage chute!

Thanks for the link.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:15 AM on July 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

I have yet to manage to make plantain or dandelion palatable on their own, although I'll happily mix either into a soup or stew to add a little bitter.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:21 AM on July 1, 2020

My grandmother obsessively picked summer dandelions to make salads and I regret not asking her for her recipes when she did this.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:37 AM on July 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

My mother used to sauté dandelion greens with garlic and oil and canned chick peas. They remained bitter, but I remember the dish fondly.

I have a ton of purslane in my own yard and am planning a big harvest.
posted by gauche at 8:50 AM on July 1, 2020 [2 favorites]

Gonna plug Seek by iNaturalist again. Great for ID'ing pretty much everything you can see. Plant? Bug? Fungus? Critter? Give it a shot.
posted by jquinby at 8:54 AM on July 1, 2020 [8 favorites]

I have a ton of purslane in my own yard...

That's one of the greens I've tried! Couldn't remember the name.
posted by SoberHighland at 9:17 AM on July 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

Upon review (wow these identifier apps are great!), it seems like a mildly remarkable number of the things growing in my yard are hilariously toxic. It's always a god sign when the plant is described "toxic in all it's parts" and you are instructed to carefully gather any cuttings and debris, place them in a sealed container, tape it shut, and place it in the trash for safe disposal. Oh, yay, landscaping day just became ever so much more of a pain in the ass.

...I'm starting to think maybe the prior owner was ... unusual. Good thing there's no basement crawlspace, or I might start be worried ...
posted by aramaic at 9:46 AM on July 1, 2020

I highly recommend Samuel Thayer's three foraging manuals: The Forager's Harvest (2006), Nature's Garden (2010), and Incredible Wild Edibles (2017).

As opposed to frustratingly vague traditional field guides that cover hundreds of plants, each of Thayer's books only covers about 30 plants, but do so in such detail that even a budding herbivore is assured of some success the first year out. He covers how to find them with attention to each plant's appearance through the seasons, when to harvest them, and how to use them.
posted by fairmettle at 9:48 AM on July 1, 2020 [4 favorites]

This was delightful. Thanks for posting.
posted by wittgenstein at 10:04 AM on July 1, 2020

Not a weed, but there's a vine of Concord grapes or, I suspect, just wild fox grapes growing over the fence at the back of our yard from the easement for the utility poles.

They're powerful tart.

I made a wee bit of jam from them last year and am looking forward to this year's tiny harvest... hoping I can make myself wait long enough for them to get proper ripe this time. I'm still trying to figure out how much to help it out and how much to leave it alone so that it's not *my* grapevine that I grow, it's still this garbage vine wandering in of its own grapey accord.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 10:43 AM on July 1, 2020

We have a large area out front that I've left mostly wild as a privacy screen and because I'm also lazy. I do keep one or two lanes mowed through it, though, just so I can walk around through it and see what's up. This year what's up is that the blackberry brambles have gone positively bananas. I picked a bunch of them yesterday, only grabbing what I could along the margins, but within I can see tons more. I wouldn't be able to reach them without some serious bushwhacking, so I'm happy to leave them alone for the birds and other critters.

I've also ID'ed a red mulberry tree (male, I think. as there's no fruit) and a couple of wild persimmons. Did find a female mulberry elsewhere that I may move to a better spot for some more space.

Oh and I just ordered one of the Thayer books. Thanks for posting those!
posted by jquinby at 10:53 AM on July 1, 2020

He's great and there's some good safety information like being careful with the plants high in (delicious) oxalates. A few years ago Botanizer Jr. and I sampled many weeds and our favorites were galinsoga aka gallant solder and lamb's quarters. A really interesting one is glasswort which grows along the edges of salt marshes. It's nice to nibble and comes pre-salted. However, we made some dandelion wine and it was not the worst country wine but definitely in the "don't bother again" category.
posted by Botanizer at 11:23 AM on July 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

I love chickweed sauted or in a quiche. My garden has huge swaths of it in early spring.

Miners lettuce is another delicious foraged plant. It tastes a bit like mild spinach, and I put it in salads or as a last minute addition to soups.

I actually created a whole Instagram account for finding and cooking with foraged food -- it's one of my favorite hobbies!
posted by ananci at 12:34 PM on July 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

I regularly add dandelion greens to saag when I have to buy supermarket spinach that tastes of nothing in the winter. I’ve got a little stash of them frozen from strawberry picking a while ago.
posted by Kreiger at 3:10 PM on July 1, 2020 [2 favorites]

I just learned about galinsoga this year! I'm looking forward to harvesting some next time I visit the farm where we participate in a CSA.

We frequently gather plantain (broad and narrow leaf), dandelion, chickweed, violets, and lamb's quarters for omelettes and as mix-ins for salads or grain bowls. And yes, best to harvest when they're young and tender; dandelion in particular gets horribly bitter when it gets big, and many of these plants get quite tough. Some wild greens are potentially toxic when eaten in large quantities (oxalic acid is a common problem, as with in rhubarb and such), but if you're not subsisting on large amounts of just one of them, it's not an issue. (This is true for a number of domesticated plants as well.)

The wonderful thing about them is that they're the first spring greens. The rest of the summer you can eat lettuce and arugula to your heart's content, but there's very little in May other than these wild greens.
posted by Belostomatidae at 7:18 PM on July 1, 2020

I started using the PlantNet app recently to identify the weeds in my garden and then googling them before destroying. Almost every single one of them is edible. A mix of them makes a nice salad. It made me stop raging so much about them taking over, and also provided an extra incentive to pulling them up. (Do the weeding; eat a salad).
posted by lollusc at 9:52 PM on July 1, 2020

I've been told that dandelions work better in salad when blanched - find dandelion, put a pot over it and let it grow a while with no light (same as you might do with celery, to keep it pale and stop it getting tangy).

...And I'm ashamed to admit I haven't actually eaten dandelion, but I'm certainly interested in trying that saag trick...
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 12:16 AM on July 2, 2020

Dandelions work best as a stewed or oily fried green. Bacon grease is canonical, and I'm just now having the mental flash that peanut oil with dandelion greens would be REALLY REALLY GOOD.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 9:30 AM on July 2, 2020

I've been orbiting around the worlds of foraging, landscaping, food, and gardening for a few years now. And, I just want to get one thing clear.

Is this being advertised as a hobby? Or is this being advertised as an alternate nutrition source?

And I ask because I see so many videos like this where someone says "This little known plant is free, delicious, and more nutritious than what you can buy in the store." And then they say something like "You have to only clip the baby leaves" or "So mix it with oil and use it as a condiment" or "Fry it in bacon grease" or "Use it instead of green onions."

I know one person who planted their full acre yard as a permiculture farm. They eat only what they grow all year round. But it also has become their whole life - they sell produce at farmers markets and teach classes.

I'd love to eat local and eat healthy, but I also am tired of getting upset stomach, finding bugs in my food, or wondering if what I just put in my mouth was once pissed on by the hundred dogs in the neighborhood.
posted by rebent at 10:17 AM on July 2, 2020

I'd love to eat local and eat healthy, but I also am tired of getting upset stomach, finding bugs in my food, or wondering if what I just put in my mouth was once pissed on by the hundred dogs in the neighborhood.

Funny you should mention this - I woke up with some pretty weird stomach cramps this morning and the first thing my wife asked was whether or not I had eaten something from the yard.

No, no I had not*.


* a small pinch of wood sorrell but that was it, really
posted by jquinby at 4:44 PM on July 2, 2020 [1 favorite]

If your neighborhood is even somewhat dense, be careful of the hazards of animal urine/feces as well as whatever fertilizers and pesticides are being put out. Many counties and cities have roadside spraying programs, these are good for visibility and controlling noxious weeds (you cannot eat enough garlic mustard) but bad for foragers. I’ll pick overhead fruits from various tasty plants but not much else of unknown history where I live.

Also, greens in particular are a common source of dietary lead when grown in contaminated soil. Wash well, maybe don’t make them a big part of a child’s diet if you don’t have soil tests.
posted by momus_window at 1:44 PM on July 3, 2020

My mom and I joke about how the lushest, most beautiful purslane is always growing out of a crack in the sidewalk next to a puddle of antifreeze. Purslane mocks you.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 4:19 PM on July 8, 2020