In a magical and geeky kind-of-way, it’s interesting that when soil is disturbed there are particular plants that always appear first, without any tending or nurturing. They are most often called weeds and thought of as bad when, more accurately, they can nourish and sustain us.
This is an introduction to five of these edible plants. That said, I must offer a disclaimer: You must learn to properly identify these plants and be cautious as to where you forage. Everything growing along railway tracks, for example, is not only very dirty but also heavily sprayed with pesticides. Before ingesting, check with someone who really knows their stuff. Like I said, this is just an introduction.
Lamb’s quarters // Chénopode blanc // Chenopodium album
Chenopodiaceae family
Also known as pigweed, goosefoot, and wild spinach, this weed is a member of the same family as garden beets and spinach. Only young, tender plants, less than 30cm high, should be collected. While the leaves of young plants are excellent both raw and steamed. The seeds of mature plants are excellent ground up and mixed half and half with wheat flour for baking. It makes the end product darker, similar to buckwheat flour.
Chenopodium album can range in height from 20 to 200 cm. The first two to four true leaves are opposite but later leaves and branches are distinctly alternate. The leaves are broadly rectangular with irregular, shallow teeth. They are green with a covering of white mealiness or powderiness, sometimes with a reddish undersurface. The flowers and seeds are very small and densely grouped together into thick, granular clusters along the main stem and upper branches. Chenopodium album is a very good source of fibre protein, calcium, potassium, copper, manganese, sodium, and vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, C, and K. It is a also good source of niacin, folate, iron, magnesium, and phosphorus.
Purslane // Pourpier potager // Portulaca oleracea
Portulacaceae family
Originating in India or Persia, this succulent plant has been eaten for more than two thousand years. It is a prized garden vegetable over much of Europe and Asia, where several varieties have been developed. It is also known as wild portulaca, little hogweed, and pusley. The entire plant, stem, leaf, and flower bud are good to eat. It can be used raw or cooked and should always be washed thoroughly, for it is apt to be gritty. It has a mucilaginous quality, which adds consistency to soups and stews.
Purslane is a ground cover similar to chickweed. Its stems are very fleshy, smooth, reddish-green to purplish-red, repeatedly branched, and often form circular mats 30 to 60 cm in diameter. Leaves are flat but thick and fleshy, deep green to reddish-green, broadest near the rounded tip and narrowed towards the base. This plant is hairless. At the tips of the branches, leaves crowd together. The flowers are small (5–10 mm across), in axels of stem leaves or near the tips of branches. They open only on bright, sunny mornings with five small pale yellow petals, which soon fall off. Portulaca oleracea is one of the most common garden weeds. It is found in row crops, waste areas, and edges of driveways. It does not survive under heavy shade.
Portulaca oleracea is a very good source of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper, manganese, and vitamin A, B2, and C. It is a good source of niacin, vitamin B1 and B6, and folate. It is reputed to be excellent for refreshing the digestive system and cleaning the blood.
Chickweed // Mouron des oiseaux // Stellaria media
Caryophyllaceae family
It is next to impossible to get rid of this weed, which is why it is such a good idea to put it to good use as food. The leaves and stems can be added to anything you might add greens to. When harvesting for eating, pick only the last 5 to 8cm of each tip.
Chickweed is a ground cover, horizontally spreading leafy stems that root at the nodes. Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of common chickweed is the single, lengthwise line of fine white hair on one side of the stem, but switching sides above and below each node. The leaves are opposite, oval with pointed tips and smooth or slightly hairy. The flower is small with five two-lobed white petals, which give the appearance of ten tiny petals.
Stellaria media is very high in vitamin C and mucilage. It also provides rutin, gamma linolenic acid (an omega 6 fatty acid derivative), magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, zinc, phosphorus, manganese, sodium, selenium, silicon, niacin, and vitamins A, B1, and B2. Externally, chickweed relieves itching and inflammation and is generally soothing and moisturizing.
Shepherd’s Purse // Bourse à pasteur // Capsella bursa-pastoris
Brassicaceae family
Capsella bursa-pastorius is edible in the early spring, while the basal leaves are still young and tender and before the plant flowers. It can be added raw to salads, simmered in soups and stews, sautéed, or steamed. If you find that the leaves taste too strong, or if you discover this plant only after it has flowered, just harvest the flower tops for a tasty addition to any salad. The seeds have also been used to limit mosquitoes. In the early spring, sprinkle the seed on water where mosquitoes breed. The mucilage of the seed will kill the larvae and reduce the number of mosquitoes in the area. One pound of seeds destroys ten million larvae (though it may cause a proliferation of shepherd’s purse).
Capsella bursa-pastorius has deeply toothed basal leaves similar to Taraxacum officinale (dandelion). Both species also form basal rosettes in the early spring but shepherd’s purse leaves have no milky sap and the teeth point outward, not toward the leaf’s base like dandelion. Like its mustard relatives, it has tiny, four-petaled flowers. The flowers are arranged like a cross and appear in long vertical clusters. While some mustards have yellow flowers, shepherd’s purse flowers are white. They give way to tiny, flattened, triangular seedpods. Capsella bursa-pastorius can be found on disturbed soil, in unmowed meadows and lawns, and along roadsides and trails. It is high in vitamins C and K, and a good source of protein, sulfur, calcium, iron, sodium, and potassium.
Stinging nettle // Ortie dioïque // Urtica dioica
Urticaceae family
Urtica Dioica provides one of the best sources of minerals (its iron is easily absorbed because of its vitamin C). But, as its name suggests, stinging nettle STINGS! Proper handling is essential; use scissors and a bag, or gloves. Use the scissors to snip off the top part of the plant (5–20cm) and pick up the clipping and drop it into the bag. Alternatively you can wear gloves — but sometimes the hairs pierce through. Whatever way you choose, part of Urtica dioica’s medicine is to slow you down and demand your full attention. To ingest stinging nettle you must “deactivate” the venomous hairs by cooking or steaming, infusing in vinegar, or dehydrating.
Urtica dioica is an erect, weedy perennial, growing up to one metre tall and covered with tiny stinging hairs. Its leaves are alternatively arranged, long-stalked, and coarsely toothed. Stinging nettle is an excellent source of calcium, iron, silica, potassium, manganese, sulfur, and vitamins A and C.
Recommended readings
The Secret Life of Plants, Peter Tompkins & Christopher Bird
Sacred Plant Medicine: The Wisdom in Native American Herbalism, Stephen Buhner
Stalking the Wild Asparagus: Field Guide Edition, Euell Gibbons
A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants, Lee Allen Peterson & Roger Tory Peterson
Source: 5 Weeds Plants: A Theory for Weeds as Catalysts for Social Change