Wild Edible Plant of the Week - Lamb's Quarter

Lamb's Quarter
Chenopodium album

Here is another plant that may not cross your mind as being wild edible. You may think it is just another weed to be discarded and forgotten. But, I would have to say that you would be wrong in that way of thinking.

This plant grows from 1 to 3 feet high, maybe twice that height if the conditions are favorable, in vegetable gardens and wherever the soil has been disturbed. The leaves are broader at the base of the plant and gradually grow thinner towards the tip. They are also bluntly toothed becoming smooth toward the tip. They have a flour-like substance on the underside of the leaves, which gives them the appearance of being of a lighter color than the much greener top side.

Collect the “younger” stems and plants as a whole, but in older plants just the leaves and the very tips. When steamed you will wish you knew about this plant earlier because it has a distinct taste not unlike spinach. Try not to eat if you know the land has been fertilized as the plant can absorb some pesticides and nitrates.

Each plant also produces seeds that can be eaten. Thousands of little seeds can be gathered in the late summer season and dried to be turned into a hot cereal, or ground into flour to make breads and such.

However you feel about this plant, you need to evaluate it for its unique flavor before you automatically cast it off as “just a weed”.

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Previous Wild Edible Plant - Green Amaranth

Wild Edible Plant of the Week - Green Amaranth

Green Amaranth
Amaranthus viridis

This Wild Edible is not only nutritious, but it also manufactures its own minerals as well. This plant is very good for you and the delicate taste is sometimes more preferred than any other green.

Growing as a “weed” over much of the North American continent, this plant is familiar, though not usually as a food, but as a “nuisance plant”. The stout, rough stalks of this plant can at times reach the height of a man, but is more common half of that height.

The alternately, slightly “fuzzy” dull green leaves are long-pointed with wavy edges. The stems of these leaves are sometimes as long as the leaves themselves. These of which are also edible. The roots are of a reddish color, hence the occasional name of “redroot” or “wild beet”.

The flowers are small and greenish and would not be recognized as a flower. They grow in-between the leaves and stalks in loosely branched, densely filled clusters. These have a pleasant taste raw, but the resulting shiny black seeds have been roasted and ground into flour and made into cakes and soups.

The entire plant can be used as an astringent in a decoction. Yellow and green dyes can be made with this plant.

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Previous Wild Edible Plant - Yellow Nutsedge

Image via -Wikipedia

Find North using a Stick and its Shadow - The Easy Way

Let us just assume that you are somewhere without access to a compass or a GPS. Let us also assume that you know which way you need to go, but do not know which way that is. Maybe you have some friends waiting for you North of your position.

Assuming it is a sunny day and you have a little time on your hands, here is a simple way to determine which way is North. We will break it down into a few easy steps.

1. Find a clearing where the sun is shining.
2. Find a 2 - 3 foot straight stick.
3. Drive the stick into the ground at the center of the clearing.
4. Note the shadow and mark the end with a rock or twig.
5. Wait an hour or so.
6. Mark the end of the shadow again with a rock or twig.
7. Draw a straight line between both rocks or twigs.
8. This line will be an East to West line.
9. Walk North and find your friends.

How about a little more detail:

The sun rises in the East, and sets in the West in the northern hemisphere. This is a good rule to remember. So, in the morning you set out to find a clearing to drive a straight stick into. Drive it as perpendicular to the ground as you can. As the sun projects the shadow of the stick, place a mark at the very end of the shadow. Shown here in the color RED.

Now just wait an hour or so and the sun will start climbing the sky until it reaches the farthest point that it can. At this point we will call it noon, the sun is as high as it will get. So now mark your point at the end of the shadow. Shown here in RED.


Wait a little while longer and the sun will start to fall. This we will call afternoon or evening. It is starting to get darker out. Now you will place another mark at the end of the shadow. Shown here in RED.

All that is left to do now is to connect each mark in a straight line.
This line will be from East to West. Your first point in the morning being West and your last point in the evening being East. North and South being perpendicular to this line.

Now pack up and go find your friends to the north.

Wild Edible Plant of the Week - Yellow Nutsedge

Yellow Nutsedge
Cyperus esculentus

This weeks edible plant is probably one that you are not used to seeing. But be assured, it is there. Growing as high as two and a half feet high, the 5-8 mm natural glossy, distinctly shiny leaves are yellow to green in color and taper to a sharp point. The three sided, triangular in cross section, stems seem almost grass-like, hairless and tapering to a gradual point.

The numerous flowers grow in little, flat, yellow to brown in color spikes originating from a common point at the top of the stem. Smaller single bladed leaves seem to surround the cluster of flowers.

The underground root system is usually full of little nuts starting from white and turning eventually to a dark color. They are naturally sweet and have a nutty flavor.

The base of the leave stems can be cut up and used in salads. Raw or cooked it is still tasty. The tubers are the best part of this plant. They can be roasted and ground into powder for beverages and coffee substitute. The tubers contain oils that are comparative to olive oil. This non-drying oil can be used for cooking and making soap.

The leaves are strong enough to be woven into hats and matting materials. Boiled tuber nuts are used in the UK as fish bait for carp and have a good success reputation.

Even though this plant is nothing more than a weed you find in fields, next time why not grab a few stalks and tubers and try them out for yourself. You will not be disappointed.



Next Wild Edible Plant - Green Amaranth
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