It’s time to take a closer look at what we usually call weeds. You know, dandelions and clover and such. Did you ever consider the humble dandelion as a superfood, surpassing spinach and kale in potassium, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals? Dandelions are only the beginning! Melany Vorass Herrera teaches workshops on how to identify and cook with common yard and garden weeds. She also wrote a book on the subject, “The Front Yard Forager.” Together, the classes and book offer fascinating insights, harvesting tips and recipes to help us reconsider these undervalued and oft-disparaged gifts from nature.
Local Author Talks Cooking with Urban Weeds
Melany holds a degree in environmental studies with an emphasis in ethnobotany from The Evergreen State College. She also has a permaculture design certificate—Permaculture focuses on creating sustainable, resilient agriculture systems that mimic natural patterns—from Oregon State University. But her interest in edible wild foods dates way back to her early youth when her grandparents first took her foraging. As she learned more about these plants, her interest in urban foraging grew, and she got downright excited about the flavors, nutritional value, economics and environmental benefits she was discovering. Eventually, she could no longer keep her enthusiasm to herself, and she began writing and teaching on the subject.
Why Eat Weeds?
Melany’s book covers all kinds of tasty dishes you can make using weeds you find in your own backyard or garden. But why not just go to the grocery store? Why bother with weeds at all? Here are just a few of her reasons.
Weeds Provide Superior Nutrition
Weeds like dandelions, purslane, chickweed and many others are known superfoods because they contain high concentrations of vitamins, minerals and other important phytonutrients we are only now discovering. This is partly because these plants have not been hybridized for shelf stability, color, sugar content or size, so they retain higher levels of nutrients important to our health.
Melany also emphasizes that because locally foraged foods reach your plate more quickly than conventional produce, more of its nutrition finds its way into your body. She notes that University of California studies show that vegetables can lose 15 to 55 percent of vitamin C, within a week and spinach can lose 90 percent within the first 24 hours after harvest.
In addition, we are learning more about the human ‘gut biome’ requiring a much greater variety of foods than we typically ingest. Eating weeds helps diversify your diet, keeping your tummy bugs happy, which in turn keeps you healthier.
Finally, if you’re careful about where you harvest, you are generally collecting organically-grown food that is free of pesticides and herbicides.
Save $$
If it’s not obvious yet, foraged food is 100% free of charge! The price of store-bought produce is up; foraging offers a great way to lower your monthly grocery bill.
Ecological Benefits of Yard-to-Table
Commercial agriculture depletes topsoil and usually uses pesticides and herbicides, harming the environment. And let’s not forget about the environmental cost of transporting, storing and refrigerating produce. Lessening your dependence on conventional agriculture is an excellent way to reduce your carbon footprint.
Get Outside for Fun and Vitamin N
Scientists are now calling time in nature Vitamin N. Daily doses are recommended. Foraging is enjoyable for adults and children alike. It’s a great excuse to get outside, an activity that benefits both mental and physical health. If you’re going outdoors, you might as well get some food along the way!
A Few No Hassle, Delicious Urban Foraging Recipes
Cooking delicious, healthy dishes using weeds is a snap! Try not to overthink this. It can be as easy as adding a few greens to your usual soup, salad or sandwich. Or you can get a smidge fancier with smoothies, creamed soups and pestos.
Smoothies
Melany likes adding raw mallow leaves to her green smoothies for a pleasant pudding-like consistency. Other weeds you could use include bedstraw, cat’s ear, clover, creeping wood sorrel, dandelion, dead nettle, dock, lamb’s quarter, linden leaves, nettle, nipplewort, pigweed, plantain, rose hips and sheep sorrel. If you’ve never made a green smoothie, other ingredients might include berries, ripe bananas, apples and milk or a milk substitute.
Soups
“Soups of creamed or pureed greens are among my favorite meals,” she notes. Her cream of clover soup includes shallots, garlic, white clover flowers and leaves, vegetable or chicken broth and potatoes. For a richer version, you can use milk or heavy cream for the liquid. Cream of stinging nettle soup is a longtime forager classic. The challenge is to be properly dressed for gathering the plants. The stems and underside of stinging nettles have long, thin, hollow hairs that contain a mild acid, histamine and other chemicals which, upon contact with the skin, feels like a sting. Cooking removes the perilous elements and leaves behind what most people describe as a delicious flavor.
Pesto
The magical combination of grated hard cheese, ground nuts, olive oil, garlic, salt, and some type of leafy green (commonly basil) creates pesto. Dock is one weedy green you can use, or try Queen Anne’s lace (wild carrot) or any of the greens mentioned above. And pesto is very versatile in the kitchen; it’s remarkable on bread, pasta, pizza, eggs, potatoes or in soup.
Minor Caution: Though there are a number of mildly toxic plants, there are only a few deadly weeds the Pacific Northwest, but they are easily identified and avoided. Foxglove, hemlock and Pacific yew should be avoided at all costs (although it’s interesting to note they’re all used in medicine when prepared properly.)
Take a Foraging Class Near Olympia
An optimal way to begin your foraging expeditions is to take a class. Melany offers an inexpensive class through the Olympia Food Co-Op. This hands-on workshop includes discussion on gathering ethics, local rules and regulations, safety, and general information about how to cook with weeds. “I love hearing the astonishment in people’s voices when they say, ‘I can eat that?!’” she says. If you can’t get into one of the Co-op classes (they fill fast), you can sign up for a class in Seattle through the Washington Park Arboretum at the University of Washington.
Learn more about her and buy her book on the Front Yard Forager website. You can also find her book and numerous others at the library. Herrera recommends reading several books. There is abundant information from many viewpoints.
Are you still skeptical? Start small. Consider going for a walk just to see what you find. If it still feels foreign, consider dandelion wine has been around for ages.
After visiting with Melany, I discovered a veritable forest of horsetails near my house, whose presence in our yard used to be the bane of my husband. I learned that it’s the only surviving plant from the Paleozoic era and grows around the world. Some in the tropics grow to 30 feet! Local horsetails are much smaller, light on flavor and bit like asparagus. Harvest only the early Springtime shoots for the kitchen. I plan to gather them next year for a weedy feast.
Here are a few of the edible weeds you can look for in late spring to early summer: shotweed, dead nettle, chickweed, dandelion, sheep sorrel, cat’s ear, Queen Anne’s lace (wild carrot) and wild pea (Lathyrus latifolius).
Happy Foraging and Healthful Eating!
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