5 Edible Wild Greens: Free Foraged Food for Your Table

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These edible weeds are as delicious as any other greens, and at least one can be found near your home if you live in North America.
These edible weeds are as delicious as any other greens, and at least one can be found near your home if you live in North America.
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Commercial growers raise amaranth for its seeds, but its leaves and stems make great additions to stir-fries.
Commercial growers raise amaranth for its seeds, but its leaves and stems make great additions to stir-fries.
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Chickweed has these tiny flowers in clusters at the top of the plant as well as a narrow row of fine hairs on one side of the stem.
Chickweed has these tiny flowers in clusters at the top of the plant as well as a narrow row of fine hairs on one side of the stem.
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Lambs-quarters has alternate diamond-shaped leaves and ridged stems.
Lambs-quarters has alternate diamond-shaped leaves and ridged stems.
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Skip spinach and feast on a frittata featuring lamb's-quarters. This green is so versatile in the kitchen that you'll want to harvest large quantities to blanch and freeze for wintertime meals.
Skip spinach and feast on a frittata featuring lamb's-quarters. This green is so versatile in the kitchen that you'll want to harvest large quantities to blanch and freeze for wintertime meals.
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When mature, shepherd’s purse can reach up to 2 feet tall. Its branches end in a cluster of small, white, four-petaled flowers.
When mature, shepherd’s purse can reach up to 2 feet tall. Its branches end in a cluster of small, white, four-petaled flowers.
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Common sowthistle looks a bit like dandelion, but it grows tall flowering stalks, and the midvein of the leaf has a triangular shape underneath.
Common sowthistle looks a bit like dandelion, but it grows tall flowering stalks, and the midvein of the leaf has a triangular shape underneath.
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Sauteed sowthistle has a rich, slightly bitter flavor, so try seasoning it with garlic and rosemary. Its role as an edible is apparent in its name: Oleraceus is Latin for
Sauteed sowthistle has a rich, slightly bitter flavor, so try seasoning it with garlic and rosemary. Its role as an edible is apparent in its name: Oleraceus is Latin for "cultivated vegetable."

Free food abounds at your feet, offering itself to the hands of the savvy. I’m not talking about rough fare that you’d eat only in an emergency, nor a sacrifice that you’d make to help your family’s budget. These are greens as scrumptious as anything you can buy or grow, and they’re exceedingly high in vitamins and minerals when compared with cultivated garden plants.

I’m sure you’ve heard of collecting wild edibles for food, but you may still have questions about this seemingly intimidating proposition. How will you know what to pick? Are there poisonous look-alikes? How should you handle these plants after you’ve harvested them? These are all good questions, but don’t let the unknown scare you. You have the ability to do this without any trouble and with the same confidence you’d have picking wild blackberries or blueberries.

Hundreds of wild plants with edible leafy greens grow across North America, but many are regionally specific. No matter where you call home, whether a big city or a remote homestead, at least one of the five plants featured here is likely in your yardmany of you can find all of them within sight of your doorstep. These wild greens are unique yet mild in flavor, and cooking them is simply a matter of adapting familiar methods and recipes. They don’t require special preparation to render them palatable, and if you identify them carefully, you aren’t likely to confuse them with any dangerous plant.

If you have a garden, you’ve likely already seen many of these edibles disguised as “weeds.” Before eating them, carefully check that you have the right plant, matching every detail with the illustrations and descriptions given here. You should collect each of these at the correct time and in prime conditionjust as you’d cut asparagus only in its spear stage of growth before the branches have spread open. Harvest them in the right way, and these plants will please your palate. If you want to serve these gourmet greens at your table, your only expense will be the knowledge of identifying them, for picking and cooking are a gardener’s labors of love.

Wild Amaranth

  • Published on Mar 3, 2016
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