It's Coming On Foraging!!! And Recipe

Wolfgang Hasselmann@wolfgang_hasselmann

It’s coming on Spring… and I can FEEL the spring-time plant friends starting, reaching, growing: being our allies. The first (and my favorite) are chickweed, dandelion, cleavers, nettles and lambs quarters.

Chickweed

Many of us see chickweed as this easy-to-weed-out crawler…and discard it. But she’s full of nutrients (vitamins and minerals) and delicious. She tastes like “wild green.” The tiny tender leaves eaten in a daily yummy and good-for-you “home-grown” salad—simply, with oil and sweet vinegar (I like pear) or lemon. It’s also a great addition to spring pesto (garlic is an early riser too). The flowers are edible as well. When its long, large and spindly…its no longer so good. Catch her when she’s early.

Recipe for a Chickweed Salad

1 cup chickweed leaves
1 bunch scallions or 1 small red onion finely sliced
1 beet
pinch of sea salt
3 tbsp. organic coconut oil (or olive, avocado)
2 tbsp. wine vinegar
1/2 tsps. mustard of choice

Instructions
• Rinse and drain chickweed. Thinly cut scallions. Grate a raw beet. Place in bowl.
• Combine the coconut oil, wine vinegar and mustard well then toss through salad. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over salt and enjoy.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2018/03/foraging-in-march/

Dandelion

You can use all of the parts of the amazing dandelion: roots, leaves and flowers—and you can have them raw or cooked. The young leaves can be steamed, had fresh (salads) or dried for medicinal purposes. The root is long appreciated for the digestive assets: the main ingredient in bitters (dried and tinctured). They can also be sliced and fried or marinated in soy, honey and more for a pickled healthy root snack. The flowers can be breaded and fried, used as garnish or tossed into risottos and such. They have also been used to make wine.

Nettles

I can never say enough about nettles: one of my top favorite herbs. Often, people are put off by the stinging nettle (which it is and will), but Nettle leaves super nutritious: “great super food that’s rich in iron and vitamins A and D and packed with minerals.” Cover your arms and hands when you harvest (beginning April through mid-summer here in Vermont). I use Rose Harvesting gloves which reach up to the elbows. This will help avoid the “sting”—which is itchy and painful. Once harvested, you can dry or steam the leaves: cooking them takes the sting away. They make a deep luscious inky green—so you know they are a super food! I usually eat them steamed and solo, but you can use them in soups or omelettes, etc…