I enjoy eating the lambs quarters and especially the purslane that grows as weeds here. I ordered and planted purslane seeds last year to see what the difference could be and the seed plants were larger and sweeter, but they also required a little work (unlike the weed purslane that grows where it pleases).

~Chills

As I weed my garden, I munch on dandelion leaves. I even let a few go to seed on purpose.

Only other edible weed I see around here is chickweed, and I hear it's a good salad ingredient.

Pigweed is a mild green. Very palatable. Most enjoyable of the weeds around here.

And for those drug majors in the school system............
They do some jimsonweed projects on standby.(on their freetime of course)

Eating weeds is great revenge. But there are many more than those that are edible.

I intentionally cultivate purslane. In fact, my "wild" purslane does much better than the kind I bought. I found my puslane in Tarpon Springs many years ago in a sidewalk crack, still living after a freeze. I figured it had a good future and it grows wonderfully. I also grow chinopodium and amaranth, the latter reseeds itself every years. Where I want them to grow I just don't "weed." I also let oxalis grow in my garden and Florida Betony (eating that keeps it under control.)

I live near Fort Worth, TX and am very interested in wild edibles. Have many in my yard and surrounding woods, and would love to receive emails from those who have information on identifying, preparing, etc.

I don't eat them personally, but I've never seen any reason to try and eradicate the dandelions from our yard. They're free, no-work food crops for the chickens. The best ones grow on the side of the house that's always shady, so they're tender and soft. Mowing the lawn there keeps them sending up new shoots and I can go out anytime I please and pick a basketful for the hens.

As a bonus, under those conditions they don't flower much if at all, so they remain a localized patch that doesn't bother anybody.

I do dig them out of my actual flowerbeds, but the dug-up ones still get fed to the hens.

kristin

Hi - GARLIC MUSTARD !!! - I hate that weed but the leaves are good to add to a salad. ( Yes, I don't sow it, but they come into my garden uninvited). Violets, Jerusalam Arichoke, burdock, day lilies... I have allowed all to grow so I can eat. Kim

WE have a weed here in Mississippi, that is delicious, its
called poke salad, its like mustard greens when cooked or better, ive cooked it and mixed it with greens, its delicious..i might could get you some sprouts to set out, but im not sure..do you have any clemantis vines you would trade me for some...just make an offer...patticake

I've not only eaten dandelions, but made dandelion wine. I think the neighbors thought I was crazy when I asked if I could pick the dandelion flowers on their lawns. That was before ChemLawn, when a weed or two didn't matter. By the way, and interesting tidbit about the word "dandelion"...It is a corruption of the French :Dent de Lion", which means lion's tooth.

Have any of you tried any of these as foods?
chickweed
dock
shepherd's purse
mallow
curly dock
sheep sorrel
carpetweed
Good King Henry
altanet
buckthorn plantain
common plantain
smooth saw thistle
Prickly saw thistle
cynoglossum
henbit
red sorrel
wild lettuce
yellow nutsedge
red yarrow
spiderwort
knotweed

I've read that all of those are edible (or at least that have parts that are). And I think I have 'em all competing with my lawn and garden! It'd be nice to know which ones I can use in my kitchen and which ones are worth the trouble.

(I rarely use herbicides, and on the rare occasions when I do - e.g., as a last ditch effort to control my Himalayan blackberries and morning glories, I just apply Round-Up to the growing tip of the plant in question. But I haven't even done that in a year or two.)

Genie

You haven't got those plants as natives in MN, they are naturalized. the reason there are so very many edible weeds is that most of them were brought over here on purpose in order to cultivate for food. They simply proved to be more agressive than other types of garden plant.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Pokeweed/Poke Salad/pokeberry/pokeroot/inkberry/ ombú.

Some ask why take a chance eating a plant that may still contain small amounts of some toxins even when harvested young and cooked properly, when there are many safer alternatives available. I'd say for some people it's a matter of economics and convenience. Why go to the store and pay for chard or spinach if a substitute is growing on its own outside your window?

Plus, I'm certainly no expert on specific "toxins," but I do know that many substances that are toxic in larger concentrations are harmless or even beneficial in small amounts.

So is the jury still out on pokeweed/poke salad?

Dandelion is not only good to eat- Try frying some bits of good bacon, mix the bacon bits with fresh dandelion leaves- it's an excelant diuritic because of it's potassium content.
Garlic mustard is good for restoring lost voice.

I am in Western Australia (Perth) and a newbie to the garden Forum.I have grown crops in England and Canada in the past.
RE: Growing weeds to eat:
I grow plantain (only very young leaves are palatable and even that is a matter for debate!), wild dandelion(leaf and root),cultivated dandelion,burdock(root),lambs quarters,sow thistle,pigweed,nettles,chickweed,wild lettuce,purslane,evening primrose(leaves and root),chicory(Leaves and root),yarrow(only when very young and in small quantities),lambs lettuce,gotu kola,vegetable amaranth,grain amaranth,wild rocket(of course this is fashionable currently!),sorrel,clover(leaves and roots),mallow(leaves),watercress - all of which I eat in addition to what I plant in my vege patch.There are many edible grasses also which I have tied in my area but do not know the name of.If my guinea pigs eat it by choice, I know it won't kill me!
I have grown shepherds purse but it took over the garden..
I would love to hear of ANY more edible wild plants to grow, of whatever climate...
I would especially like to hear of anyone growing skirret in WA or who knows where i might obtain it here.It is my namesake until I find it!Or of anyone anywhere growing unusual coloured carrots,or strange strains of sweet potatoes...my list is endless really.
I found a site created some years ago(some links do not work) which has some information about about human nutrition and development and which I found interesting,http://www.naturalhub.com/

I am about to purchase and try to grow some more unusual wild edible plants I have sourced.There are so many people have almost forgotten about.I am trying to collect the oldest seeds (from the 1800's)I can before these are lost.
And I have not even begun to look at the native plants here,which are completely undeveloped by humans.It is difficult to get hold of unusual seeds here as the quarantine restrictions and limits on what is allowed are prohibitive compared to the rest of the world.This is to protect the crops presently grown here that are currently disease-free.
And because of the above I am doubly fascinated to hear of anyone growing unusual plants.
I am presently trying to get some red huckleberries to germinate,which will be quite a feat here in Perth if a success, given the much warmer climate, so here's hoping!

I went to Mexico. Here people drink hibiscus tea. My question now is any one of you eat hibiscus flowers? How to eat them? Kim

Hibiscus sabdariffa is the variety for tea. It's the dried flower and calyx that is used. Nice, tart flavor. You can also make chickweed pesto - it really is delicious. I pickle dandelion buds, eat the young leaves in salads and the slightly older leaves get sauteed with bacon. Dandelion root is a good liver stimulant. Add the root to your next batch of soup. Ditto burdock root.

Hi "yerba"-betty:
?would you please give more dandelion bud pickle particulars?

LOL, Gringojay, would "Yerba" Betty have lots of snow this time of year?!

For pickled dandelion buds, get a quart mason jar. Chop garlic, ginger and onion and put a layer of those about an inch deep in the jar. Add unopened dandelion buds (not just those that have opened and closed up for the night) until it half-fills the jar. Add apple cider vinegar and a shot of soy sauce, leaving an inch of head space. Let sit for 3 weeks or longer. The reason you don't fill the jar completely with dandelion buds is so the vinegar isn't too diluted to act as a preservative.

Easy can do recipe herbalbetty, thanks.

genie_wilde
Do you have any roots of the Himalayan blackberries? I would love some.I will pay shipping for them. Please PM me.

Atokadawn,
The Himalayan blackberry is an invasive weed around here, very hard to get rid of and the birds spread the seed everywhere! Love the fruit but hate the vines. A tame blackberry would be able to be contained and thus a much better choice IMHO!
Ken