Plenty of edible weeds are likely to pop up around this time in and around your growing areas. Don’t waste them. Weeds can be very useful in your garden. You can use them as mulch, in your compost heap, or to make a liquid plant feed. But eating the weeds is also a great thing to do. These recipe ideas for spring foraging should help you make the most of them.
Early spring may be a time of less abundance in a fruit and vegetable garden. But when you have a polytunnel, and have planned and planted well, there is no ‘hungry gap’. Still, it cannot hurt to supplement your home-cultivated diet with some spring forage plants. Look around your garden and nearby and you are sure to find a wide range of plants that you can eat in addition to the fruits, vegetables and herbs that you grow.
You do not need so sacrifice flavour or nutrition when eating wild plants. Plenty of plants that are ideal for spring foraging are also incredibly delicious and nutritious. Check out these recipe suggestions for some common spring forage plants and you will discover just how rich and rewarding eating foraged crops can be:
Nettle Recipes
Those who are used to eating the weeds will no doubt be familiar with nettles. Nettles are one of the very first wild plants that pop up for spring foraging. The young and tender tips are a fantastic spinach substitute. You can use them just as you would use spinach in a range of recipes. You can also use them in other interesting ways.
For example, how about using nettles to make:
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Nettle soups and stews.
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Omelettes, frittatas or quiches.
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Nettle spanakopita.
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Tarts and pies.
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Lasagna/ pasta dishes.
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Pizza.
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Nettle curries.
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Bakes and casseroles.
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Nettle risotto.
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Or even nettle beer.
Chickweed Recipes
Chickweed (Stellaria media) is another wild edible that crops up early in the season. It is a favourite of many who enjoy eating the weeds. This is one of the easiest crops to forage, and is also relatively easy to identify. And you don’t even necessarily have to cook it once you have collected it.
Chickweed leaves and stems are best enjoyed raw, in a mixed leafy salad. They have a mild and pleasant flavour, and a crisp texture that is not much different to iceberg lettuce. You can also mix them with some cooked ingredients as part of a warm salad (with roast beetroot, for example). If heated by neighbouring ingredients, or lightly cooked in a stir fry, chickweed becomes more like spinach, and is another excellent multi-purpose green.
Another excellent idea is to make a chickweed pesto, which is great in a salad, on pasta, on bread, spread onto fish, or veggie loaves or bakes, or incorporated into a wide range of other recipes.
Ramps/ Ramsons/ Wild Garlic Recipes
Wild garlic, also known as ramps or ramsons is another delight of spring foraging. Eating the weeds is not always a case of discovering new and unfamiliar flavours. In this case, the flavour of the leaves is very similar, if not identical, to the taste of garlic scapes or onion greens.
You can use the leaves of wild garlic:
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In salads.
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For sandwiches.
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In homemade bread.
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As an addition to a bun with a burger (or veggie burger).
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In a veggie wrap or tortilla wrap.
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For stir fries.
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To make pestos and sauces.
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In soups and stews.
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With baked potatoes.
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Alongside baked cheeses.
And, of course, to add a little flavour in a wide range of other cooked dishes.
Ground Elder Recipes
Ground elder is often considered to be a very problematic weed. But eating the weeds is a great way to get rid of them. Ground elder it at its very best early in the spring. Gather the young leaves and stems before the leaves even have the chance to unfurl and use them:
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Stir fried.
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In soup.
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In an omelette, frittata, quiche or tart.
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To make pesto.
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As a side of greens for a range of recipes.
Dandelion Recipes
Dandelions annoy those who want to maintain a perfectly manicured lawn. But many organic gardeners know just how useful these flowering plants can be – both in the garden and in the kitchen.
Though in early spring, the flowers will not yet be out, you can harvest the bitter leaves and use them sparingly in a mixed salad. Just like the flowers, the leaves can also be added to fritters, omelettes or a range of other recipes to add just a hint of bitterness. The bitterness of the leaves can work rather well in a range of curries, for example.
But you may not realise that you can also use the roots – and spring is the best time to harvest them. Dandelion roots can be roasted and eaten as a vegetable. They can also be ground and used as a coffee substitute.
Plantain Recipes
Plantain is another plentiful weed. When eating the weeds you will discover that there are plenty of alternatives to cabbage, kale and other members of the brassica family which can be used for cooked greens. Plantain is one excellent example.
In spring, you can use the smaller leaves in a salad. Larger leaves can be used anywhere you might use kale – so as a side dish of greens, or incorporated into a huge range of recipes. Plantain crisps is one excellent idea to try. It has been known to convert even those who are very reluctant to eat their greens.
The leaves themselves are rather bland. But they are very healthy and can therefore be a great addition to many dishes. Eaten in moderation, plantain leaves (and similarly, the leaves of several different species of dock – Rumex) can be great additions to your spring diet.
Hosta Shoot Recipes
Hostas are not exactly a weed. But they are a surprising edible crop that you might be able to forage for in ornamental beds and borders in your garden this spring. All hostas are edible, and the best part of the plant to eat are the young shoots (actually hostons or rolled up leaves) which pop up from the soil in the spring. These are a rather passable asparagus alternative, and a delicacy of spring foraging.
You can use these hostons anywhere you might usually use asparagus – cooking them in much the same way. For example, you can enjoy them:
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Simply lightly fried in butter or olive oil.
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Grilled, with a range of accompaniments and toppings.
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Roasted in the oven with simple seasoning, or more sophisticated sauces.
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In omelettes, frittatas, and quiches.
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In a range of open top tarts or galettes.
Good King Henry Recipes
Once more commonly grown as a vegetable here in the UK, Good King Henry is now often considered a weed. But this is another excellent forage crop in spring, along with the similar chenopodium – fat hen, also known as lamb’s quarters, goosefoot or pigweed.
The stems of good king henry are another potential asparagus substitute. And you can also eat the young leaves as a spinach substitute too. You can use both of these parts of the plant in much the same ways as hosta shoots and nettles in the types of recipe mentioned above.
The plants mentioned above are just some of the plants idea for spring foraging in the UK. But once you start eating the weeds you will discover that there are also a number of other wild plants (and plants usually considered ornamental) that you can eat.
Do you eat the weeds? What are you foraging this spring? Let us know in the comments below.
