Stumbled across a useful series of videos called 'Eat The Weeds'
Here's one on Spotted Bee Balm
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applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 30541
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
So I was making lamb chops for lunch but didn't have garlic.
Gathered Garlic Mustard (just starting to bud) and a couple of handfuls of tender Wild Garlic greens, put in pot full of cold water on the stove until the water boiled, then drained and sautéed in olive oil with some chickweed and a pinch of salt. Very satisfying side dish. Some of the finely chopped peppermint/spearmint for the lamb accidentally got sprinkled on the greens -- hey, that tasted great! Add that to the recipe.
DD's lamb chops accidentally picked up some of the "green stuff" (the mint) -- she usually picks off every trace of any "green stuff" on her food, but she apparently didn't notice. She declared them "Not so bad... actually they taste good on the meat". 
Remembered why I'm reluctant to eat Chickweed in salad -- I like the side leaves but not so much the flowering tip growth, and the stems tend to be too tough when they double in size all of a sudden like they're doing now. Too much picking around. Still, DD and I sat for a while picking the "mouse ears" off the stems and nibbling them though. Once I start, I keep reaching for them so there must be some good nutrients in there. DD, as she left the table to go play, paused, saying "I'll just have one more mouse ear before I go...."
When I gathered chickweed, some dead nettle/henbit (always hard to tell for me) came with them. The hairy leaves are a bit off-putting at first -- same reason I have trouble eating radish and turnip leaves in salads, but I REALLY think they taste sweeter than chickweed but, at the same time, somehow reminiscent of fresh mushrooms. Good addition to salad. Just went out and found a good sized clump in the strawberry patch that needed to come out. We'll see if I can sneak it into the dinner salad -- getting DH to eat things that don't come from the store in clearly labeled packages is definitely a challenge and a "creative" work in progress.
BTW -- was looking for related threads and found this one which had a nice list of edibles https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1969 but it's locked. Why is it locked?
Gathered Garlic Mustard (just starting to bud) and a couple of handfuls of tender Wild Garlic greens, put in pot full of cold water on the stove until the water boiled, then drained and sautéed in olive oil with some chickweed and a pinch of salt. Very satisfying side dish. Some of the finely chopped peppermint/spearmint for the lamb accidentally got sprinkled on the greens -- hey, that tasted great! Add that to the recipe.
DD's lamb chops accidentally picked up some of the "green stuff" (the mint) -- she usually picks off every trace of any "green stuff" on her food, but she apparently didn't notice. She declared them "Not so bad... actually they taste good on the meat". Remembered why I'm reluctant to eat Chickweed in salad -- I like the side leaves but not so much the flowering tip growth, and the stems tend to be too tough when they double in size all of a sudden like they're doing now. Too much picking around. Still, DD and I sat for a while picking the "mouse ears" off the stems and nibbling them though. Once I start, I keep reaching for them so there must be some good nutrients in there. DD, as she left the table to go play, paused, saying "I'll just have one more mouse ear before I go...."
When I gathered chickweed, some dead nettle/henbit (always hard to tell for me) came with them. The hairy leaves are a bit off-putting at first -- same reason I have trouble eating radish and turnip leaves in salads, but I REALLY think they taste sweeter than chickweed but, at the same time, somehow reminiscent of fresh mushrooms. Good addition to salad. Just went out and found a good sized clump in the strawberry patch that needed to come out. We'll see if I can sneak it into the dinner salad -- getting DH to eat things that don't come from the store in clearly labeled packages is definitely a challenge and a "creative" work in progress.
BTW -- was looking for related threads and found this one which had a nice list of edibles https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1969 but it's locked. Why is it locked?
-
applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 30541
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
Dandelions are starting to bloom all over my lawn and I'm again wondering what I could do with them. Last year, a friend posted a dandelion cookie recipe -- I'll be trying that. Today, I found a Dandelion Syrup recipe here: https://fxcuisine.com/Default.asp?language=2&Display=78&resolution=&page=2
Tried with just a handful -- enough for 1C. Found that it was almost impossible to separate the green bracts and the little yellow flowers after washing -- the flowers start to close up and the wet yellow bits stick to everything. Also quickly tired of trying to save every little bit. Much easier to pinch out the middle of a fully open, dry dandelion flower. (the discarded parts of the flowers went in my bucket of "drowned weed tea")
Quite tasty (I mean the diluted syrup drink
). I'll try processing more next time and maybe try making the jelly. Also, this time I made the syrup with white sugar (which I ONLY keep for making hummingbird nectar 
) so as not to darken the golden colored syrup. Maybe I'll make the syrup with honey next time....
Tried with just a handful -- enough for 1C. Found that it was almost impossible to separate the green bracts and the little yellow flowers after washing -- the flowers start to close up and the wet yellow bits stick to everything. Also quickly tired of trying to save every little bit. Much easier to pinch out the middle of a fully open, dry dandelion flower. (the discarded parts of the flowers went in my bucket of "drowned weed tea"
)Quite tasty (I mean the diluted syrup drink
). I'll try processing more next time and maybe try making the jelly. Also, this time I made the syrup with white sugar (which I ONLY keep for making hummingbird nectar ) so as not to darken the golden colored syrup. Maybe I'll make the syrup with honey next time....