My Favorite Weed to Eat
I’m having a bit of a love affair with chickweed right now. Let me introduce this little backyard herb, and maybe you’ll fall in love with her too.
Chickweed grows in late winter and early spring, so it’s in season right now. It’s native to Europe but is so prolific it grows just about everywhere. There’s a chance you might already have some in your backyard! Chickweed is fairly easy to identify. It has tiny little white flowers that look like they have ten petals, though there are actually five petals split in half. This flower shape will help distinguish between look-alikes that may have white flowers, but a different number of petals.
Two other defining characteristics are that it has a single line of hair along its stem and that if you break the stem slowly, the outside of the stem will break before the inside of the stem, which will stretch.
Personally I’ve been harvesting chickweed just by grabbing a bunch out at once, though you want to be careful that you aren’t grabbing other plants that might not be edible along with it. After harvesting, I put a bunch in a strainer and rinse it thoroughly, scrubbing gently with my fingers and picking out anything that doesn’t belong. The plant is somewhat delicate so scrubbing any harder would likely damage it. I don’t think it needs much more washing than this. If you’re worried, cooking it should kill the remainder of the germs, though personally I like eating it raw. There’s a lot of other “weeds” I don’t like the taste of, such as dandelion and henbit, but I love the taste of chickweed. I can’t get enough of it!
Here are just a couple of the ways I’ve eaten chickweed this season:
As part of a sandwich — mayo, cheese, chickweed, and broccoli coleslaw make a yummy veggie sandwich. Could also be good as part of a cucumber sandwich or with hummus.
Couscous salad — when I make up a batch of couscous I usually mix in some veggies like black olives or artichoke. Chickweed makes a great addition to this salad. If you don’t have couscous you could do something similar with any grain like rice or pasta. Add some olive oil and you’ve got a delicious and nutritious meal.
On a burger — I’ve been having faux chicken patties on sesame seed buns lately, with plenty of chickweed of course! Not only is this really easy to make, but it makes me feel a little bit fancy. You can also do this with veggie burgers or if you’re a meat eater, plain old hamburgers.
I’ve also heard you can make pesto with this like you would with basil, and I’ve even seen a chickweed bread recipe, though I haven’t tried either. I’d certainly be curious to try other recipes with this yummy little plant!
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photos by Krista Strom
