Anybody ever eat Lamb's Quarter?

[Kart29]

I learned about this plant last year and spent a couple of months looking for it. Once I finally found some, I started finding it growing nearly everywhere.

I've read from several sources that this is a healthy food if you eat the leaves or seeds. Nutiritionally it is supposedly very close to spinach. Apparently it sucks nitrates from the soil and so plants found growing in or adjacent to agricultural fields shouldn't be eaten.

I haven't eaten any yet but I think I'm gonna give it a try here in the next couple of weeks. Anybody here ever eat it?

I guess some people call it "goosefoot".

 

[buckstopshere]

Sorry buddy, I haven't tried it but I'm interested in hearing what you think of it. Give us an update after you sampled the goods.

 

[patience0830]

It's good in salad. The smaller leaves are more palatable. It's a weed in my garden. If you find you like it, come pull it here please.

 

[TheRude1]

Heard that it taste like human

 

[Justus]

I learned about this plant last year and spent a couple of months looking for it. Once I finally found some, I started finding it growing nearly everywhere.

I've read from several sources that this is a healthy food if you eat the leaves or seeds. Nutiritionally it is supposedly very close to spinach. Apparently it sucks nitrates from the soil and so plants found growing in or adjacent to agricultural fields shouldn't be eaten.

I haven't eaten any yet but I think I'm gonna give it a try here in the next couple of weeks. Anybody here ever eat it?

I guess some people call it "goosefoot".

Yep, we eat it. It was the first wild edible that I taught my sons to find and eat....... pretty bland but full of nutrition, the young leaves are the best. I haven't heard about the nitrate issue, that's good to know.

 

[Kart29]

Well, I took the plunge and ate some fresh green lamb's quarter in a salad this weekend. It tasted good - about like spinach. Better than most lettuce, to my mouth. Didn't get sick or suffer any ill consequences. I'll take the next step and feed some to my family.

I guess fresh organic spinach doesn't cost much in the store. But I know where the lamb's quarter on my property came from and what has or hasn't been applied to it. And I just enjoy eating things I didn't have to plant or tend and are just free for the taking. Saving a couple bucks is a bonus also.

 

[Justus]

Well, I took the plunge and ate some fresh green lamb's quarter in a salad this weekend. It tasted good - about like spinach. Better than most lettuce, to my mouth. Didn't get sick or suffer any ill consequences. I'll take the next step and feed some to my family.

I guess fresh organic spinach doesn't cost much in the store. But I know where the lamb's quarter on my property came from and what has or hasn't been applied to it. And I just enjoy eating things I didn't have to plant or tend and are just free for the taking. Saving a couple bucks is a bonus also.

Glad you took the plunge, now it's time to try purslane. (good stuff)

 

[Spudgunr]

Glad you took the plunge, now it's time to try purslane. (good stuff)

Purslane is pretty good, just remember for those who haven't had it, it grows in the same areas as spurge, which isn't edible (poisonous?) The difference is easy, purslane is a nice succulent stem, spurge is a milky sappy stem like milkweed.

 

[tetter]

Never heard of eating lamb's quarters. Grandma eats dandelions though

 

[6mm Shoot]

The wife is trying to work out what is eatable that grows wild around here. She has tried feeding me dandelions. That didn't work out so well. They are very bitter. I didn't like them. She tried cooking them and that wasn't any better. She fixed a root that is sort of like a potato and that wasn't to bad. That I could eat, the dandelion not in less I was very hungry and I couldn't find any thing hunting. Then again I could stand to loose a pound or two.

 

[Enkrypter]

No, but I eat Yellow Wood Sorrel and Dandelions out of the lawn on occasion. Wood Sorrel is bitter like a lemon, but in a good way. I like to pop a few of the buds into my mouth to chew on. The greens are slightly tart, but not as much so as the buds and flowers.

Sorrel greens go good in a summer salad mix with some of the more bitter lacey leaf lettuces and a good home-made vinaigrette made from good EVOO, red wine vinegar, some brown sugar, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Throw in some wild onions or wild garlic and you've got yourself a fantastic salad that most restaurants would charge you $20.00/plate for.

Wood Sorrel has some warnings attached with it though... Like anything you consume, do it in moderation.

HMharrisonmurray Bushcraft/ Primitive and Subsistence Living: Wild Edibles-The Delicious, Lemony, Medicinal Wood Sorrel

 

[BrewerGeorge]

The wife is trying to work out what is eatable that grows wild around here. She has tried feeding me dandelions. That didn't work out so well. They are very bitter. I didn't like them. She tried cooking them and that wasn't any better. She fixed a root that is sort of like a potato and that wasn't to bad. That I could eat, the dandelion not in less I was very hungry and I couldn't find any thing hunting. Then again I could stand to loose a pound or two.

You need to eat the very young leaves, about the size of your finger. They're still not awesome, but better.

 

[VERT]

I was walking a field with a customer last week and mentioned reading lambsquaters are edible. I picked some leaves and ate it. I am obviously still sucking air so it must not poisonous. Didn't really taste good or bad

 

[Sailor]

+ 1 on wood sorrel. It is like gatergum. Makes your mouth water, citrus like. Very easy to id.

 

[Khazik]

I eat lambs quarters all the time. The best I've eaten it was with some eggs; "pocket full of quarters and fistful of eggs" was my favorite meal for quite sometime. Cook 'em up a bit via steam or put in a stir fry late in the cooking, just enough to heat 'em up, and they're pretty hard to beat for anything else. I keep it growing in certain areas around the house here, in compost piles, or in the garden.

Pick the buds like the groundhogs here do. Just grab the buds of the plant, like the top 2 inches of the bud, and it'll grow 2 buds from there. Do this enough time and you'll be able to walk outside to a frickin BUSH. Keep in mind the stalks WILL get very very woody as they get old and die off. GMO crops are now having problems with glyphosphate-resistant lambs quarters, and they bind up the machines they use because they get so woody.

Dandelions are a great detox food, high in Iron, great for anemics or those with anemia in the family (I'd even say women on their monthly too). The root should be saved to cut/dice into a tea, or roasted (smells like fudge) then ground into coffee/tea. Leaves and flowers of dandelion could be eaten as anything else, just keep in mind the flowers are going to be a stronger diuretic than the leaves, so drink a fair bit of extra water; but the flowers definitely give some color to any foods you eat, and taste great in my opinion. I've come to accept/embrace food for what it tastes like, rather flavor it, so i look forward to the bitter taste of dandelion. If it's not bitter.... theres somethin wrong w/it; hence the term "bitter greens"; dandelion greens are also typically found in certain salad mixes at the store.

Another thing you could look at is Amaranth/Pigweed. If you cut the plant from the ground level (applies to Quinoa as well) when it's about 6-10 inches high, maybe a bit more, strip the leaves and eat 'em fresh or cooked, and saute the stalk like you would asparagus. "Poor mans" asparagus .

Stinging Nettle is also another green that grows naturally here in Indiana. Wear gloves when harvesting it. Steam up the leaves and eat 'em (the heat deactivates the "stinging" part of it), or if you're brave you can eat the leaves raw (yes you can, I do it all the time) the sting lasts about 30 sec or so at most-but I wouldn't eat a handful of it at once.... The leaves could also be brewed fresh or dried for a delicious tea. This plant is known mostly for it's anti-inflammatory qualities. The fibers of the stalk are also a strong fiber to use as cordage.

Oh, Queen Ann's Lace, a.k.a. Wild Carrot... It's just a white carrot rather orange, different taste, but tasty none-the-less (at least I think so). Just learn how to distinguish this from poison hemlock, which they do look very much alike to the untrained eye. Easiest way-Queen Ann's Lace has hairs like "a woman's unshaven legs", hemlock is bald with a white powder. Dont kill yourself

I spent the last few years learning the local edible flora here in preparation for... "just in case", but I've come to include them in my diet, like day lily flowers! I'd recommend the books by Samuel Thayer that you can pick up at the library or on Amazon. Enjoy!

*Edit* Ya avoid anything near agricultural waste or fields, waste water from shingle roofs, and septic systems unless you know exactly what's in that ground.