May 2006
Got Weeds? Think Salad!
Maybe the best way to beat them is to eat them.
By Christine Gable
Nearly half of all US households dose their lawns and gardens with pesticides. That’s 136 million pounds of chemicals, according to the EPA’s Home and Garden Use Pesticide Survey. But perhaps we should reconsider this wanton application of poisons to wipe out those so-called weeds fouling America’s carpet of green.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once described a weed as “a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.” Could that hearty chickweed or dandelion just be a misunderstood urchin with positive attributes that outweigh the pleasures of looking across a toxic, weed-free lawn?
Absolutely, according to “Wildman” Steve Brill, naturalist, educator and author, who has been leading wild edible-plant tours throughout the Northeast since 1982. (Brill first created a stir in 1986 when he became the first person ever arrested for eating a dandelion in New York’s Central Park.) Brill has since boosted the foraging lifestyle through videos and publications like The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook: A Forager’s Culinary Guide. His message remains the same: “Wild plants are packed with known and undiscovered nutrients and natural medicine. They greatly increase your chances of living a long, healthy life.”
“Historically, greens were valued for their abilities to restore energy, increase vitality, and improve the quality of the blood,” says Dr. Michael Murray, co-author of The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods. “Greens are phenomenal sources of carotenes. Preliminary and experimental studies suggest that a higher dietary intake of carotenes offers protection against developing certain cancers... and other health conditions linked to oxidative or free radical damage.”
If you eat those wild greens raw, there’s even better news, according to Dr. Carolyn Dean, medical advisor for yeastconnection.com and contributor to The Yeast Connection and Women’s Health (Professional Books). “When greens are raw,” Dean says, “they rot and break down easily if you leave them sitting out on your counter. This capacity helps the food be more easily digested. Foods that have a lot of preservatives and chemicals in them do not break down so easily and demand our body to produce more enzymes and digestive acids to eliminate those chemicals and try to get some nutrition from the food.”
Foraging for wild greens provides other benefits, says Brill, who believes that “foraging creates a commitment to conservation.”
Indeed, Lisa Solomon, of New York, who went on one of Brill’s foraging expeditions, said that after growing “aware of wild food … whenever I drive past an undeveloped area, I yearn to get out of the car and explore the area. Learning about wild foods can really expand your intellectual horizons. I never thought of myself as particularly interested in science or nature, but now I enjoy reading field guides. Plus, getting out in the woods to forage is good exercise.”
It’s all part of getting in sync with nature’s cycle. But in today’s world, where food is commercialized, these simple truths can easily be lost on both children and adults.
“Since our nutrients, air and water come from the environment, the better we maintain our ecosystems, the more healthy we’ll be,” says Brill.
Dandelion
With a rich and respectable history dating back to the Romans, the dandelion has cured people’s ills and helped keep their health vibrant in a myriad of ways, containing greater nutritional value than many other vegetables. Dandelions have a higher vitamin A content than carrots, according to Murray, who also notes that dandelions are “particularly high in vitamins and minerals, protein, choline, inulin, and pectin … an excellent source of vitamin C, riboflavin, B6, and thiamin, as well as calcium, copper, manganese, and iron.” All that for only 25 calories per cup: Now that’s a lean, mean, health food.
If gathering wild dandelions isn’t feasible, look for cultivated varieties in farmers markets and health food stores. In autumn, young tender roots are delicious when washed, boiled and seasoned with salt and butter. Older roots can be roasted and ground to make coffee; tea can be made from the dried leaves, roots or flowers.
Chickweed
This delicate bright-green plant with small white starflowers flourishes in cool temperatures. That little weed that your lawn mower is unceremoniously eating up is a boon to the glandular and lymphatic systems and will cool and calm fevers, infections, inflammations and digestive disorders. Readily available from mountain valleys to cities and along the coasts, this quiet yet powerful little plant is high in calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin C and more. Freshly picked chickweed is delicious in a salad of mixed greens, with dressing, bacon bits and croutons.
Nettles
With usage dating to the Bronze Age, the stinging nettle has gained a reputation for being a lady with a strong bite or burn.
Autumn is the perfect time to gather seeds or roots in preparation for cultivating your own patch in the spring, for potherbs or an herb garden. “New nettles come up in the fall, and you can pick them before they’re killed by frost,” said Brill. Stalks and leaves are high in calcium, magnesium and trace minerals. A strong defender of the lymph, endocrine and urinary systems, nettles are a delicious spinach substitute.
Gather leaves and stalks with heavy gloves and scissors; nettles lose their stinging properties when lightly steamed or cooked, although that sting is said to bring welcome relief to arthritis and other chronic pain.
Violets
Fabulous nourishment and bountiful healing effects are the calling card of this small beauty with heart-shaped leaves. Whether using the leaves, flowers or roots, violets are soothing to the spirit and skin via salad, vinegar or syrup.
Violet vinegar’s beautiful color is second only to its gentle flavor. Aptly called “Nature’s vitamin pill” by wild edible plant expert Euell Gibbons, the violet’s benefits are only rivaled by its beauty.
Christine Gable is a Pennsylvania-based freelancer.
Resources
Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places by Steve Brill (a video from Wild Edible Basics, 2004), wildmanstevebrill.com
Healing Wise by Susun S. Weed, susunweed.com
The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods, by Michael Murray, N.D. and Joseph Pizzorno, N.D.
Tom Brown’s Field Guide: Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants, by Tom Brown, Jr., www.trackerschool.com
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