The Edible Weed

 

 Edible Weed weeds

 

I brought in the over stuffed pink plastic bag of weeds that I had pulled up from my walk. Feeling like Santa Claus I beamed as I plunked it down on Annie's lap.

She giggled believing that the overstuffed pink plastic bag of weeds were 100 percent edible. I had to remind her that this was my first solo attempt pulling edible weeds. She swooshed her hand, as if to say nonsense to my doubt.

We started sorted through the pink plastic bag. I pulled up the weeds with the roots, later I discovered this makes for more work. A fourth of the sack confirmed my doubt, we threw them away. The others I cut off the roots, sorted through the sticks, grass, and a few dried leaves. Then I washed and rewashed the edible weeds.

 

edible weeds

 

Annie with her heaping edible weeds. It was if I offered her a little baby Jesus in velvet shorts.

(When in France when something you eat is delicious, French Husband says,  "C'est le petit Jésus en culottes de velours - Like baby Jesus in velvet shorts." Honest to God, that is what he says… I guess it could be better translated as: "Oh My God, this is good!" Obviously, we didn't have the same Catholic upbringing. Jesus never wore velvet shorts in my church.)

 

wild edible weeds

Pissanli or dandelion, and *osez which means "dare" in French, which I find funny, "Do you dare eat this?" I do not know what osez is in English. I also picked fennel. These three edible weeds I am sure of… the other ones that are edible I am not so good as finding… yet.

*Correction: Nancy Ravisé-Noel said:

"The osez you were lucky enough to find is actually spelled oseille and translates "sorrel" in English." Thank you.

 

Edible Weed

Annie instructed me to put three fourths of the edible weeds into some boiling water. Edible weeds boil like spinach, they reduce tremendously in size. I put them in a pan of boiling water and turned them gentle time and time again. The weeds cooked about ten minutes. Then I put them in a drainer for over thirty minutes. 

 

Edible Weed

 

The lighter leaf is osez. The brown water (the edible weeds were clean) was dumped into the sink.

 

edible weeds

 

The rest Annie had me chop finely, adding garlic, parsley, olive oil and vinegar.

Linda wrote in yesterday's comment section: "I'm convinced that you could eat a rubber tire if you put enough garlic and butter …"

Isn't that true?

And Mardog asked in the yesterday's comment section, "How much does this weed cost?" 

Seriously?

Now are you going to pick some weeds for dinner?

 



Comments

27 responses to “The Edible Weed”

  1. Unfortunately, most of our ground is still covered in snow 🙂

  2. I am still laughing over baby Jesus in velvet shorts. This is going to carry me forward for days and days and I am polling everyone I know who speaks French to see if they have ever heard of it or is it truly a Yannism unique to him. Chuckle, chuckle!

  3. Nancy Ravisé-Noel

    Bonjour, Corey! The osez you were lucky enough to find is actually spelled oseille and translates “sorrel” in English. It is really sour and makes a fantastic soup. I’m American, living with my French husband near Perpignan. He is also from Brittany, like your FH, and has the same description of Jesus in culottes! Bon appetit! Nancy

  4. The back meadow is still blanketed with snow. But the sun is shining, giving hope that spring is on the way! As soon as the green returns, I will walk along the river and in the meadow, looking for greens!

  5. Dawn Fleming

    Yeah, definitely a lot of snow covered grown in Chicago! Love this but I would definitely not pick weeds around here & eat them. My Italian grandma used to pick dandelions from the empty lot at the end of our street where our dog used to go pee. We told her so many times to stop this but insisted everything was okay since she washed & boiled them! She was the only one who ate them:)

  6. … mais c’est quoi ces américaines à toutes vouloir des FH, et des bretons en plus. Evidemment , elles choisissent le top !…

  7. Kathie B

    Corey, if you pick more wild greens and want something different to make with them, consider substituting them for watercress in either of the Watercress Soup recipes posted on your Soups page:
    http://willows95988.typepad.com/photos/soup_recipes_from_tongue_/ladle.html
    Clearly my Azorean ancestors were poor people who foraged for greens to supplement their meager rations, while Dru’s rich creamy recipe sounds positively luxe!

  8. Corey,
    You CAN have just a salad with dent-de-lion ( young leafs)
    You cut the leaves, add some boiled eggs in it and a seasoning ( vinaigre, arachide oil and a coffee spontané of mustard, some salt)
    Very fresh herbal salad.
    One salad my past grand father loved so much in the beginning of spring.
    Good appétit…

  9. Corey,
    The oseille melted in butter and mixed with a tablespoon of creme fraiche makes a wonderful sauce to put over salmon. And the dandelions are actually spelled “pissenlit” and they are called that because they do have diuretic properties. I love hearing about annie and your freindship. Please give her a hug and tell her thank you for allowign yo uto share her life with us.
    blessings,
    Trisha

  10. Ah! Can we go weed picking in summer?

  11. In Greece we eat them with lemon and olive oil. Next time add a little lemon and a few drops of olive oil to the hot jus and drink it slowly, feeling the aroma of Earth 🙂

  12. Diogenes

    This post reminds me of the 1968 song “Polk Salad Annie” which is about exactly this. Picking greens.
    “If some of ya’ll never been down South too much…
    I’m gonna tell you a little bit about this, so that you’ll understand
    What I’m talking about
    Down there we have a plant that grows out in the
    woods and the fields,
    looks somethin’ like a turnip green.
    Everybody calls it Polk salad. Polk salad….”
    here it is on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRF24LY5pvw

  13. Today we were in vineyards in Saint Emilion and I kept eyeing the weeds/cover crop and thinking about how good they would be for lunch!

  14. Baby Jesus in velvet shorts??!! That is too much!!! It may be worse than what they say where I come from – “makes me wanna slap my Mamma!”

  15. I think I will wait until you post tomorrow to make sure you are still alive from eating the weeds. Smiling!

  16. I grew up eating weeds and tree mushrooms. Mmmm …

  17. We’ve been picking weeds in our yard but never thought about eating them. I found this lovely looking weed with orange flowers. It was so pretty I left it in the yard. My sister said if you think it is a flower (and not a weed) then it is a flower. So, Corey, if you think weeds are food, then it is food. Enjoy.

  18. You’re killing me with the baby Jesus in velvet shorts! This reminds me of poke salad, I had never heard of it before but my husband’s grandmother makes it all the time from pokeweed. Apparently you can use it to make food, medicine, or poison depending on what part of the plant you use and how you prepare it. I’m just too freaked out by the idea to eat it! Hubby loves it.

  19. Shelley Noble

    Annie’s days sparkle through your kindness.

  20. We don’t usually eat weeds, but several years ago, on a spring day, we were at our property and there was miners lettuce growing everywhere. It was fat and lovely. We picked tons of it. My husband lightly seared some ahi and nestled it in a bed of the miner’s lettuce. Sheer heaven! In fact, it may have been every bit as good as Baby Jesus in velvet shorts

  21. In Rome, if you are lucky, farmers will collect wild “erbe di campo” (field herbs) and sell them at he farmers market. Small quantities, so one needs to get there early. In April, wild asparagus grows in the countryside around Rome.
    Soon, in the Vienna Woods, the Wild Garlic (Bear’s Garlic, also Ramp, in the USA) will grow in wild abundance again, filling the air with its heady fragrance:
    http://www.viennaforbeginners.com/2008/05/from-vienna-woods.html
    I love to mark pesto with it, especially good with pecan nuts.

  22. Thank you, that is beautiful! 🙂

  23. This brought back memories of my grandmother’s cooked field greens. She would take a small knife and a dishpan and go out into the farm fields to gather greens for dinner. Thank you for those memories.
    If you cover the greens while cooking, the water will remain somewhat clear. I’m unsure why, but have tested it and it’s true.
    Happy Spring!
    NancyO.

  24. Kathie B

    In spring 2011 we saw wild (as well as both green and white domestic) asparagus being sold at the produce market by the Hôtel La Louisiane on Rue de la Seine in the 6th Arrondissement in Paris. Corey and Yann know the place…

  25. Oh!! Sorrel! I love sorrel — it makes one of my favourite soups. Light and lemony, so lovely in the spring.
    Here, we are still snowed under, the longest and coldest winter in decades. This weekend the temperature is finally supposed to rise above 0°C –yay!
    I will make a Provencal tart to celebrate — Tourte de blettes –Swiss chard with apple and parmesan.

  26. Kathie B

    Wild greens might also substitute well for escarole or kale served with garlic, oil and white beans.

  27. Nancy Ravisé-Noel

    …seulement la meillure pour la meillure, n’est çe pas, Corey?

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