Eat Your Weeds: Lambsquarter



Several years ago I discovered a patch of lambsquarter on the hillside; it was a weed I was familiar with but I hadn't known what it was or that it was edible. Our steer Chuck discovered it shortly after I did and wiped out the patch.

It took a few years, but eventually I found another patch right next to the chicken coop. This time I knew what it was and what to do with it. I ate a leaf right then and there, and it wasn't bad.



It "wasn't bad" sounds kind of funny, but my childhood family didn't eat greens. Aside from an occasional salad (but not me, lettuce always upset my stomach), greens just weren't on our table. No spinach, no collards, nothing. But I've spent several years retraining my tastebuds; I eat a cup of spinach or beet greens in my daily green smoothie, and am learning to like other greens as well. I'll probably never like kale though.



Lambsquarter is also known as wild spinach, and is interchangeable with spinach in your usual recipes. I use it in my vegetable lasagna and I've used it to replace some of the spinach in my smoothies. I've dehydrated many, many leaves and powdered them so I can add a bit to soups and spaghetti sauce for extra nutrition. I have friends who blanch and freeze lambsquarter leaves so they can eat them all winter long just like spinach. Supposedly the powder made from the dried leaves can be used like flour; it's supposed to make delicious green noodles. You can also replace some of the basil or spinach in pesto with lambsquarter.

Fresh raw lambsquarter leaves can effectively treat anemia. As well as being rich in iron, the leaves help increase blood cell count and support the circulatory system.

You can collect leaves from lambsquarter plants from early spring to late fall, although the smaller, younger leaves are the most tender. This plant is one of the best sources of beta-carotene, calcium, potassium and iron in the world. It contains more vitamin A than spinach does, and has three times as much calcium. It's also a great source of trace minerals, vitamin C, fiber, and B-complex vitamins such as thiamine, riboflavin and niacin.



I made the lambsquarter powder by gathering a bucket-full of leaves and washing the dust off in the kitchen sink. I set it all on towels to dry for several hours, then spread them on cookie sheets. In order to dry them at a low heat and preserve the nutrients in the leaves, when I removed dinner from the oven and turned it off, I put the cookie sheets in the oven overnight. In the morning I removed them and let the leaves air dry during the day. It took a couple of days of this for the leaves to be crispy-dry, then I simply rubbed them between my palms to break them down. For a fine powder, I use an inexpensive electric spice and coffee grinder. (I don't drink coffee, I just use it for herbs and spices.)



There is a look-alike plant that can make you sick, but it's easy to tell the difference. The look-alike smells like resin, while lambsquarter smells "green". Just pinch a leaf and smell it. The flavor of lambsquarter can also vary due to the stage of growth and the soil content, so it's a good idea to taste a leaf before you harvest a great deal of it or ingest a full serving. The smaller, tender leaves are great in salads and other dishes. Later in the season, you can harvest the small leaves at the top of the plant.

Free food and super nutrition. Will you eat your weeds?

Disclaimer: Before using this or any herb or plant, please research it fully.
You are responsible for your own health.

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