I’ve recently come across a fairly old book on preparing wild edibles. It’s a bit different than most field guides in that it spends very little time on identification, choosing to focus more on how to use it once you know what it is.
Also, Penny Scout put up this excellent article on Chickweed, so I thought I could put in some of the recipes from “The Edible Wild”.
The book breaks up each plants recipes into two categories, “In the Bush” and “Home Recipes”. I’ll keep that distinction as I type these in.
You’ll quickly see that many of these aren’t “Paleo” and, especially in the “Home Recipes” generally reflect the mainstream cooking ideas of it’s time (early '70s), but I’m putting them in anyway.
[size=10pt][b]"In the Bush"[/b][/size] The greens can be eaten raw or cooked. Indians used the seeds for bread or to thicken soups. Early in the spring the leaves give the spring taste to a salad. However, I find that the leaves and the stems are best cooked, and can take the place of asparagus tips at any time.Used as a potherb, chickweed gives a stew a taste like okra.
An old Indian friend maintains there is no wild green which can set off a stew of rabbit as well as chickweed can. Many a time when I was travelling in his company he made this dish for me.
Rabbit Stew with Chickweed
Skin the rabbit, cut it up into small pieces and place in a pot. Add a little water or if you have any sort of firewater, put in 1/2 cup. Cover tightly and simmer in the campfire for about 1 hour. Clean the chickweed and put 4 handfuls of plant leaves and stems into the pot. Simmer for a further 1/2 hour, and the stew is ready to eat.[size=10pt]“Home Recipes”[/size]
Fresh Chickweed Salad
2 pounds young chickweed leaves and stems
4 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons vegetable oilClean and wash the leaves and stems under running water. Cut the chickweed into small serving pieces. Place a 2-quart saucepan over high heat, add 1 quart water and let it come to a boil. Add the chickweed leaves and boil rapidly for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and drain at once. Run cold water over the chickweed leaves to stop the cooking and set the color. Drain on a double thickness of paper towel.
Using a small mixing bowl, combine the soy sauce, sugar and vegetable oil. Mix well or until the sugar is dissolved. Pat the chickweed leaves dry with paper towel and add to the oil mixture. With a large spoon toss the salad, making sure all the leaves are well coated with oil. Chill for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator before serving.
Chickweed Pancakes
1/2 pound fresh chickweed leaves
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup floor
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons soft butterClean and wash the chickweed leaves under running water, place in a 2-quart saucepan and cover with water. Place over high heat and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and plunge into cold water. Drain on a double thickness of paper towel and pat dry. Chop the leaves finely and set aside.
Using a large mixing bowl, combine the milk, eggs, sugar, flour, salt and melted butter. Use an electric beater and mix at medium speed. When the ingredients are well mixed, stir in the chopped chickweed leaves.
Place a heavy 12-inch skillet over the heat and coat the surface with soft butter. When the skillet is very hot, drop in 2 tablespoons of batter and using a spoon, flatten out the pancake so it will form a 3-inch disk.
Fry the pancakes for about 3 minutes on each side. Place the finished pancakes on a hot plate in the oven until all the batter is used up. Serve with cranberry jelly.
If anyone else has any chickweed recipes they’d like to share, please feel free to add them. I’ll try to start similar threads on some of the more common wild edibles in the weeks and months ahead as I’m seeing now how little information on preparation of these foods is “out there”.