A feast of weeds

If you live near a field or have areas of unplanted soil, you may have burdock (Arctium). Africans know it as gobo and Italians as cardone. Roots can be steamed as a vegetable, but the best part is the young stems cut into half-inch pieces and steamed. Use them in stews, soups, or as a cooked vegetable with your favorite topping. Avoid this plant though if pregnant.

The leaves of lambsquarters (Chenopodium) can be steamed and eaten as you would spinach. Many who have eaten both actually prefer it over spinach. Try some in quiche. In New England it was traditionally canned for winter use. As with many weeds, the young shoots are best. Or you can keep harvesting new side shoots, promoting more branches and more young shoots.

Lambsquarter is another weed that has been enjoyed around the world, and through time. It was even cultivated in Neolithic times, seeds having been found preserved in archeological sites. Romans, and then later Europeans, cultivated it as a garden vegetable until the 18th century. Native Americans ate it, and Japanese still eat it, or preserve it in salt.

There are a couple of cautions with lambsquarter. If harvested from fields with heavy fertility, plants may contain harmful levels of nitrates. This is also true from herbicide-sprayed plants that should never be eaten of this, or any other weed. Those with arthritis, gastric inflammations, hepatic conditions, gout, rheumatism, or prone to kidney stones should use caution with lambsquarter and other similar plants containing oxalates. This would include dock (Rumex) and wood sorrel (Oxalis) among others.