Here in Portland the rainy season brings on a lush new growth of this mild tasting and easy to harvest green. Found in lawns and gardens on nearly every street in town, it’s one of the best greens for consuming raw. Try it in place of lettuce or sprouts in a sandwich (I like a BCT, bacon chickweed and tomato) or make a salad of chickweed and chopped celery splashed with a little olive oil and raw apple cider vinegar. It’s also great cooked and can be used in most any recipe in place of spinach.
Chickweed (Stellaria spp.) is a diminutive, low-growing plant with opposite leaves and tiny white flowers. If in doubt of your identification look closely for one of its most distinctive features: a single line of hairs running up the stem that switches sides at each leaf juncture.
Here are some recipes I’ve tried recently:
Chickweed Spanokopita: A Satisfying Appetizer For Any Gender
Yogurt Dough
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 lb of butter
3 1/2 cups of quinoa flour
2 tsp salt
Cream butter and yogurt together. Add flour and salt. Let sit in a warm place for 12-24 hours. Add more flour if too sticky.
Filling
2 cups cooked chickweed (collect one plastic grocery bag loosely packed raw)
1 large onion chopped into small pieces and sautéed
1 package of feta cheese crumbled
Mix filling together. Form dough into balls. Roll in extra flour to prevent sticking, then roll out, pat, or press dough into small tortillas (makes approximately 8-12). Add a spoonful of filling and seal edges. Alternately cut dough into squares and fold into triangles. Bake at 350º until golden brown.
Chickweed Tabouli: Will Make You Droolie
First soak and sprout two cups quinoa overnight, then cook. Once cool add:
juice of one large lemon
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tomatoes chopped
1 cucumber chopped
1 1/2 cups raw chickweed chopped
garlic powder and black pepper to taste
I love chickweed! we have it all over the place in north central florida. it’s tiny but powerful on the taste buds. you can actually taste the vitamin C. you can overdue it raw tho – irritates the urinary tract rather than supporting it as it does in small doses. i can’t wait to try your recipes.
Contribution of chickweed to total calories in these recipes- verging on negligible. Is this all there is to “rewilding”. Sprinkling a bit of random greenery on our store bought butter/flour/cheese? It sounds like a form of greenwashing, quite literally…..
No, that’s not all there is to Rewilding, but it’s a start. To eat the plant you have to learn it and harvest first, requiring direct participation with nature. Better to begin eating it with butter than not at all, I say. If I can inspire people to learn about wild foods by incorporating them into meals they are familiar with, they’ll still know and be able to use those plants even when cheese and flour are no longer available and save money by not buying spinach in a plastic bag trucked in from California. Maybe if they learn enough wild foods and start gardening, like some friends of mine, they’ll even be able to quit their wage slaves jobs. And there’s more to plants than calories. How many vitamins and minerals are in a couple cups of cooked down chickweed? How much vitamin C in a cup of raw? What organs and systems does chickweed effect medicinally?
If I were greenwashing this article would appear in a magazine alongside glossy ads of hybrid cars and organic cottons. There would be no mention of civilization or questioning of it anywhere. The overall feel would be, “impress your friends at your next dinner party by showing them how wild you are and save the environment at the same time.” My readers on the other hand, I assume, understand the ultimate goal, and I don’t have to explain it to them in every piece of writing. They understand that JUST by eating chickweed they are not doing their part to save the world. And unlike you, Shane, they understand that they don’t have to be perfect to start their rewilding journey.
Are you looking for a more primitively pure recipe? How bout this one: Chickweed. Boil and drain. Drink pot water. Slather greens in animal fat. Season. Eat.
just in case people get the incorrect assumption that “pure” “wild” foods are necessarily, well, plain. here’s another:
chickweed soup:
saute 1 cup finely minced chickweed with some finely minced wild onion (i really enjoy the tast wild onion and would happily add several, but, of course, tastes vary, so use however much seems good to you) in a couple-three tablespoons-ish of animal fat for about 5 minutes, then add 3 cups of stock (stock, of course can be made of all sorts of cool things like bones, peelings from wild carrot or salsify, and lots more besides). let simmer 5 minutes, serve.
if this isn’t filling enough, perhaps something more substantial could be added, like jersualem artichokes for example. Or groundnuts (aka apios americana), wapato, camas, chestnuts, etc, etc….
actually, it suddenly occurs to me that you could probably make a really kick-ass roux using duck/goose fat and ground chestnuts. maybe add some minced ramps and let the whole thing get nice and fragrant before adding the stock….
ah, but i digress… ‘pologies…
I cant wait to try these.
“And unlike you, Shane, they understand that they don’t have to be perfect to start their rewilding journey.
Are you looking for a more primitively pure recipe? How bout this one: Chickweed. Boil and drain. Drink pot water. Slather greens in animal fat. Season. Eat.”
Keep bustin those chops. I love it.
Sounds delicious jhereg!
This sounds delicious. I have to try that. Thanks. Oh! and this is a great site. Have a great day.
Yeah, thanks! I’m just getting started with learning about edible wild plants and now I can go look for chickweed. I think Shane needs a nap. 🙂
Yes!
“Are you looking for a more primitively pure recipe? How bout this one: Chickweed. Boil and drain. Drink pot water. Slather greens in animal fat. Season. Eat.”
Giv’em whatfor!
chickweed is a smokable herb. Keep an eye for starwort chickweed too!
I love making chickweed pesto. You can use your favorite pesto recipe and replace the green with chickweed or a combo of chickweed & arugula or parsley. Also try adding some soaked flax and or soaked sunflower seeds for extra goodness.
I just found your site today as I was weeding and looking for a new chickweed idea- like a raw soup of some kind. I might make one up, if it is any good I’ll report back.
Cool site- no need to feed the trolls.
chickweed is really best as a salad if you ask me
[…] Today found this great post, here is a quick excerpt : -Tracker of Plants 1 week ago; Sharing soapstone carving at TNW skill share today. Got the stones, not so sure about the carving part! -Tracker of Plants 1 week ago; “Dreams that emerge from the western unconscious echo the same … Read the rest of this great post Here […]
[…] * Chickweed, Stellaria media, is a delicious salad green you can find anywhere with a mild winter climate right now, including the Pacific Northwest. Here’s my advice on how to identify it. And here are two recipes created by my friend Emily. […]
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