Eating Wild in Virginia
Emily Ellis
Spring is fully underway in Virginia, and the state’s forests and fields are well-stocked with edible wild plants – many of them just as tasty and nutritious as pricey organic greens.
Whether you’re looking to hone your survival skills, or are simply curious about that weird plant sprouting in your backyard, learning to forage and cook wild greens is a fun activity that can help expand your palette and reduce increasingly fraught grocery store trips. To celebrate foraging season, we compiled a list of some common wild greens that can be found throughout Virginia, along with several downloadable recipes from our Chef and Organic Farm Assistant, Saskia Poulos.
If you’d like a to take a foraging “trip” through Oak Spring and learn more about how to harvest and cook wild plants, visit our Facebook page at noon on Friday, May 8th to watch a field-to-table cooking demo with Saskia. Happy foraging!
Violet (Viola sororia)
A Violet Daiquiri (photo by Saskia Poulos.)
Many gardeners aren’t fans of these pervasive flowers, which can be very hard to rout out of lawns and garden beds if left to grow unchecked. Native to eastern North American and prevalent in many parts of the world, violets are quite safe to eat – and due to their hardiness and ability to grow in multiple environments, you likely won’t have to trek more than a few steps beyond your front door to find a patch.
The leaves are high in vitamins A and C and can be tossed into a salad, but the real fun comes from the blossoms, which can add a purple hue to a number of dishes. Used them to bright up salads, candy them to adorn baked good, make them into a jelly, or take a leaf out of Saskia’s book and turn them into a naturally colorful syrup – a perfect addition to a spring cocktail (or iced tea, or lemonade) that’s guaranteed to make you the talk of your next Zoom happy hour.
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
One man’s tenacious weed is another’s tasty and nutritious spring salad: like violets, common dandelions (the name comes from the French “dent de lion,” or lion’s tooth, due to the jagged appearance of the leaves) grow pretty much everywhere, and are completely edible. Although we don’t recommend taking a bite out of the fluffy seed pods, the leaves, stems, roots, and yellow petals are all perfectly safe to eat, and can be prepared in a number of ways.
A dandelion green salad (photo by Saskia Poulos.)
While history’s foragers have carried dandelions around the world since before written history, the flower is likely native to Europe and Asia. They have been widely been used for both culinary and medicinal purposes, and are still cultivated today, primarily as a diuretic and to promote liver health. Although some researchers debate their efficacy as a medical treatment, there’s no doubt that these nutrient-dense greens are good for you: dandelion is one of the highest sources of vitamin A among culinary herbs, and also contains high levels of vitamins K and C, along with other nutrients. It makes a great addition to stir fries, soups, salads, teas, and even wine, if you’re looking for a particularly ambitious quarantine cooking project. Saskia recommends neutralizing the bitter flavor of the raw greens with salt and fat - see link below for her tasty dandelion salad recipe.
Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
It’s likely that you’ve seen some garlic mustard sprouting this spring: the rampant invasive weed particularly likes to takes root in forests and along roadsides and stream banks. The big trouble with garlic mustard, which is Native to Europe and was likely first brought to North American by early settlers as a food source, is that it can inhibit soil fungi, threatening the growth of native species. Even deer and other herbivores won’t eat the bitter leaves.
Garlic mustard “horseradish” (photo by Saskia Poulos)
So why include this nasty weed on the list? Because it’s high in vitamin c and other minerals, the roots, leaves, and flowers have a nice, spicy flavor, and it can make a mean pesto. However, just because there’s likely enough of it growing in your backyard to feed an army doesn’t mean you should chow down on mounds of the plant everyday: garlic mustard does contain traces of cyanide, much like other mustard relatives, including broccoli.
The good news is that eating it in moderation is perfectly fine – so add some bite to your next batch of pesto by replacing the basil with garlic mustard leaves, or use the spicy root to make a “horseradish” (see recipe below.) Pulling it up by the roots will also prevent a reappearance next spring – a great way to add some kick to your condiments as well as give an invasive plant the boot.
Ramps (Allium tricoccum)
Although a little harder to find than many of the other plants on this list, ramps are well worth the hunt. These wild Appalachian leeks are celebrated in annual festivals throughout the region, and for good reason: they have a pungent flavor that can be described as a mix of garlic, onions, and scallions, and are just as likely to appear in the dishes of world-class chefs as they are your great-grandmother’s cookbook, having been harvested by people living in Appalachia for centuries. They can be found sprouting in shady hardwood forests of eastern North American starting in late March, but don’t go too crazy on your quest for this trendy native plant – be sure to use sustainable harvesting techniques in order to leave some behind for other foragers and for next year’s crop.
While you can cook ramps in a number of ways, pickling them ensures that you can enjoy this local favorite well past their fleeting season (assuming your jar lasts that long!)
Chickweed (Stellaria media)
Photo credit: Usurus Sapien
Another edible wild weed, chickweed thrives in the shady areas of farms, gardens, and yards. It’s distinguishable by the dense mats it grows in, as well as its star-like flowers (stellaria comes from the Latin “star.”) You may have to fight off your chickens to forage this fresh-tasting, nutritious plant, which is native to Eurasia and has been grown around the world for both human and poultry consumption. Chickweed tends to prefer cool, wet weather, so it’s usually best to harvest the short-lived weed in early to mid spring or in the fall. The tender leaves are great in salads, pesto or on sandwiches; the stems and flowers can also be used in cooked dishes.
It’s worth noting that common chickweed bears some resemblance to spotted spurge, which is poisonous - snapping the stem is an easy way to tell which plant you’ve got a hold, as spotted spurge will ooze a white sap, and chickweed will not.
Stinging Nettles (Urtica dioica)
Photo credit: Leslie Seaton
If you’ve had the misfortune to brush up against a patch of nettles, eating them is likely the last thing of their mind. However, these globally prevalent plants have been used for millennia in medicine, as a textile fiber, and as a food source: their anti-inflammatory properties in particular may help with arthritis and other types of join pain, and their nutrient content is comparable to superfoods like spinach and broccoli.
So how do you reap these benefits without getting on the wrong side of those stinging hairs? Harvest the leaves with scissors and sturdy gloves – they’re easy to spot growing in patches on the sides of trails and streams, and around the edges of fields. Avoid older plants that have formed flowers, and keep an eye out for new crops throughout the summer. Cooking nettles for a few minutes will get rid of the sting (don’t eat them raw in a salad,) and you can use them much as you would spinach. Try blending them in soups, adding them to spanakopita, or simply sautéing them with lots of butter.
Japanese Knotweed (Reynoutria japonica)
Photo credit: Anneli Salo
Japanese knotweed is a notorious invasive plant, nicknamed “Godzilla weed” for its destructive tendencies (it can penetrate the foundations of houses) and how hard it is to eradicate. Brought to Europe and the U.S. from Asia as an ornamental in the 1800s, it is a particularly difficult to get rid of due to its far-reaching roots, which can plunge to depths of 10 feet.
If you’re battling against this tenacious weed, you may as well get something out of the fight – in this case, a rhubarb-like treat for your next cooking project.
The young shoots of Japanese Knotweed have been described as having a lemony, rhubarb-like taste, and are delicious steamed like asparagus, or used like rhubarb in pies, jams and chutneys. Try to get to the tender purple shoots in the spring – they will become too tough and woody to eat by the hotter months. It’s also worth reaching out to your local department of conservation if you notice a serious knotweed problem on your property or in your neighborhood.
Pineapple Weed (Matricaria discoidea)
Pineapple weed tea (photo by Saskia Poulos.)
While it has little in common with actual pineapples, pineapple weed, also known as wild chamomile, is quite tasty in its own right. The distinctive yellow cone-shaped heads of this plant, which is thought to be native to Asia, make it easy to identify, and it often proliferates alongside roads, trails and fence lines. The leaves and flowers release a pleasant pineapple-like scent when crushed, and much like actual chamomile – another member of the asteraceace, or daisy family – it can soothe a mild upset stomach and help you relax before bedtime when brewed into a tea.
Saskia recommends letting the petal-less flowers steep for around four minutes in hot water before enjoying. Not a tea drinker? You can also toss a few of the feathery leaves into a fresh salad – just make sure that you harvest from an area that doesn’t use chemical sprays, as many consider this plant an irritating weed.
*The Oak Spring Garden Foundation recommends you verify the identity of any wild plant before you consume it. When foraging, avoid harvesting from areas with a heavy livestock presence, vehicle traffic, or where chemical sprays have been used.
Special thanks to Saskia Poulos for her help with this blogpost!