Herb Profile: Lamb's Quarter

 

Lambs quarter, Chenopodium album

Lambs quarter, also called wild spinach, tastes like spinach! It is packed full of vitamins and minerals. It is one of the most nutritious greens ever studied.  

I love sauteeing lambs quarter with a bit of garlic, or just steaming it after removing the tougher stems. It can be eaten in salads, or added to smoothies or soups. Use it any place that you would spinach or swiss chard. You can dry it to preserve, or blanch and freeze the leaves. 

Edible Wild Food has a list of recipes on the bottom of their website at this link.

Preparations:

Use in place of spinach or swiss chard in any recipe. Here is a recipe for wild greens pate that is adapted from Chestnut School of Herbs:

Recipe: Wild Greens Pâté

Ingredients:

Garlic

Olive oil

Tamari or soy sauce

Nutritional yeast

Choice of raw nuts

Lambs quarters

Other wild green ideas: Purslane, Nettle and Pigweed 

Instructions: 

  1. Sauté 3 chopped cloves of garlic in extra virgin olive oil
  2. Add the washed tender tops of lambs quarters and any other green green you have (about 7 big handfuls of greens total)
  3. Sauté until tender and add tamari or soy sauce to taste
  4. Blend in a blender or food processor with more olive oil, nutritional yeast and your choice of raw nuts

Note: This recipe is still delicious even if you only use lamb's quarters.

Sources: https://chestnutherbs.com/lambs-quarter/

Contraindications: Lamb’s quarters contain some oxalic acid therefore when eating this raw, small quantities are recommended. Cooking removes this acid.

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