Chickweek Spread

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Chickweed Spread for your next picnic!

by Gallagher

As the warmer weather settles in here in Washington, we’re really enjoying all the fresh greens in our diet again. Today, we took a trip out to our local farm and gathered some chickweed (Stellaria media) from the field.

Chickweed grows close to the ground in cool places. Right now I can find it growing happily out in the field, but as the summer progresses I have to look under the leaves of other big leafy plants like summer squash. Chickweed has small oval or elliptic, opposite branching leaves and vertical rows of hairs up the stem.Today, I just gathered a small amount with my friend Mia, so that I could make this delicious chickweed spread. (I did want to have a little left over because my son, Rowan and I are both using it to dissolve warts. This can be done by applying a poultice of the leaves directly onto the wart several times a day.)For the spread I needed two cups of chickweed.

It only took me a couple of minutes to harvest that amount from the large patch I found growing among the strawberry plants in the field.

To harvest it, I just used my scissors to cut off the clean top parts of the stems with leaves (3 or 4 inches). This leaves plenty of plant still growing so that I can come back and harvest more later as it re-grows.Why, you may ask, would I make this special trip to the farm to harvest chickweed. Well, this unassuming little weed is packed with nutrition including vitamins and minerals like iron, magnesium, zinc, calcium, potassium, and vitamin C complex.

Chickweed also actually thins cellular membranes so that other nutrients are more readily absorbed and more fully used. Eating chickweed is very nourishing for our glandular and lymphatic systems.

The video below will help you identify chickweed if you have never gathered it before.

Here is what you'll need for this simple chickweed spread (a very delicious way to include chickweed in your diet):

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 small red or white onion or shallot

2 cups FRESH chickweed

1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted

1/2 cup toasted almonds

1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives

3 tablespoons mustard leaves

2 tablespoons miso

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

salt and lemon juice to taste.

To make the spread:Peel and chop your garlic and onion.

Toast your almonds in a skillet on the stove or on low heat in your oven.

Chop your chickweed and mustard greens.

Peel or scoop out your avocado.

Add all the ingredients to the blender except the salt and lemon juice.

Blend well.

Scoop out into a bowl.Add salt and lemon juice to taste. We added about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

Enjoy with chips, crackers or bread!

Suzi

List Owner

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http://360./suziesgoats

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.