Wild & Free: Chickweed

by By Sarajoy Van Boven, from the February 2006 Newsletter

In the Miss Wild Edible contest, there are many runners up, but only one of these ladies has super-star status. Wearing the eternal crown and sash of Miss Wild Edible is Chickweed. Chickweed's Latin name, Stellaria Media, means little star, in the midst. She was born to wear the crown and sash. Despite the biased judge, she's actually well-qualified to be Miss Wild Edible. Personality wise, she is the humblest of wild edibles, hanging low, around the ground in alleys and sidewalk cracks. She's courageous, braving the cold of winter, jumping up every time the snow melts. She's got charisma too, as the first wild green, heralding spring, lush and juicy. And she's a good national representative. I personally have snacked on her from New Orleans to Orcas Island.

She will be around in February, barring major snow accumulation. Chickweed is always small, but especially so in February. However, picking off the tops will give you more tops to pick off later. I have not needed to venture any further than the alley behind our house to find chickweed. She loves shady, wet and protected areas. In my alley, she grows around the water main, on a very old compost pile and under a hedge of lilacs. In your days as an undereducated fool, you may have chucked her from your garden. She would have been the one that was easy to uproot.

Late spring, chickweed will be a 12"-tall spindly mat of tan-colored twine topped with incredibly green, little leaves and a constellation of small, white asterisks. Currently, the chickweed in my alley is about 4" tall. Like myself, chickweed is not a morning person, so her five white, dual-lobed petals don't open until afternoons. The leaves are the most encouraging green, 1/2" long usually, and shaped like shovels, but pointier at the ends. There are two at a time from the same place on the stem. With good eyesight, you can see one tiny, shifting line of hairs on the stem.

What to do with chickweed? Eat the green tops by the bucket load, fresh. There is a chamber of my heart dedicated to loving every moment I have spent eating chickweed. It is the sweetest wild green I have ever tasted. Add some wild to a tame leaf-lettuce salad. Temper the bitter greens that we'll gather later this year. Munch as you hike. You could also substitute it for spinach in a sauté, casserole or soup. There is no need to dry or cook it, though some experts encourage this.

According to Susun Weed (author of Healing Wise), chickweed is very high in copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, silicon and zinc. It is high in calcium, chlorophyll, phosphorus, potassium, protein, Vitamin A and fat. And it is a good source of Vitamin C, riboflavin, niacin, thiamine and plant sodium.

In traditional medicine, chickweed has been used as a poultice for a variety of ailments. Certainly, we can be sure that the FDA has never investigated or verified the healing power of chickweed poultices. However, Susun Weed advocates chickweed poultices be applied to every possible injury. Anecdotally, I have used chickweed poultices to rapidly clear up physician-diagnosed pink-eye that would not respond to eye drops. Here's how you make a chickweed poultice: fill a small jar with chickweed. Pour boiling water over it. Pull the chickweed out shortly thereafter, place on a very clean, thin cloth. When cool enough to handle but still quite warm, place it on the area of ailment until cool. This whole process is rather hot. Please be sure to not burn or scald anyone. You could also drink the nutritious green water left in the jar. Repeat it every few hours for success.

Warnings: Identify with 100% certainty. As it is low growing, you will want to beware of animal excretions. I am careful to not pick chickweed growing near poisonous mushrooms. In Herbal Medications, D.G. Spoerke wonders if large amounts of chickweed infusion might have been responsible for a temporary paralysis. He then assures us, "There is no recent evidence to indicate that chickweed presents a toxic hazard."

Therefore, it is my pleasure to crown her Miss Wild Edible! Here she comes! Waving her princess wave. Down the red carpet. Into your heart and belly.

Copyright: Copyright on articles, recipes and images are jointly held by the Moscow Food Co-op and the respective contributors, except were otherwise noted.

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