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The Art Weeds and Salad

April 24th, 2010

This time of year salads are the vegetable of choice from the garden. Lettuce is particularly delicious since it loves the coolness of spring. Many of the wild spring greens are still tender and sweet and they can be added for more taste and texture. We’ve been eating our share of salads from the garden, although many of the greens that make them up I didn’t plant. Our salads include wild garlic mustard, and invasive weed that has is great in salads. We’ve also been adding some dandelion greens, some cardamine and a few wild violet leaves. I also love to add herbs to our salads, they not only add a wonderful flavor, but they add even more nutrition.

Wild flowers have been added as well, they add beauty and extra vitamins & minerals. Who wouldn’t want to eat a salad so lovely? These wild violets add extra vitamin C (for more info on the nutritional benefits of wild violets read this)

This salad included: mache (corn salad), garlic mustard, overwintered lettuce, lemon balm, blue stocking bergamot. The dressing was made with fresh chives from the garden, some white balsamic, a spoonful of dijon mustard, a spoonful of honey, olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper. We topped the salad with wild violet blooms, which are very plentiful in our front lawn.

Dandelion greens can also be eaten, I’ve seen them for sale at Whole Foods for around $4/pound. Pricey considering most of us have them growing in our gardens. The blossoms can also be harvested and used for many things; muffins, jelly, wine and of course eaten raw on salads (make sure to remove green stem and bits, they can be bitter). For more info on the health benefits of dandelions check out this article.

With all these lovely healthy weeds thrown in, who wouldn’t want to eat these lovely salads? There are also many other edible flowers that you can add to salads, we like the starry white arugula blooms, nasturtiums add a slight peppery tang, pansies can be eaten as can many other flowering herbs. Any of these would be a perfect addition to cupcakes or tiny shortbreads as well. I’m thinking for my next tea party with my nieces I’ll have to make some wild violet cookies.

Do you ever harvest flowers and wild plants for your salad plate?

7 Comments to “The Art Weeds and Salad”
  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mark mile, Susy Morris. Susy Morris said: The Art Weeds and Salad http://goo.gl/fb/cNy3d #edible #dandelions #edibleweeds #foraging #violets #wildplants […]

    Reply to Tweets that mention The Art Weeds and Salad | Chiot’s Run — Topsy.com's comment

  2. Allie on April 24, 2010 at 11:26 am

    So gorgeous!!!!
    .-= Allie´s last blog ..Spring Cleaning =-.

    Reply to Allie's comment

  3. mamaraby on April 24, 2010 at 12:37 pm

    Mostly Dandelions. We *love* dandelions here for their beauty, tasty goodness, and medicinal properties.
    .-= mamaraby´s last blog ..Folk Music Fridays – “Hard Times Come Again No More” =-.

    Reply to mamaraby's comment

  4. Stacy on April 24, 2010 at 9:41 pm

    Nasturtiums, arugula, and borage!

    Reply to Stacy's comment

  5. BRB on April 26, 2010 at 4:14 pm

    I usually use a lot of “weeds” in my salads and my husband and a friend that ate with us a lot called it yard salad. It is sometimes hard for people to get used to the idea of eating things they mow and try to kill.

    Reply to BRB's comment

  6. Cool Salad images | Cooking News on August 12, 2010 at 1:27 pm

    […] chiotsrun.com/2010/04/24/the-art-weeds-and-salad/ […]

    Reply to Cool Salad images | Cooking News's comment

  7. The Art of Salad | My Cookbook Stand on August 30, 2010 at 2:55 pm

    […] chiotsrun.com/2010/04/24/the-art-weeds-and-salad/ […]

    Reply to The Art of Salad | My Cookbook Stand's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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