Foraging 101: Lambsquarter (Pigweed)

Lambsquarter is an annoying weed that pops up everywhere (at least in my neck of the woods). It grows to be gigantic- more like a small tree than a weed. They are very nutritious eaten as a green, cooked like spinach. In doing some research, I also learned that the seeds can be cooked as a cereal grain and are nutritionally similar to quinoa.

I foraged some lambsquarter and pulled off the grainy top parts to cook. They looked like this:

I was not totally successful in eliminating tiny stems and leaves, but for the most part it was just the seed "pods" (not sure what the official name is). Then I rinsed the grains and put them in my crockpot. I stirred in some fresh elderberries for flavor and set it on low overnight.

The result wasn't bad. It looked terrible (see the picture!) but the taste was bearable. I wasn't trying too hard to make it yummy though; no honey or brown sugar or anything like that for me. It did taste a little weedy and/or earthy, kind of like tea made from fresh medicinal herbs. Definitely not cream of wheat, but still edible in a pinch. Like, a really bad pinch.

More scrumptious (or not-so-scrumptious) wild eats to come!