Lambsquarters & Stinging Nettles

Top photo: Lambsquarters
Bottom photo: Early stinging nettle- Do Not Touch with bare flesh! Use thick, leather gloves to harvest. If you do get some on your skin, there are various plants whose leaves can be chewed and applied to a nettle sting to neutralize the pain. Spotted jewelweed-touch me not, yellow dock, yarrow, and plantain.

The rain yesterday helped bring a flourish of one of my favorite greens -lambsquarters. This common "weed" can be found in gardens, flowerbeds, and anywhere there is disturbed, relatively fertile soil. It is easy to identify, loaded with vitamins A, C and relatively high in calcium. Lambsquarters contain known anti-inflammatory nutrients, including Beta Carotene and Vitamin K. (If someone is on blood thinners, they will need to consult their physician concerning foods high in vitamin K as vitamin K is a blood coagulator). It has a very mild spinach-like taste and may be substituted in all your favorite recipes calling for any type green either raw or cooked. The tiny, black seeds of the mature plant may be added to soups as a thickener, or ground into a flour additive.

The plant will grow from 1-3 1/2 ft in height. The upper leaf is a lighter green while the underside of the leaf is a dusty , grey-green. Stems are smooth and hairless. The plant will have very little smell when crushed. Harvesting lambsquarters is simple: pick the leaves, rinse in cold water and use. 1 gallon of raw leaves will steam/cook down to 4 cups of cooked greens.

Another one of my favorite wild greens-

Stinging Nettle-This plant has hairs that line the stems and the undersides of the leaves that are actually hollow and pointed. The hairs inject formic acid into the skin when you brush against it. Formic acid is the same chemical that makes the bite of stinging ants so painful. Again- Do not handle without gloves.

Stinging nettle is usually found in wooded areas in patches or clumps where the ground is damp and in full or partial sun. The plants grow up to three feet high and will have fairly long-pointed, sharply toothed leaves which are opposite and occurring in pairs along the stem. Leaves are lined with hairs. The stem is thick, grooved, and also lined with stinging hairs. The clustered, small greenish flowers grow in clusters on small, tender stems that arch out from the bases of the upper leaves.

Preparation: Harvest the leaves. Luckily, dropping stinging nettle into a little simmering water immediately removes both the stinging hairs and the formic acid leaving a truly delicious and nutritious green! Sun drying will also get rid of the sting and is a great way to store this green for winter use. Freezing lightly cooked greens is the simplest way to store for winter use.

Fresh nettles may be simmered for ten to twenty minutes. The taste is spinach-like and rich in protein, iron, calcium, Vitamins A, C, and B-complex, and many essential trace minerals. Save the cooking water to add to soups and stews!

Use cooked stinging nettles in any of your favorite recipes calling for greens. Delicious in vegetable lasagna! Slightly less then a gallon fresh will make 4 cups of cooked greens.