Lambs Quarter: From Weed to Wonder, Discover Your New Favorite Green
Imagine a plant that’s packed with more iron and protein than spinach, grows like a weed, and tastes better than kale.
Intrigued?
Meet lambs quarter.
Nutrition
This unassuming green is brimming with essential vitamins and minerals. With higher levels of iron and protein than spinach, it’s a fantastic source of these vital nutrients.
Plus, it boasts more calcium and vitamin B1 than cabbage, and more vitamin B2 than both cabbage and spinach.
Its impressive vitamin C content supports immune function, while vitamin A is crucial for eye health.
And don’t forget the fiber, which aids digestion and keeps you feeling full. Which can potentially lead to weight loss.
Think spinach, but better
Lambs quarter’s nutritional profile is undeniably impressive, but its culinary versatility is what truly sets it apart.
This mild-flavored green is available all summer long and maintains that mild flavor as a blank canvas ready to absorb the flavors of your favorite dishes.
You can use lambs quarter interchangeably with spinach in most recipes.
It shines in classic dishes like omelets, quiches, and creamy soups. Its delicate flavor also makes it a perfect addition to salads, providing a fresh and earthy crunch.
Get creative! Try adding lambs quarter to stir-fries, pasta dishes, or even smoothies. Its mild taste complements a wide range of flavors, making it a versatile ingredient in your kitchen.
The young stems can be cooked like asparagus, while the seeds can be ground into a flour or added to bread for a nutty flavor.
Like spinach lambs quarter contains oxalic acid. Eating too much raw can inhibit your body from absorbing calcium and iron. However cooking it can break down the oxalic acid.
There’s some really great recipes coming, so keep reading.
A little Lambs Quarter history
While considered a weed these days, lambs quarter has a rich history.
Its Latin name, Chenopodium album, places it in the same family as quinoa, a grain revered for its nutritional value. In fact, lambs quarter was one of the earliest cultivated crops in North America, predating corn by about 1,500 years!
Indigenous peoples across the globe have traditionally incorporated lambs quarter into their diets. American Indians used it to treat stomach aches and prevent scurvy.
Its resilience and ability to thrive in various conditions made it a staple food during times of scarcity. From the American plains to the European countryside, this unassuming plant has sustained countless generations.
During World Wars, when food shortages were prevalent, it was encouraged as a nutritious and readily available food source.
Finding Lambs Quarter
Lambs quarter grows prolifically everywhere. It’s drought tolerant, doesn’t mind the heat and will grow in the worst soils and actually rehab the soil it’s living in.
It has a long tap root that pulls minerals from deep in the ground. So Always pick from uncontaminated soil. The roots can uptake contaminants including pesticides and pathogens into the plant. And avoid harvesting from somewhere that fertilizer has been used.
If you plant it, to help control it’s growth, be sure to pick the tops to avoid it going to seed. Each plant can produce up to 75,000 seeds per plant. But that’s not really necessary as you can find it practically anywhere you look.
I’ve seen lambs quarter as tall as 6 feet or more with a woody stem up to an inch round. The leaves look like a goose’s foot. Somewhat diamond shaped with a white powdery like substance on them that washes off easily.
The flowers or greenish and very small and inconspicuous.
Using Lambs Quarter
The leaves have been used as a poultice to relieve burns and swollen and achy joints. And a tea can be used as a mouth rinse for toothaches. With a cold tea used to help with diarrhea.
Lambs quarter has a long tap root which brings lots of great healthy minerals up into the plant. It’s one that would make a great infusion of vinegar. Making a wonderfully mineral rich vinegar to cook with or make a salad dressing with.
I like to pick tender tops and chop them up to add to my morning eggs. It’s a great way to get some greens into your morning meal. And because of the very mild taste it might be an easy sell for kids.
Click here to find a recipe card for Lambs Quarter and Basil Pesto. You can use as little or as much lambs quarter in this recipe as you’d like. You can even eliminate the basil all together if you want to get adventurous.
So tell me, do you already know lambs quarter?
If not, is it something you’ll consider trying? I certainly hope so. It’s hard to beat such a notorious, good tasting and FREE veggie, that’s right there for the picking.
Nature is so good to us!
