What is Chickweed?

Tiny Chickweed Flowers

Chickweed is just that, a weed. But did you know the entire plant is highly nutritious? Chickweed is a creeping plant that can be found usually in early spring and is around for only a short time.

This herb is a rich source of nutrients, slippery, soothing saponins, protein, fiber, and even essential fatty acids. It is a direct source of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), a derivative fatty acid of omega-6 fatty acid, which is rarely found in food sources. It also has a very high mineral content!

You can eat chickweed raw in a salad or you can boil, steam, saute', freeze, make tea or dry and powder the herb as a nutrient additive.

Chickweed also makes a cooling, anti-inflammatory poultice for bug bites, minor wounds, pimples, rashes, and eczema.

In the video below, learn from Green Deane how to identify and prepare chickweed, a short-lived spring time green and wild food.




Identifying chickweed checklist:
-Alternating hairline along stem
-NO white sap
-Taste a tiny leaf, it should taste like corn silk
-Gently pull apart stem, it should have an elastic core in center