If you’re up for the challenge, you can find a lot of greens in your back yard or on the boulevards that are edible and can add some welcome diversity to your plate and diet. Plus, there’s the zero mile/locavore angle, too!
Two big cautions before we start:
- Know what you are picking. If you cannot conclusively identify the plant, don’t eat it. (See the resource section at the end for some recommended reading!)
- Whatever you pick should be well washed — salad spinners are a great tool to have in your kitchen for this purpose. While Victoria is largely pesticide free, many pets and wild critters make use of boulevards so please: wash it well or don’t pick it at all.
Recommended salad fixings:
Dandelion leaves — best when young and before the plant blooms (older leaves can be very bitter but those can also be sauteed with butter and pepper!)
Common Chickweed — this is an invasive nuisance to gardeners so get revenge by eating it! Leaves, stems and tiny white flowers are all edible; best in spring when it is soft and green (and needs to be torn out before propogating by seed!)
Miner’s Lettuce — one of my favourite wild plants — I was excited to find a large patch of it growing under our plum tree. Again, best when young; similar texture to spinach. Trim excess stalks and flower stems
Calendula — a type of marigold, calendula petals add gourmet colour to your salad along with a slight peppery taste. Once you start calendula in your garden, it tends to spread. More "gourmet colour" can be added from red clover flowers, and nasturtiums.
Resources and Recommended reading:
- Weeds of BC (BC Ministry of Agriculture)
- Plant edibility (Wilderness Survival)
- Edible Garden Weeds of Canada
(at GVPL: 581.632 SZC)
- Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples
(at GVPL 581.632 TUR)
- Edible Wild Plants: Wild Foods from Dirt to Plate
- or just ask a librarian! GVPL and UVic both have a good selection of books on the topic.
