Eating Weeds

If you go to the farmers market this weekend, pick up some weed.

I was intrigued by a big bin of a flowering weed at the farmers market today.  "Its called Satin Flower," the girl selling her wares told me.  She had a enthusiastic look on her face and dirty hands like she had dug the stuff out of the dirt right before she came over to talk to me.  "Since I've been eating it, I've had so much energy and I've been jumping out of bed at the crack of dawn every morning."  With that enthusiasm and salesmanship, how could I say no?  I asked her what I should do with it and she said to throw it into a salad or blend it into a smoothie. 

So this week I'm focusing on a Satin Flower salad.  At the same stand I purchased some baby red cabbage and chiogga beets.  Tossed with a little goat cheese, olive oil and salt this salad was so good. Keith said it reminded him of the clover he used to pick out of the grass and eat when he was a kid.  I agree.  It did have that similar taste of clover, nutty grassy and a little sweet.  We'll see how early I pop out of bed tomorrow.

After doing a bit of research on Satin Flower, I found out its more common name is Chickweed.  Chickweed or Satin Flower are used as folk remedy to treat a range of things including skin irritants, metabolism-balancing, asthma and indigestion.  In addition its a great source of vitamin A and C potassium and calcium and many others. 

So if your at the market this weekend or next, pick up some of this little know edible lawn weed gem, or some other green you have never heard of and toss it in a salad.