Have you ever been walking through the woods and smelled the strong scent of onion? Well, I have!

We have several species of wild onion in Virginia. The most important question is: does it smell strongly like onion or garlic? If so, you mostly likely have an Allium species. Wild garlic and wild onion look quite similar, though you can tell them apart. Be aware that some flowering plants may look similar, such as the Star of Bethlehem. If there is no onion or garlic smell, please leave it alone.

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Wild Garlic Butter

Wild Garlic Butter can be a great on garlic bread for your next Italian dinner night or party.

Prep Time10 mins

Servings: 12 people

Author: Tracks and Roots

Cost: 1

Equipment

• Mixer

Ingredients

• 1 cup Butter salted
• 1/2 cup Wild Onion or Wild Garlic

Instructions

• Combine ingredients in mix and mix for 2 minutes until evenly combined.
• Spread butter mix in a container and put in fridge until use.

Notes

Please leave a comment below!

Chickweed (Stellaria media) is an amazing plant that grows all over central Virginia in yards, parks, under trees, etc. It can be tricky to find because it’s seasonal, coming up early winter and then dying back when it gets too hot. So now’s the time to head out to your yard to look for it – you may be surprised by what you find!

Identification:

Leaves: Round, opposite leaves that smooth (mouse eared chickweed looks similar, but is fuzzy). The stalks are hairy.

Flowers: 10-petaled, white flowers, about 5 cm across. Ten stamens with light yellow, greenish, or reddish anthers. Flower stalks are hairy.

Height: Five to 50 cm tall, usually sprawling out on the grown like a mat.

Habitat: Chickweed is a common lawn and garden weed, can grow in waste soils, and forests. It also grows in Europe.

This tiny plant has many amazing benefits – it has nearly every vitamin and mineral your body needs to thrive. Vitamins A, C, D, folic acid, riboflavin, niacin and thiamine plus the minerals calcium, magnesium, potassium, manganese, zinc, iron, phosphorus, sodium, copper and silica. It has 83 times more iron than spinach and has many medicinal uses.

All of this is great, you may be asking yourself, but what about taste?

Well, an important perk is is that it is also delicious! Chefs in New York City and Vegas are getting hooked on it . . . it has a leafy almost grassy flavor most people find pleasant. Not spicy or sweet, but an excellent addition to salads, burgers, and side dishes.

Other than straight from the ground, my second favorite way to eat this plant is to make pesto. All you need to do is follow a generic basil pesto recipe, but add chickweed rather than basil.

Print Recipe

Chickweed Pesto

Chickweed is an amazing plant that grows all over central Virginia in yards, parks, under trees, etc. It can be tricky to find because it's seasonal, coming up early winter and then dying back when it gets too hot. So now's the time to head out to your yard to look for it – you may be surprised by what you find!

This tiny plant has many amazing benefits – it has nearly every vitamin and mineral your body needs to thrive. Vitamins A, C, D, folic acid, riboflavin, niacin and thiamine plus the minerals calcium, magnesium, potassium, manganese, zinc, iron, phosphorus, sodium, copper and silica. It has 83 times more iron than spinach and has many medicinal uses.

All of this is great, you may be asking yourself, but what about taste?

Well, an important perk is is that it is also delicious! Chefs in New York City and Vegas are getting hooked on it . . . it has a leafy almost grassy flavor most people find pleasant. Not spicy or sweet, but an excellent addition to salads, burgers, and side dishes.

Other than straight from the ground, my second favorite way to eat this plant is to make pesto. All you need to do is follow a generic basil pesto recipe, but add chickweed rather than basil.

Prep Time10 mins

Servings: 8 people

Author: Alison Meehan

Cost: <$3

Equipment

• Food Processor

Ingredients

• 3 Cups Chickweed
• 1/2 Cups Walnuts, Almonds, or Pine Nuts
• 3 Cloves Garlic Minced
• 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1/2 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/2 Cup Salt
• 1/4 Cup Parmesan or Asiago Cheese Shredded

Instructions

• Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Check thickness. If too thick, add more olive oil.
  
• Enjoy with pasta, crackers, or veggies!
• Please leave a comment if you try this recipe out yourself.

Next time you host a party, try out these delicious, Mini Violet Quiches! These are super easy to make, very inexpensive, and look great.

Common Blue Violet (Violaceae Viola sororia)

Violet (Violacea Viola spp.)

Violet Leaf (Heart-Shaped)

Ingredients:

– 1 Cup Fresh violet leaves from Common Blue Violet or another edible violet species

– 2 Eggs, Whipped

– 1/2 cup milk or substitute  (not vanilla-flavored)

– Pepper to taste (Can use wild pepperweed)

– Salt to taste

Directions

-Gather and wash violet leaves from a pesticide and chemical-free location

– Chop and saute the violet leaves lightly.

– Lightly beat the eggs. Add the milk and combine.

– Add the sauteed violet leaves to the egg mixture. Then add the salt and pepper and mix.

– Spoon the mixture into your phyllo-dough quiche cups.

– Bake for 8 – 12 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheight or until the eggs are solid.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Please leave a comment below and let me know how it turns out!

Spicebush Ice Cream has a flavor unlike anything else you’ve had before. You can make the flavor strong or mild. Some people say it’s a little bit like nutmeg . . .  I think it’s a bit sweet and could possibly replace your need for sugar in your favorite dishes.

I recommend trying this recipe out ASAP while the red, spicebush berries are still available.

You will need an ice cream maker.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk

2 cups cream

1/2 cup sugar

A pinch of salt

8 spicebush berries

Step 1

First, gather the red, spiceberries. Don’t eat them plain! They are used as a spice . . . which means they are spicy. Okay, fine. You can nibble a teensy bit to test it out. But, bring the rest home. Eight berries will do for this recipe, but any extras you can lay out on a tray to dry.

Once gathered, you have three options.

a. Use immediately.

b. Dry and use.

c. Dry and use in an extract.

For this, I used 8 berries immediately, without drying.

Step 2

Slice each berry in half.

Step 3

Simmer berries in 1 cup of whole milk for 30 minutes.

Step 4

Strain milk and berries through a sieve.

Step 5

Mix with 2 cups of cream (whipping cream) with the spicebush milk. Add 1/2 cup of sugar and a pinch of salt. Mix until the sugar dissolves.

Step 6

Put in your fridge for 1 hour.

Step 7

Put in your ice cream maker and follow the directions that came with it.

Step 9

Enjoy!

If you give this recipe a try or have any questions, please leave a comment below!

I love weeds! There’s nothing like pulling weeds in your herb or vegetable garden and bringing them in to eat! If you eat your weeds, you can produce so much more food for your family and weeds tend to be chock full of vitamins and minerals.

This is an easy and tasty weed salad far tastier and more nutritious than your traditional lettuce salad.

Ingredients:

– Violet leaves (Available Year-Round; Pick the newest, healthiest-looking leaves you can find)

– Yellow Wood Sorrel (Available Year-Round)

– Purslane (Available in Summer Only)

Identification:

Violets (Violacea Viola spp.)

Violet (Violacea Viola spp.)

Violet Leaf (Heart-Shaped)

Yellow Wood Sorrel (Oxalidacea Oxalis spp.)

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)

Preparation

1. Gather. Gathering is easiest with scissors.

2. Wash. At least three changes of water is best.

3. Chop finely.

4. Enjoy!

Violet (Violaceae Viola spp.) is a mild tasting and common plant in Central Virginia. You can collect the flowers and eat them raw or if you can collect 5 – 6 cups of them, you may want to try making violet jelly by following the mint jelly instructions in your pectin packet.

They also make a lovely, edible topping for a cake or salad.

Identification: The flowers have 5 purple, white, or blue petals. In our area, I only see the purple one, common blue violet, or Viola sororia. The leaves are heart-shaped with slightly serrated edges and have obvious veins on them. You can eat the leaves raw or cooked as well.

I hope you take the time to hunt for these easy to identify plants in your yard or a nearby park. The best time to find them is while they’re in bloom since the purple flowers are easy to spot.

If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to my free e-book, 10 Easy and Delicious Wild Edible Plants in Central VA or look for an upcoming Wild Edible Plant Course in Richmond, Virginia.

Did you know that there is free, over-the-counter medicine waiting just outside your doorstep? Plants!

We all probably learned that medicinal plants were used by people all over the world before modern medicine? Many of these herbs have fewer side affects than prescription pills and will save you a ton of money, plus help get you through a hard time if your insurance ever lapses.

One medicinal plant that’s local is jewelweed (in the photo above). This gem will speed up the healing of a poison ivy rash and even reduce its size and swelling if used early enough. Just collect the plant, simmer it for 10 minutes, and pour the liquid into ice cube trays. Once it is frozen, you can put it in a ziplock bag and save if for when you need it. If you think you may have touched poison ivy, put several jewelweed cubes into a bath and rub a few over you skin where you may have touched it. You can also make jewelweed soaps or salves.

Have you ever had a persimmon? What about a North American persimmon, Diospyros virginia?

These persimmons are similar to the Asian persimmons, but much smaller – only about an inch in diameter.

This misunderstood Virginia-native fruit can turn even the most adventurous eater away, and yet, they are also well-loved by those who understand them. They weren’t named the fruit of the gods for nothing, after all. The trick is knowing how to harvest and prepare them!

First, you’ll need to find a persimmon tree. It can be a tricky endeavor because they are rare in most Virginia forests today. But, luckily, it’s easy to recognize even at a distance.

Its bark is slate gray, almost black – which alone is unusual among trees in Virginia. It also has blocky, imperfect squares in the bark. The closest bark to it in Virginia are dogwood and loblolly pine, but dogwood has opposite branching and pine trees are, well, evergreen, with easily distinguished needles!

To Harvest:

• Wait until the orange fruit falls to the ground.
• If they are brown and mushy, you’re in lucky!
• If they are hard, take them home anyway and wait for them to ripen.

To Process:

• If you were overanxious and picked them straight from the tree or they were hard, DO NOT EAT THEM YET! They will be very astringent.
• Put them in a paper bag with a ripe banana. After a day or so, try one to see if it is ripe. If it doesn’t make your mouth dry and feel awful, try another. If it tastes good as well, move on to the next step.
• Next, put your persimmons through a food mill to remove the skins and seeds. Follow the recipe below, or freeze until later.

Persimmon Pudding Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup very ripe persimmon pulp
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 pound butter or margarine, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. Combine persimmon pulp with sugar.
2. Beat in eggs. Mix in milk, then butter.
3. Sift or stir flour with baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg.
4. Mix with persimmon mixture.
5. Pour batter into a well greased 9-inch square cake pan.
6. Bake in a 315-325°F oven for approx 60 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

If anyone wants persimmons and wants to try this, please let me know! We collected a lot this year! If you do try this recipe, please comment on your results below . . .