Common Edible "Weeds" - Part 1

No organic garden or lawn is free of what is commonly called a weed. Much time and aggravation is put into eradicating these innocent little plants. But instead of putting for all the effort to annihilate these herbs why not treat them as another garden crop? The First two plant I will talk about are Dandelion and Plantain.

Dandelion is an amazing food herb. Every part of this plant is edible: the flowers, leaves, roots, and stem. The Flowers may be dipped in batter and fried up as fritters. The leaves being slightly bitter are a refreshing addition to salads. The roots may be eaten raw or cooked and have a bitter turnip like flavor. The root and leaves help to increase and move the flow of bile in body. This plant is also a diuretic, but unlike most diuretics dandelion is high in potassium which is a mineral that is depleted easily via urine. The root is good for the liver as well. Dandelions are high in vitamins A, C, E, B-complex, and iron.



Plantain is in the Plantago genus (not to be confused with the banana plantain). Plantain's leaves are best eaten when young, as they age they become more fibrous. Older plantain leaves are still edible but need to be cooked as a potherb to be enjoyable. The seeds of plantain may be consumed as well. Plantain is high is vitamins A, C, and K.