The Wonderfully Edible Chickweed

With chickweed, the motto should be “don’t kill it, eat it”.

Chickweed (Stellaria media) is one of the most common yard and garden weeds in both Europe and North America. In fact, it is hard to find places in the world where it doesn’t grow. Many home gardeners spend a lot of money on poisons to kill it, all without realizing that this is a tasty and healthy plant. It can be eaten raw, cooked and even made into a tea. This wild herb also has some good medical applications.

Chickweed appearance

Chickweed is an annual plant that is normally low growing with the branches usually laying on the ground. The chickweed root structure is shallow.

The leaves have a slight reverse taper so that they are larger toward the ends than they are where the leaves attach from the stems. The leaves are about three-quarters of an inch long and half an inch wide in healthy plants.

The flowers are small, white and they appear to have 10 petals. There are actually only five petals, but they are split so each one looks like there are two. The flowers are usually about a quarter inch across.

Food value of chickweed

This is a wild herb that is packed with vitamins and minerals like potassium, while also being low in calories. Three and a half ounces of chickweed has fewer than 20 calories, yet it contains up to about 1840 mg of potassium and no sodium or cholesterol. This makes it excellent for people suffering from high blood pressure or who are on a sodium-restricted diet.

Chickweed is also high in calcium, iron, zinc, and phosphorus. It is a really good source of vitamins A, D, C, riboflavin, and thiamin.

This is a herb that is great when added raw to green salads. Simply rinse the leaves, chop them up and toss them into the salad. They can also be steamed and eaten as a potherb. Cooked in this way, the flavor is remarkably like mild spinach. Note that chickweed shrinks substantially during cooking. If you want a cup of chickweed once it is cooked, you’d best start with three or four cups of raw chickweed. Also, make sure the chickweed came from an area that hasn’t been sprayed with pesticides for a couple of years.

For chickweed tea, pour a cup of boiling water over about a quarter cup of the leaves, then cover and allow it to sit for about 10 minutes. Covering the cup of brewing tea keeps volatile oils in the water that might otherwise be lost to evaporation.

Chickweed medicinally

Chopped or crushed raw chickweed is great when applied to tired or irritated skin since it is very soothing and is anti-inflammatory. It can also be applied to cuts, scrapes, abrasions, burns, insect bites, and rashes. The juice has a cooling effect that might be appealing to people who are suffering sunburns.

The tea can be used to treat coughs and dry throats. It is also a gentle diuretic that is helpful for kidney function. The tea and the herb are soothing to the stomach, too, so it is good for upset stomachs. It has an extremely mild laxative effect, so it can be useful for people who experience irregularity of bowel movements by encouraging healthy bowel action. Chickweed also contains antioxidants, so it can be helpful for treating and preventing cancer. The plant is useful for treating rheumatism.

Though this plant is often considered to be a weed, it is a useful food and medicinal plant. It is one of those that survivalists should know about on sight and it is one of the most widespread survival herbs. This is a good tasting wild herb that can be eaten rather than poisoned.